READ: Summer 2025

Bea Mullins Takes a Shot by Emily Deibert Twelve-year-old Bea joins her school's first all-girls hockey team to support her best friend, navigates rocky relationships with her crush Gabi and best friend Celia, and steps up to help save the team when its funding is threatened.

Keeping Pace by Laurie Morrison Determined to regain her sense of accomplishment after losing her top-class ranking to Jonah, Grace decides to compete against him in a Labor Day half-marathon, but as they train together, she learns valuable lessons about what truly matters.

The Beautiful Game by Yamile Saied Méndez At thirteen years old, Valeria "Magic" Salomón is already the best soccer player her town has ever seen. She has talent in spades and an abuelo whose tough-love coaching and lessons about "strength and honor" have made her the star of the Overlords, the top boys' team in the state.  But everything changes at the State Cup semi-final when Valeria gets her first period while Wearing. White. Shorts. After her team is unexpectedly eliminated, she goes from their secret weapon to their scapegoat. Soon, she doesn't have a team at all anymore.

Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi From failed football tryouts to helping the new Syrian refugee student, seventh-grader Kareem attempts to navigate the social complexities of seventh grade, which are further complicated when his mother is unable to return home from Syria due to an executive order.

Black Star by Kwame Alexander 12-year old Charley Cuffey is many things: a granddaughter, a best friend, and probably the best pitcher in all of Lee's Mill. Set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional ball, Charley doesn't need reminders from her best friend Cool Willie Green to know that she has lofty dreams for a Black girl in the American South.

We Are Big Time by Hena Khan; Safiya Zerrougui (Illustrator) SWISH! Cheer courtside for a Muslim teen in this graphic novel-inspired by a true story-as she joins an all-girls, hijab-wearing basketball team and learns that she's much more than a score.

The Ping-Pong Queen of Chinatown by Andrew Yang Starting a film club at school, Felix Ma asks Cassie Chow, a bubbly high school senior who shares his anxieties about the future and parental expectations, to star in his short film, but his lighthearted mockumentary unexpectedly uncovers their most painful memories

The Teammates by David Halberstam; Jane Leavy (Introduction by) One of Ms Reardon's favorite baseball books! The Teammates is the profoundly moving story of four great baseball players who have made the passage from sports icons--when they were young and seemingly indestructible--to men dealing with the vulnerabilities of growing older. At the core of the book is the friendship of these four very different men--Boston Red Sox teammates Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Ted Williams--who remained close for more than sixty years.

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin This is an astonishing underdog sports story--and more. It's an unflinching look at the U.S. government's violent persecution of Native Americans and the school that was designed to erase Indian cultures. Expertly told by three-time National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin, it's the story of a group of young men who came together at that school, the overwhelming obstacles they faced both on and off the field, and their absolute refusal to accept defeat.

We Are the Wildcats by Siobhan Vivian A toxic coach finds himself outplayed by the high school girls on his team in this deeply suspenseful novel, which unspools over twenty-four hours through six diverse perspectives.

Rare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA by Howard Megdal An expansive and compelling chronicle tracing the rise of modern women's basketball

If You Can't Take the Heat by Michael Ruhlman When high school football star Theo Claverback breaks his leg just weeks after a devastating break-up, he's forced to call an audible on his summer plans and put his college ones on hold. He soon finds himself in the most unlikely of places for a jock on crutches- the kitchen of an upscale French restaurant, where he'll work as a prep cook while his heart and leg heal. But it's in the kitchen where Theo finds new purpose and a new romance.

After the Shot Drops by Randy Ribay Bunny and Nasir have been best friends forever, but when Bunny accepts an athletic scholarship across town, Nasir feels betrayed. While Bunny tries to fit in with his new, privileged peers, Nasir spends more time with his cousin, Wallace, who is being evicted.

Woodsong by Gary Paulsen Gary Paulsen, Newbery Honor author of Hatchet and Dogsong, is no stranger to adventure. He has flown off the back of a dogsled and down a frozen waterfall to near disaster, and waited for a giant bear to seal his fate with one slap of a claw. He has led a team of sled dogs toward the Alaskan Mountain Range in an Iditarod -- a 1,180-mile dogsled race -- hallucinating from lack of sleep, but determined to finish.Here, in vivid detail, Paulsen recounts several of the remarkable experiences that shaped his life and inspired his writing.

Victory. Stand! by Tommie Smith; Derrick Barnes; Dawud Anyabwile On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships. In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest.