West Bend Community Memorial Library

Just Do It!
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Lay Ups and Long Shots by Joseph Bruchac - Written by many of the same authors but aimed at a younger audience than the entries in Sports Shorts (2005), these nine new short stories feature tweens or teens who, despite lack of skill or other obstacles, engage in athletic pursuits. Some, such as Joseph Bruchac's account of failed early basketball dreams and champion canoer Jamie McEwan's tale of a kayaker who almost loses his shorts in a spill, have autobiographical elements. Terry Trueman tracks an exciting game of "H-O-R-S-E" in a mix of prose and free verse; Jeff's disability becomes an asset on the football field in Max Elliot Anderson's "Big Foot"; and in Lynea Bowdish's "Fat Girls Don't Run," overweight Carla turns out to be faster in a race than anyone-including she herself-expects. Consistently readable and engaging, the collection should have as much appeal for geeks as it does for jocks.

Eagle Blue: a team, a tribe, and a high school basketball season in Arctic Alaska by Michael D'Orso - Set in the remote Arctic recesses of Alaska, the village of Fort Yukon is home to six hundred people. Overwhelmingly populated by Athabascan Gwich'in Natives, Fort Yukon exists almost exclusively in the margins of American culture. The tiny population and vanishing cultural heritage of this town have one powerful link to mainstream America: their high school basketball team." "The Fort Yukon Eagles, winners of six consecutive regional championships, are the pride and joy of their tribe. Each year, from November to March, the Eagles struggle through the Arctic winter's brutal cold and near-continual darkness, in search of a championship and an identity." "Michael D'Orso follows the team from day one, riding with them in planes, vans, and snowmobiles. He sees the lives of each of the players, from their family dinners to their relationship to their devoted coach, capturing it all in compassionate detail. In images and moments, D'Orso illuminates a rich and spirited heritage ignored by the rest of the world.

Crackback by John Coy - When Miles Manning, a successful high school football player, discovers his teammates are using steroids--and one of them is his best friend--he's faced with a tough decision: Is he willing to do what it takes to win? Football is his life, and his family, especially his dad, is pinning its hopes on him. It's a lot of pressure for a high school junior to bear. This gripping look into the world of high school boys and athletes--and their struggle to be the best--is provocative and searingly honest.

Open Ice by Pat Hughes - Hockey has been Nick Taglio's life since he was five years old, so when a massive concussion benches him--possibly for good--everything seems to fall apart, including his schoolwork, his family relationships, his friendships, and his love life.

The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin - Brian uses basketball to block out memories of his girlfriend and her family who were gunned down a year ago, but the upcoming murder trial and a high school history assignment force him to face the past and decide how far he should go to see justice served.

Ball Don't Lie by Matt de la Pena - Seventeen-year-old Sticky lives to play basketball at school and at Lincoln Rec Center in Los Angeles and is headed for the pros, but he is unaware of the many dangers--including his own past--that threaten his dream.

The Hoopster by Alan Lawrence Sitomer - He lands a dream internship at a magazine, and just after he's given the chance to write a feature article, he's viciously attacked. Now everything he ever believed in is called into question.

Offsides by Erik Esckilesen - Tom Gray, a Mohawk Indian and star soccer player, moves to a new high school and refuses to play for the Warriors with their insulting mascot.

Tangerine by Edward Bloor - Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Going for the Record by Julie Swanson - Seventeen-year-old Leah Weiczynkowski, about to begin her senior year of high school, is on the brink of realizing her dream -- playing soccer for the under-eighteen national team, her gateway to the World Cup and the Olympics. Everything she's worked for in her young life has been about this moment. She can't wait to tell her dad, her biggest fan and her faithful chauffeur to games and practices. Unfortunately, her dad, Pete Weiczynkowski, has news of his own.

Travel Team by Mike Lupica - After he is cut from his travel basketball team--the very same team that his father once led to national prominence--twelve-year-old Danny Walker forms his own team of cast-offs that might have a shot at victory.

Slam by Walter Dean Myers - Greg "Slam" Harris can do it all on the basketball court. He knows he's got what it takes to go all the way to the top. Slam's grades aren't so hot, though, and when his teachers jam his troubles in his face, he blows up.

Pinned by Albert Martino - Dealing with family problems, girls, and their own competitive natures, high school seniors Ivan Korske and Bobby Zane face each other in the final match of the New Jersey State Wrestling Championship.

