(4) 4-6 Brooklyn loves ballet and hates football. Unfortunately, everyone in her new Texas town, including her quarterback stepbrother, are football fanatics. When the middle-school football team is required to take classes at her ballet studio, Brooklyn learns that football and ballet have some similarities after all. Brooklyn's feelings of alienation in her new surroundings are well wrought in this predictable but buoyant middle-school novel.

Reviewer: Mariko Turk

(4) K-3 Neighborhood Sports series. "Don't sit around indoors. Play kickball outside with your friends!" These upbeat volumes provide very simple rules and instructions for the title sports. While the texts' helpfulness can be questionable ("Kicking is easy. Just point your toes down and kick"), their enthusiasm comes through in the exclamation point–heavy writing and clear illustrations of children at play. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these Neighborhood Sports titles: Kickball, Street Football, Ultimate, Pick-Up Basketball, Capture the Flag, Four Square, Parkour, and Street Hockey.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) YA When Cade stumbles upon a girl half-dead in his family's Texas-border cornfield, he heeds her request to hide her. Cade enlists best friend Mateo's help, and the boys enfold Jane Doe in their world of football games and dances. But Jane is certain her past with a Mexican drug cartel will catch up with her. High-school romance mingles with dark suspense in Banerjee's debut novel.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) K-3 Encounter series. Illustrated by Nick Hardcastle. At age sixteen, American Indian Jim Thorpe was sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. In spite of adversity, he thrived there as a multi-sport athlete, particularly as the 1912 football team's linchpin in beating--against all odds--West Point's Army team. Straightforward, conversational text and meticulous ink and watercolor art reveal the prowess and importance of this extraordinary athlete. Reading list. Bib., glos.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) YA Three Alabama teens spend the summer working at Unclaimed Baggage, a store that sells the contents of luggage left behind at airports. Local girl Doris is a talented finder of things, Nell is a Chicago transplant desperate for a job, and Grant is a former football hero struggling with addiction. The lost-and-found metaphor is an apt one for a summer of self-discovery and newfound friends in this thoughtful, nuanced novel.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(3) 4-6 Sports All-Stars series. Succinct, easy-to-read biographies of these sports stars include brief looks at each person's childhood before focusing on that individual's particular training and road to athletic success. Dramatic narration, direct quotes, color photographs, and sidebars round out the informative main texts; "All-Star Stats" for that sport are appended. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Sports All-Stars titles: Danica Patrick, Derek Carr, Ezekiel Elliott, Kris Byrant, and Matt Ryan.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) 4-6 Sports All-Stars series. Succinct, easy-to-read biographies of these sports stars include brief looks at each person's childhood before focusing on that individual's particular training and road to athletic success. Dramatic narration, direct quotes, color photographs, and sidebars round out the informative main texts; "All-Star Stats" for that sport are appended. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Sports All-Stars titles: Danica Patrick, Derek Carr, Ezekiel Elliott, Kris Byrant, and Matt Ryan.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) 4-6 Sports All-Stars series. Succinct, easy-to-read biographies of these sports stars include brief looks at each person's childhood before focusing on that individual's particular training and road to athletic success. Dramatic narration, direct quotes, color photographs, and sidebars round out the informative main texts; "All-Star Stats" for that sport are appended. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Sports All-Stars titles: Danica Patrick, Derek Carr, Ezekiel Elliott, Kris Byrant, and Matt Ryan.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) 4-6 Sports All-Stars series. Succinct, easy-to-read biographies of these sports stars each include a brief look at the person's childhood before focusing on that individual's particular training and road to athletic success. Dramatic narration, direct quotes, color photographs, and sidebars round out the informative main texts; "All-Star Stats" for that sport are appended. There are four other fall 2018 books in this series. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Sports All-Stars titles: Aaron Judge, Breanna Stewart, Dak Prescott, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(4) 4-6 Sports Illustrated Kids: Know the Stats series. These slim volumes demonstrate how statistics drive decision-making for professional basketball and football teams, aiding players, coaches, and fans to better understand wins and losses. References to specific athletes and their performances abound. The book design is uninteresting, but color photographs, tables, and graphs appear throughout, helping to clarify the information. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these Sports Illustrated Kids: Know the Stats titles: Basketball Is a Numbers Game and Football Is a Numbers Game.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) 4-6 When talented seventh-grade football player Danny Owens--son of a deceased Superbowl champion and an alcoholic mother--gets caught cheating, his teacher discovers he can't read. To make matters worse, the pressure of learning creates anger-management problems. Counseling, tutoring, and stalwart friends help Danny define success on his own terms. Green's latest is pretty message-y, but his fans will appreciate the authentic football details.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) YA As thirteen-year-old football player Teddy Youngblood lies in a coma following an injury (supposedly) sustained at training camp, his family, friends, and fellow athletes try to determine exactly what happened. Bedside conversations, texts, hospital reports, interviews, and Teddy's interior thoughts slowly unveil the truth behind Teddy's injury. Multiple voices are effectively employed in this thought-provoking look at peer pressure, hazing, and off-field sports violence.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) 1-3 Zach & Zoe Mysteries series. Illustrated by Chris Danger. Readers will find more sports than mystery in these undemanding chapter-book capers starring eight-year-old twins Zach and Zoe. Writing with a quick pace, Lupica checks the boxes of sportsmanship, gender equity, multiculturalism, and strong family relationships. Filling a need in many libraries, this illustrated series is suited for newly independent readers working toward Lupica's popular middle-school sports novels. Review covers these Zach & Zoe Mysteries titles: The Football Fiasco, The Half-Court Hero, and The Missing Baseball.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) PS Sports How To series. These volumes provide simplified (sometimes confusingly so) introductions to the rules and play of the title sports. Very basic and easy-to-read texts ("Sue loves soccer! She is ready to play."; "Mark shoots. He scores a basket. Two points!") enhance accessibility and add interest for the youngest sports fans. Dynamic stock photographs show girls, boys, and adults in action. Glos., ind. Review covers these Sports How To titles: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, and Soccer.