Sports Stories
Picture Books (JJ)
Alborough, Jez. Hit the Ball Duck. (JJ Alborough)
uck and his friends drive out into the countryside to play a game of baseball.

Burleigh, Robert. Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth. (JJ Burleigh)
A poetic account of the legendary Babe Ruth as he prepares to make a home run.

Corey, Shana. Players in Pigtails. (JJ Corey)
Katie Casey, a fictional character, helps start the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which gave women the opportunity to play professional baseball while America was involved in World War II.

London, Jonathan. Froggy Plays Soccer. (JJ London)
Although Froggy is very excited when his Dream Team plays for the city soccer championship, he makes a mistake on the field that almost costs the team the game.

Martin, Bill. Swish. (JJ Martin)
Two girls' teams, the Cardinals and the Blue Jays, play a close and intense game of basketball.

Rappaport, Doreen. Dirt on their Skirts. (JJ Rappaport)
Margaret experiences the excitement of watching the 1946 championship game of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as it goes into extra innings.

Beginning Readers (JJE)
Berenstain, Stan. The Berenstain Bears play t-ball. (JJE Berenstain)
When Brother and Sister Bear help teach some younger cubs how to play T-ball, they learn a lesson in patience.

Parish, Peggy. Play Ball Amelia Bedelia. (JJE Parish)
Amelia Bedelia, who knows very little about baseball, stands in for a sick player during a game.

Easy Chapter Books (JE)
Adler, David. Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball. (JE Adler)
Cam uses her photographic memory to identify the person who stole a valuable autographed baseball. The Cam Jansen books are perfect for young readers who are making the transition to chapter books, and Cam is a spunky young heroine whom readers have loved for over two decades. Now the first ten books in the series have updated covers that bring new life to these perennial best-sellers. Old fans and new readers will love Cam's cool, modern look!

Christopher, Matt. The Captain Contest. (JE Christopher)
Dewey loves to draw and wants to enter the soccer team logo contest, but he doesn't want to win the grand prize--being team captain

Junior Fiction (J)
Avi. Windcatcher. (J Avi)
While learning to sail during a visit to his grandmother's at the Connecticut shore, eleven-year-old Tony becomes excited about the rumors of sunken treasure in the area and starts following a couple who seem to be making a mysterious search for something.

Avi. S.O.R Losers. (J Avi)
Each member of the South Orange River seventh-grade soccer team has qualities of excellence, but not on the soccer field.

Christopher, Matt. Man out at First. (J Christopher)
After he gets hit by a fast-moving ball, Turtleneck Jones loses his confidence on the baseball diamond and sees his position at first base given to another player.

Corbett, Sue. Free Baseball. (J Corbett)
Angry with his mother for having too little time for him, eleven-year-old Felix takes advantage of an opportunity to become bat boy for a minor league baseball team, hoping to someday be like his father, a famous Cuban outfielder.

Deuker, Carl. Heart of a Champion. (J Deuker)
Seth faces a strain on his friendship with Jimmy, who is both a baseball champion and something of an irresponsible fool, when Jimmy is kicked off the team.

Gardner, John Reynods. Stone Fox. (J Gardner)
Little Willie hopes to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm with the purse from a dog sled race he enters.

Gutman, Dan. Honus and Me. (J Gutman)
Joey, who loves baseball but is not very good at it, finds a valuable 1909 Honus Wagner card and travels back in time to meet Honus.

Gutman, Dan. Million Dollar Shot. (J Gutman)
Eleven-year-old Eddie gets a chance to win a million dollars by sinking a foul shot at the National Basketball Association finals.

Hicks, Betty. Busted. (J Hicks)
Stuart's obsessive single-parent mom is always on his case, and if Stuart is busted one more time, no more soccer. So, his best friend Mack hatches an unsettling plan to distract his mom. It might work too, if their friendship survives.

Jennings, Patrick. Out Standing in my Field. (J Jennings)
Although fifth-grader Ty Cutter is named after baseball great Ty Cobb, he is the worst player on the Brewer's team, which happens to be coached by his overly-competitive father.

Kline, Suzzy. Herbie Jones and the Monster Ball. (J Kline)
Strike-out king, Herbie Jones, feels that the summer is ruined when his uncle arrives to coach a baseball team and asks Herbie to join up.

Lord, Bette. In the Year of the Boar and Jacki Robinson. (J Lord)
In 1947, a Chinese child comes to Brooklyn where she becomes Americanized at school, in her apartment building, and by her love for baseball.

Lupica, Mike. Heat. (J Lupica)
Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after being banned from playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve years old and he has no parents to offer them proof.

Lupica, Mike. Travel Team. (J 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.

Myers, Walter Dean. Journal of Biddy Owens: The Negro Leagues. (J My Name)
Teenager Biddy Owens' 1948 journal about working for the Birmingham Black Barons includes the games and the players, racism the team faces from New Orleans to Chicago, and his family's resistance to his becoming a professional baseball player.

Ritter, John. Boy Who Saved Baseball. (J Ritter)
The fate of a small California town rests on the outcome of one baseball game, and Tom Gallagher hopes to lead his team to victory with the secrets of the now disgraced player, Dante Del Gato.

Scieszka, Jon. See You Later Gladiater. (J Scieszka)
Joe, Fred, and Sam demonstrate some of their favorite professional wrestling moves, including the "Time Warp Trio Blind Ninja Smackdown," when they're transported to ancient Rome and forced to fight as gladiators in the Colosseum

Soto, Gary. Baseball in April. (J Soto)
A collection of eleven short stories focusing on the everyday adventures of Hispanic young people growing up in Fresno, California.

Tunis, John R. Rookie of the Year. (J Tunis)
Dodger manager Spike Russell's efforts to rally his team to a pennant victory are threatened by a scheming club secretary and the seeming irresponsibility of a star rookie pitcher.

Wolf, Virginia. Bat 6. (J Wolf)
In small town, post-World War Oregon, twenty-one 6th grade girls recount the story of an annual softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface. Includes recipe for apple spice cake.

Mary Cheney Library
586 Main Street
Manchester, CT 06040
(860) 645-0577
http://library.townofmanchester.org/children.html

Whiton Memorial Branch Library
100 North Main Street
Manchester, CT 06042
(860) 643-6892

Updated 1/09