How I fell in Love and Learned to Shoot Free Throws by Jon Ripslinger - A teenage boy pursues the best female basketball player in the state.

Losing is Not an Option by Rich Wallace - Rich Wallace's sports scenes are fast, furious, sweaty--and authentic- "There are only a few contemporary writers who can hit the mark with teenage boys, and Rich Wallace seems likely to join that group." --The Chicago Tribune-

Summerland by Michael Chabon - Ethan Feld, the worst baseball player in the history of the game, finds himself recruited by a 100-year-old scout to help a band of fairies triumph over an ancient enemy.

Damage by A.M. Jenkins - What you really want to do is give up trying. Lay your head down on the steering wheel and quit sneezing, quit breathing, quit trying. The problem is, you can't . Just quit, that is. When people want to quit, they have to choose. Make a decision. Take action.

Necessary Roughness by Marie G. Lee - Sixteen-year-old Korean American Chan moves from Los Angeles to a small town in Minnesota, where he must cope not only with racism on the football team but also with the tensions in his relationship with his strict father.

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher - There's bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway. A group of misfits brought together by T. J. Jones (the J is redundant) to find their places in a school that has no place for them, the Cutter All Night Mermen struggle to carve out their own turf. T. J. is convinced that a varsity letter jacket--unattainable for most, exclusive, revered, the symbol (as far as T. J. is concerned) of all that is screwed up at Cutter High--will be an effective carving tool. He's right. He's also wrong. Still, it's always the quest that counts. And the bus on which the Mermen travel to swim meets--piloted by Icko, the permanent resident of All, Night Fitness--soon becomes the cocoon inside which they gradually allow themselves to talk, to fit, to bloom. Chris Crutcher is in top form with a cast of characters--adults, children, and teenagers--fighting for dignity in a world where tragedy and comedy dance side by side, where a moment's inattention can bring lifelong heartache, and where true acceptance is the only prescription for what ails us.

Ironman by Chris Crutcher - Now with a stunning new look, this award-winning novel is the story of a high school triathlete who is close to being expelled because of his explosive temper. Assigned to an anger management class, he addresses his difficult relationship with his father.

Slalom by S.L. Rottman - Seventeen-year-old Sandro, having always lived in poverty with his mother in a wealthy ski resort town, finds his life transformed when the father he has never met suddenly returns and wants to be part of the family.

Born in Sin by Evelyn Coleman - "Come on Betty...Can't nobody stop us from winning, 'cause we fish," Keisha whispers fiercely to her friend. "I want you to swim. Come on...You and me, the first black girls going to the Olympics. Remember?" For Betty, winning now means swimming upward from the depths of near-death. In the cold hum of the hospital, only Keisha can remember their dreams from earlier that summer, when she was to attend a premed vacation school at nearby Avery University. She had the grades for it. And her mama was determined to make it happen, no matter what. Keisha dreamed of being a doctor. Betty dreamed desperately of having a friend. They were both at risk -- at least that's the label Keisha gets slapped with when, instead of to Avery, she is sent to a high-minded, white-hearted urban rescue program for teens in poverty, or, as she figures it, born in sin. She is outraged to be thrown together with Clarissa, Phyllis, and Kimberly, but turns anger to something just as powerful -- the will to prove her doubters wrong. For this she has friends beyond the family she knows -- one ally especially. Plus Malik, Betty's watchful brother, who wants beauty to be there for everyone. Like the sky. Born in Sin, which Keisha tells with straight-forward, often funny frankness, is part gritty drama, part victory lap, and all heart.

Ultimate Sports edited by Donald Gallo - Here is a knockout collection of 16 original sports stories featuring young men and women playing basketball and football, running track and cross-country, and training for the triathalon. Featured authors include Chris Crutcher, Graham Salisbury, and Robert Lipsyte. An author biography follows each story.

The Runner by Cynthia Voigt - Bullet Tillerman is a track team star who answers to no one. He'd rather be cut from the team than work with the promising new runner, Tamer Shipp. But Bullet finds his own rules are becoming too painful to live by.

Hard Ball by Will Weaver - A fourteen-year-old Minnesota farm boy has to figure out how to get along with the arch-rival in his love life and on the baseball diamond, and both boys must learn how to deal with the unfair expectations of their fathers.

~Young Adult Librarian ~
Kristin Pekoll
kpekoll@west-bendlibrary.org
262.335.5151 x128

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Updated November 12, 2008

"Organized education gives us information,
but there are things we have to learn ourselves" ~ Lauryn Hill