Book picks similar to
Boys United by Tom Palmer


football
st-james-7
for-lola
junior

Friday Night Stage Lights


Rachele Alpine - 2018
    But after her mom gets remarried and moves them to Texas, everything changes. Thanks to her star football player stepbrother, her family is football obsessed. And thanks to a new conditioning program, the middle school football team starts to take classes at her dance studio—the only place Brooklyn felt like she belonged.She has a chance to escape if she can get into her dream high school, The Texas School of the Arts, where she’ll be able to pursue her passion for dance. Brooklyn just has to get through the big All-City showcase first, where a ton of scouts will be there, including one from TSOTA.But when Brooklyn’s dance partner gets injured, she has to turn to an unexpected ally—Logan, a boy on the middle school football team—to help her get through the showcase. With some fancy footwork, teamwork and a little understanding, can Brooklyn make her mark, and dance her way onto a bigger stage?

Are You There, Buddha?


Pip Harry - 2021
    She's not ready to become a woman yet, whatever that means.Although Bee's yet to find her tribe at school, her best friend forever is surfer Leon McKay, also known as the hottest boy in Year Eight. As long as Leon has her back, Bee can survive the mean girls, her meddling step-mum, Kath, and her swimming nemesis, The Piranha.Over one blistering summer, set against the backdrop of bushfires, smoke haze and water restrictions, Bee will grow up, show up, and make a name for herself.From the author of The Little Wave, winner of the 2020 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers.'Fresh, authentic, poignant, light and dark by turns - I wish I'd read this when I was growing up.' JANE GODWIN'This is the book I wish I'd read when I was twelve! Entering high school, dealing with bullies, changing friendships... a turmoil of emotions and a wonderful resilient character to lead us through.' BREN MACDIBBLE

The League


Thatcher Heldring - 2013
    He can play by the rules like he always does, or he can follow his heart—even if it means lying to the people he cares about the most. But if Wyatt wants to play in the league, he must learn to accept the penalties.

Hockey Meltdown (Jake Maddox Sports Stories)


Jake Maddox - 2011
    He knows this will be the year his hockey team wins. Then a pre-season injury takes him out of the game. Even though his wrist is healing, he's too weak to play. Can Dylan be part of the team if he's stuck on the bench?

About the B'nai Bagels


E.L. Konigsburg - 1969
    Their manager was Bessie Setzer, but every one called her Mother Bagel, and the team grew to love her and even Spencer, Brother Bagel, their coach. Which was fine for everyone but Mark Setzer. For him it made problems. Because with a mother as manager and a brother as coach, he felt he had lost his right to be awful on the field and had gained a lot of sticky situations. Then, in addition to worrying about his performance on the baseball team, be had to worry about his performance at his Bar Mitzvah and about his friend, Hersch, who had moved to another part of town and found another best friend. Practicing in the relative privacy of The Projects, where there were some very good and very interesting players, helped Mark's game. It took more than that to help the rest, though. And there were some tough moments before Mark felt competent to handle the social situations and moral decisions his position demanded of him.

Losing It


Erin Fry - 2012
    But there’s no way Bennett could ever play baseball. Bennett is fat, the kind of fat that gives you belly button sweat stains and makes it tough to get off a saggy couch.But on one perfect, baseball-watching day, everything changes. Bennett’s dad is taken away on a stretcher, and Bennett doesn’t know if he will live or die.Now Bennett has to move in with know-it-all Aunt Laura, his mom’s sister, who hates Bennett’s dad. And Aunt Laura is making it her personal mission to Get Bennett Healthy. Bennett knows that Aunt Laura will take over his entire life if he lets her.It’s time for Bennett to step up to the plate. Because maybe there are some things a fat boy can do.

Blood, Sweat and McAteer: A Footballer's Story


Jason McAteer - 2016
    But for eleven-year-old Jason McAteer, growing up in the shadow of Liverpool FC, football became the dream. After signing with Bolton Wanderers at the age of twenty-one, the call to the international scene followed with the Republic of Ireland and, soon after, to his beloved Liverpool FC. The dream had become a reality. From his time with the Irish World Cup squad of 1994 to those tumultuous days in Saipan in 2002; on through his decision to leave Liverpool for Blackburn Rovers; his move to Sunderland, and the depression he fell into after finishing his professional career with Tranmere Rovers, Jason McAteer looks back with characteristic honesty and humour on his life - the jokes, the matches, and the personalities.This is the real Jason McAteer: a little bit bruised, a little bit battered. But still fighting.

