Where Are All the Sports Books?

After finishing a read aloud recently, two boys ... requested ... suggested ... demanded(?) ... well, whatever. It went something like this: "Hey, Mr. W! When're we gonna read a sports book?"

"What do you mean? We've read sports books," I responded.

"Like what?"

They were right. I was stuck. They suggested Six Innings by James Preller, a book they both read and enjoyed, but they'd both already read and enjoyed it, and I was worried it wouldn't translate well to a read aloud. Really, I like baseball. (It's taken 15 years, a trip to Fenway Park, and a good Milwaukee Brewers team to take me out of the funk created by canceling a World Series, but I've come back around.)

But let's be honest. Baseball is slow enough already. That, coupled with some non-athletic students and May sunshine out the classroom window, didn't seem like a recipe for a successful read aloud.

"I'll find something over the weekend," I assured them.

Whoops. My substantial bookshelves had... Well, they had... Not much! Aarrgghh!

I grew up playing sports in all kinds of city leagues and even played two sports in college. My kids know what "Don't rub it!" means in baseball and what kind of receiver it takes to go across the middle. I subscribe to a blog about uniforms for crying out loud! And I have no sports books?!?

I looked back at the list of Newbery winners and honors and found about as much as was on my bookshelves. Just a quick glance at the past 20 years and a quick jog of the memory reveals:

• Basketball in After Tupac and D Foster.
• Hockey in Everything on a Waffle.
• Baseball in Joey Pigza Loses Control.
• Baseball in Maniac Magee.

If we wanted to be generous (veeeery generous) we could add:

• Digging in Holes.
• Surviving (barely) in Out of the Dust.
• Princessification in Princess Academy and Ella Enchanted.
• Playing Catch in The Giver (Most people get distracted from this athletic scene when Jonas sees red in the apple.) Oh, and let's not forget cycling. That's in there too.
• Bonesetting in The Midwife's Apprentice.

In the last twenty years of Newbery awards there's one (one?) book where sports would be considered a major factor: Joey Pigza Loses Control.

Kate, a recent commenter on Help Readers Love Reading!, mentioned Matt Christopher books in her comments for the new Gym Shorts series. I'm familiar with those, but haven't read them since grade school. Am I right remembering that although the books feature different sports the plot remains basically unchanged?

So I did some brainstorming (OK, your topic is "Sports Books." Go.) and here's what I came up with:

• The Comeback Kids series by Mike Lupica, a sports writer for the New York Daily News.
• Mike Lupica's books for older readers such as The Big Field, Summer Ball, and Miracle on 49th Street.
• Books by former NFL player Tim Green - Football Genius, Football Hero, and Baseball Great.
• Books by John Feinstein - Last Shot, Last Dance, and Vanishing Act.
• Matt Christopher books.
• The Gym Shorts series by Betty Hicks.
• Dan Gutman's Baseball Card Adventure series and The Million Dollar Putt/Strike/Shot/Kick/Etc. series.

That's where my list ends. And that's pretty sorry (sorry in quantity, not quality). I haven't read too many of the above, although a few are on the shelves patiently waiting. I did enjoy Football Genius, but unfortunately for my two students, it was a library copy.

When we returned on Monday morning, I told the boys I had good news and bad news. The bad news was that I didn't have a book like the one they requested. The good news was that my new summer project, thanks to these two gentlemen, was to build up the sports books in the classroom library so future readers don't have the same problem.

So, what am I missing? I'd love to hear suggestions - please comment or email - so that we can get our athletes books about athletes. We spend a lot of time convincing them to read, and boys like this can be the hardest to convince, and then, even in a sports lover's classroom like mine, there is a limited selection. I'd love to build up a list of books we can quickly recommend.

(By the way, I ended up giving them a choice between How Angel Peterson Got His Name, which I described as extreme sports minus the safety equipment and ESPN, and Mudshark, which I described as a book featuring a sport called Death Ball. Both are by Gary Paulsen. They chose Mudshark. It was a rollicking success.)