Showing results for "Coming of Age" in Sports Fiction

It's 1950 and Mickey Tussler - the now-famous pitching prodigy with autism and a golden arm - is back for another baseball season in this third installment of Frank Nappi's critically acclaimed Legend of Mickey Tussler series. Talk of Mickey's legendary exploits on the field has grown since his improbable debut two years prior, as have the fortunes of Murph and the rest of the lovable ragtag Brew Crew. Now Mickey, Murph, and Lester find themselves heading to Bean Town to play for the Boston Braves.

In the late 1940s, the minor league Milwaukee Brewers are foundering yet again and manager Arthur Murphy is desperate. When he sees 17-year-old Mickey Tussler throwing apples into a barrel, he knows he has found the next pitching phenom. But not everyone is so hopeful. Mickey’s autism - a disorder still not truly understood even today - has alienated the boy from the world, and he is berated by other players and fans. Mickey faces immense trials in the harsh and competitive world of baseball while coping with the challenges inherent to his disorder.

From the beloved author of Tweet Cute comes Emma Lord's You Have a Match, a hilarious and heartfelt novel of romance, sisterhood, and friendship. When Abby signs up for a DNA service, it’s mainly to support her friend and secret love interest, Leo. After all, she knows who she is already: avid...

2025 Crystal Kite Honor Winner for Midsouth Region Twyla is far from fine. With her varsity field hockey career on the line, her friendships in shambles, and a medical diagnosis that is far from the truth, Twyla simply wants to be heard. Stronger at the Seams is a powerful coming-of-age story...

Can surfing change your life? For Ellie, it most certainly does. Vezna Andrews’ debut novel is set in 1980s Southern California, where sixteen-year-old Ellie discovers herself through her love of surfing. Born and raised in New York City, Ellie’s world is turned upside down when her father unexpectedly dies and her mother sends her to Manhattan Beach, California to live with her Aunt Jen and her Uncle Charlie—both avid surfers.

From the James Beard Award-winning author of Ruhlman’s Twenty comes a gritty story that gives a true look inside the belly of an upscale kitchen where love and danger boil behind closed doors. “The hustle and passion that flow during service drop readers squarely in the middle of the action...

From debut author Katharyn Blair comes a heart-stopping fantasy novel, perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and The Young Elites, about a teenage runaway who enters a dangerous tournament with an impossible prize. Vesper Montgomery can summon your worst fear and turn it into a reality—but...

After an injury forces Ria off the diving team, an unexpected friendship with Cotton, a guy on the autism spectrum, helps her come to terms with the abusive relationship she’s been in with her former coach. Ria Williams was an elite diver on track for the Olympics. As someone who struggled in...

Meet Tariq Nader, leader of ‘The Wolf Pack’ at Punchbowl Boys. He has been asked by the new principal to join a football competition with his mates in order to rehabilitate the public image of their school. But there’s a catch – half of the team is made up of high-school boys from Cronulla, also known as enemy territory – and Tariq must compete with their strongest player for the position of captain. With complications on all fronts, he must learn to control his anger, and find what it takes to be a leader.

*A Barnes & Noble Teen Blog's Most Anticipated LGBTQAP YA Book of 2019* Jenna Watson is a cheerleader. And she wants you to know it’s not some Hollywood crap: they are not every guy’s fantasy. They are not the “mean girls” of Marsen High School. They’re literally just human females...

Parker Shelton pretty much has the perfect life. She's on her way to becoming valedictorian at Hundred Oaks High, she's made the all-star softball team, and she has plenty of friends. Then her mother's scandal rocks their small town and suddenly no one will talk to her. Now Parker wants a new life. So she quits softball. Drops twenty pounds. And she figures why kiss one guy when she can kiss three. Or four. Why limit herself to high school boys when the majorly cute new baseball coach seems especially flirty?