Lost in the Sun


Lisa Graff - 2015
    Trent’s pretty positive the entire disaster was his fault, so for him middle school feels like a fresh start, a chance to prove to everyone that he's not the horrible screw-up they seem to think he is.  If only Trent could make that fresh start happen. It isn’t until Trent gets caught up in the whirlwind that is Fallon Little—the girl with the mysterious scar across her face—that things begin to change. Because fresh starts aren’t always easy. Even in baseball, when a fly ball gets lost in the sun, you have to remember to shift your position to find it.

Bobby Moore: By the Person Who Knew Him Best


Tina Moore - 2014
    As the only English football captain ever to raise the World Cup, he was not just a football icon but a national one.Yet Bobby was an intensely reserved, almost mysterious personality. Only one person was his true friend and confidante – his boyhood sweetheart, Tina, whom he met at 17 and married soon after.Tina Moore’s story of her life with Bobby, the triumphs and crises of his football career, the break-up of their marriage and what happened afterwards, is a moving tribute to a national icon by the person who knew him better than anyone.

Beyond Lucky


Sarah Aronson - 2011
    So when Ari finds a rare and valuable Wayne Timcoe trading card, he's sure his luck has changed for the better. Especially when he's picked to be the starting goalie on his team. But when the card is stolen-and his best friend and the new girl on the team accuse each other of taking it-suddenly Ari can't save a goal, everyone is fighting, and he doesn't know who, or what, to believe in. Before the team falls apart, Ari must learn how to make his own luck, and figure out what it truly means to be a hero.

In Search of Duncan Ferguson: The Life and Crimes of a Footballing Enigma


Alan Pattullo - 2013
    A tall, lean striker with the world at his feet, Ferguson seemed destined to develop into one of Scotland's most successful exports, but anger, and a number of injuries, hampered his progress. Ferguson has scored the most goals of any Scot in the Premiership but also shares the record for Premiership red cards. In 1995, he became the first professional footballer to be jailed for an offence committed on the pitch. It earned him a three-month sentence in Glasgow's infamous Barlinnie Prison and a twelve-match ban from the SFA. Bruised by the experience, he walked away from the Scotland team and blanked the media from then on. Featuring contributions from numerous top players, this explosive biography uncovers the real Duncan Ferguson. The author delves into Ferguson's personal and professional life and reveals that there is more to him than the media portrayal of a Scottish hard man.

And it was Beautiful: Marcelo Bielsa and the Rebirth of Leeds United


Phil Hay - 2021
    

Losers Take All


David Klass - 2015
    So Jack and a group of anti-athletic friends decide to rebel. They create a third-string soccer team whose mission is to avoid victory at any cost. But as the team’s losing formula becomes increasingly successful at attracting fans and attention, Jack and his teammates are winning in ways they never expected—and don’t know how to handle.

Fumble Baby


Bella Grant - 2017
    She’s a recent college grad stuck working the checkout lane of her hometown grocery store. For all she knows, love will never find her … until she gets a friend request from the hot football player who bullied her in high school. Someone she swore she’d never talk to ever again. Travis is a pro football star and enjoys the advantages of that life: money, women, fame. But deep down, he’s missing something – the nerdy hot girl he had been mean to in high school. When he sees her picture on social media, he only hopes she’ll forgive him and give him a chance to show her how much he’d always wanted her - how much he needs her now. PUBLISHER'S NOTE: FUMBLE BABY is a standalone happily-ever-after romance story with no cliffhangers

The Rookie Bookie


L. Jon Wertheim - 2014
    New kid Mitch Sloan wants to fit in, but his nerdy love of statistics and making money isn't winning him any friends in his sports-loving town--until he finds the perfect way to attain instant popularity. But running a football betting ring at school eventually turns sour, and Mitch loses the only real friend he's made. He'll have to win her back by using his brainpower for good and helping the school football team achieve victory--if they'll listen to the advice of a former bookie!