(2) 4-6 Two years ago, Winston and Louise Volpe's father Lenny--beloved former quarterback for the Chicago Horribles--walked away and disappeared, a hero "lost in time and space, done in by his own broken mind." Now the siblings and their mother ("the incomplete Volpe family") are dealing with his absence in their own ways. At their middle school, Louise has thrown herself into discovering a cure for brain damage in Science Club, Winston into playing tuba for the band. But then...what is behind the mysterious behavior of a group of Winston's teachers? Is a ghost haunting the Chicago Horribles' locker room? Can Louise find a way to free the Horribles' live-bear mascot? Madcap antics ensue, but this is still, at its heart, a story of grief over the loss of a father and husband from CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy); as such, the novel would make a good companion to Jacqueline Woodson's Before the Ever After (rev. 9/20). Heider deftly balances screwball action and humor with poignancy and even profundity, and offers a hopeful conclusion--in which Winston finds his own "center of the galaxy" with a fellow tuba player, Louise finds an achievable science project, and all the Volpe family members find support in one another.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) YA Sophomore Wyatt Parker plays football, but only to forge a closer relationship with his older brother Brett, Grayport High's star quarterback. Their father is an alcoholic who lives vicariously through Brett and ignores Wyatt. With red tide threatening the fishing industry--the bedrock of their Massachusetts town's economy--football gives people some hope. In Kester's debut novel, the characters, the town, and the culture of high-school football are richly developed, with keen insight and pithy prose.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Freeman. In 1947 there was "an unwritten college-football agreement that said when integrated…teams played schools in the South, they wouldn't play their black players." Respress-Churchwell tells the fictionalized (somewhat awkwardly) story of how Chester Pierce and his Harvard team broke this rule. Color-saturated digital illustrations highlight Pierce's deep-brown skin tone--along with Harvard's crimson and gold school colors and the green football fields. Bib.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) 4-6 Ultimate Sports Road Trips series. Following a rah-rah introduction about the featured sport, each entertaining, if superficial, volume highlights seven or eight stadiums or sites that would make great road trips for super-fans. The four- or six-page sections provide basic place facts (including name, location, date opened, capacity), overviews of the teams' or participants' histories, and captioned photos. A trip map is appended. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these Ultimate Sports Road Trips titles: Ultimate NHL Road Trip, Ultimate Soccer Road Trip, Ultimate NBA Road Trip, Ultimate MLB Road Trip, Ultimate NASCAR Road Trip, Ultimate College Basketball Road Trip, Ultimate NFL Road Trip, and Ultimate College Football Road Trip.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) 4-6 Ultimate Sports Road Trips series. Following a rah-rah introduction about the featured sport, each entertaining, if superficial, volume highlights seven or eight stadiums or sites that would make great road trips for super-fans. The four- or six-page sections provide basic place facts (including name, location, date opened, capacity), overviews of the teams' or participants' histories, and captioned photos. A trip map is appended. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these Ultimate Sports Road Trips titles: Ultimate NHL Road Trip, Ultimate Soccer Road Trip, Ultimate NBA Road Trip, Ultimate MLB Road Trip, Ultimate NASCAR Road Trip, Ultimate College Basketball Road Trip, Ultimate NFL Road Trip, and Ultimate College Football Road Trip.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(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. 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 exclamation point-heavy writing and clear illustrations of children at play. Reading list. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) K-3 Neighborhood Sports series. 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 exclamation point-heavy writing and clear illustrations of children at play. Reading list. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) K-3 Neighborhood Sports series. 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 exclamation point-heavy writing and clear illustrations of children at play. Reading list. Glos., ind.

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

(4) K-3 Neighborhood Sports series. 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 exclamation point-heavy writing and clear illustrations of children at play. Reading list. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(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.

(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.

(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