(Part 2) Best teen & young adult sports fiction books according to redditors

I remember reading this book as part of the American Girl Book club: Bat 6. It's always stuck with me. It's about two girls (12ish or so) who make friends while playing softball. But one of the girls is Japanese and ends up getting sent to an internment camp. Or maybe, she's just gotten out of one? I don't really remember, but it's VERY, VERY good.

It deals with how they just want to be friends, but both sets of adults in each of their lives is saying bad things about the other's race.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, I think it's more about the white girl working through her misgivings about the Japanese girl in the beginning. Guess it's time to reread it!

Ball don't lie is a basketball phrase.

See, for example, here and here.

The blog Ball Don't Lie is a direct take of that term (which most current fans associate with Rasheed Wallace) and Bill Don't Lie is a play on words on that same term. It's not a ripoff of the blog whatsoever.

Winners and Losers by Stephen Hoffius

There's a fictional book called Boy Toy about one that's pretty good.

The book discussed on the show
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hockey-Saint-Howard-Shapiro/dp/0991255011/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

The Basement Baseball Club?

https://www.amazon.com/Basement-Baseball-Club-Jeffrey-Kelly/dp/0816718199

Vintage apple stickers, a copy of Derby Girl and Roller Girl

umm..okay

Well, there's always the classic Scrubs on Skates series. Published in the 50s and written by Neil Young's dad Scott.

As for non-fiction, I really liked From the Broadcast Booth by Brian McFarlane. He also has a series profiling the Original Six teams. Link to Leafs one because bias.

Takedown, by Joyce Sweeney

>When Joe Anderson finally talks his mom into letting him have some friends over without adult supervision, he gets more excitement than he bargained for. Just as Joe, his twin sister, and their friends settle in to watch a wrestling match on TV, an uninvited guest shows up––escaped killer Quentin Charles Dorn! Held hostage with along with his friends, Joe turns to thoughts of his hero, wrestler Jack Shine. Are there lessons in the ring that can work in the real world? Or will Joe risk everyone’s life trying to be a hero? This fast-paced thriller will keep readers guessing right up to the final bell!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Brave-Robert-Lipsyte/dp/0064470792

I remember reading this book years ago as a kid, around the same age as Hatchet I guess. Called, Banner in the sky. And the author of hatchet has a sequel called The River if you liked it.

http://www.amazon.com/Banner-Sky-James-Ramsey-Ullman/dp/0064470482

Hoses that live in the ocean, are incredibly vicious and carnivorous, and are raced for fun/profit. My wife loved driving me crazy by retelling it in detail every night after she read. I hated^loved^it_was_alright

http://www.amazon.com/The-Scorpio-Races-Maggie-Stiefvater/dp/054522490X

This is a fun, light-reading, surfing-related YA trilogy.

Would good biographies of wrestlers, surfers, or rappers be of interest?

Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways To Fly

https://www.amazon.com/Dirt-Bikes-Drones-Other-Ways/dp/0544232690

was 16 when I read it so im not sure how it holds up but probably is fine for adults (its YA novel so, idk how old you are lol) amazon puts it at 4.7/5

Swim the Fly and its sequels. They are absolutely awesome.

i had this same idea a few months ago. I ended up buying this book here http://www.amazon.com/Mediocampista-Soccer-Halfback-Christopher-Spanish/dp/0316737712

I don't know how far you are into spanish but on a 1-10 scale, with 10 being a super complex spanish novel and 1 being the simplest book you could imagine, I'd put this around 5ish. I'd say it's just a little too advanced for me because I find myself looking up a lot of words. It is getting easier though, just because this is a young teen book about a soccer player so some words that I originally had to look up, have become repetitive. This book will be slow going at first if you were where i was at, but it gets easier. Plus i got a used copy for a few bucks on ebay, i say give it a shot.

and just for a frame of reference, I'm 24 years old now. I took 3 years of spanish in high school (9th, 10th, 11th grade), then didn't really touch on it or use it until about 2 years ago, I started working at a company with a lot of spanish guys. I try speaking simple stuff with them everyday (though most of our conversations are related to our HVAC field) and have gotten a little better doing this.