Secrecy, Jealousy, Courage

Double Exposure

by Bridget Birdsall

Fifteen-year-old Alyx Atlas starts school in a new state with a new identity--as a girl--but a bully on the basketball court threatens to reveal that Alyx is an intersex person, which could disqualify Alyx and the team from playing in the state championship game. Will Alyx find the courage to stand up for the truth of her personhood, or will she do what she's always done - run away? Whatever she decides, she knows there's much more at stake than a championship win Call # YA BIRDSALL, BRIDGET

Abe Lincoln Nominee!

Winger

by Andrew Smith

Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He's living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he's madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.

With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life's complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what's important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.

Call # YA SMITH, ANDREW 

Fresh, Fearless, Totally Romantic!

They're from two different worlds. 

He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time 

in the stables helping her father train horses. 

In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin: cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules - no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.

 With her dream of becoming a jockey, Savannah isn't 

exactly one to follow the rules either. 

She's not going to let someone tell her a girl isn't tough enough to race. 

Sure, it's dangerous. 

Then again, so is dating Jack.. 

Call # YA KENNEALLY, MIRANDA 

Based on a true story...

Felix O'Sullivan's world is crumbling around him: the mine that employs most of town is on the brink of closing, threatening to shatter the entire town. But Red's got his own burdens to bear: his older brother, Bobby, died in the war, and he's been struggling to follow in his footsteps ever since. That means assuming Bobby's old position as quarterback, and leading the last-ever Muckers team to the championship. Maybe then his angry, broken-hearted father will acknowledge him, and they'll be able to put Bobby's death behind them.

But the only way for the hardscrabble Muckers team to win State is to go undefeated, and tackle their biggest rival, Phoenix United, which would be something of a miracle.

Call #: YA Wallace, Sandra Neil NEW

A Boy with a Golden Arm...

The Pitcher

by William Hazelgrove

13 year-old Ricky Hernandez has a 75 mph pitch and dreams of making the freshman baseball team.  His first step toward a professional career. 

He's dyslexic, of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, and is ceaselessly taunted by his peers, led by a kid named Eric with an inside track to making the team. 

While most of Ricky's teammates can afford sports camp and private lessons, Ricky and his mother are broke due to his abusive father's lack of financial support and his mother's mounting medical bills. Despite her deteriorating health, 

she has loads of attitude, brains, and charm.

 She single-handedly persuades their neighbor, "The Pitcher," who played in the World Series, to set aside his beer, leave his garage, and coach Ricky.

Call # YA HAZELGROVE, WILLIAM

Want to play college ball? Better learn to play the game...

Terrell Jamerson is the #1 high school basketball player in the country. His team is poised to win State, top colleges are lining up to give him scholarships, and everyone says he could play in the NBA tomorrow. But it only takes one false step to lose everything.

Danny Wilcox is Terrell’s best friend and teammate, and a top prospect himself, but these days it seems like everyone wants to get close to Terrell: the sneaker guys, the money managers, the college boosters. They show up offering fast cars, hot girls, and cold, hard cash. They say they just want to help, but their kind of help could get Terrell disqualified.

Danny and Terrell better keep their eyes on the ball if they hope to last the season.

Call #: YA Feinstein, John NEW

Latest from Deuker!

Swagger

by

Carl Deuker

When high school senior Jonas moves to Seattle, he is glad to meet Levi, a nice, soft-spoken guy and fellow basketball player. Suspense builds like a slow drumbeat as readers start to smell a rat in Ryan Hartwell, a charismatic basketball coach and sexual predator. When Levi reluctantly tells Jonas that Hartwell abused him, Jonas has to decide whether he should risk his future career to report the coach. Pitch-perfect basketball plays, well-developed characters, and fine storytelling make this heartbreaking psychological sports novel a slam dunk.

Call #: YA Deuker, Carl NEW

Eric Horton finds himself plagued by terrible nightmares of explosions, fire, and someone screaming. The more they occur, the more real they seem, causing him to question whether they're just harmless dreams or foreshadowing of a dark and devastating future.

 

Call #: YA Richardson, Tracy

Wild new read!

Wild Cards

by

Simone Elkeles

After getting kicked out of boarding school, bad boy Derek Fitzpatrick has no choice but to live with his ditzy stepmother while his military dad is deployed. Things quickly go from bad to worse when he finds out she plans to move them back to her childhood home in Illinois. Derek’s counting the days before he can be on his own, and the last thing he needs is to get involved with someone else’s family drama.

Ashtyn Parker knows one thing for certain, people you care about leave without a backward glance. A football scholarship would finally give her the chance to leave. So she pours everything into winning a state championship, until her boyfriend and star quarterback betrays them all by joining their rival team. Ashtyn needs a new game plan, but it requires trusting Derek, someone she barely knows, someone born to break the rules. Is she willing to put her heart on the line to try and win it all?

Call #: YA Elkeles, Simone NEW

Basketball season is ON!

Mike Lupica gives us another sports drama with:

True Legend

There's a reason teammates call him "True." Because for basketball phenom Drew Robinson, there is nothing more true than his talent on the court. It's the kind that comes along once in a generation and is loaded with perks--and with problems.

Before long, True buys in to his own hype, much to the chagrin of his mother, who wants to keep her boy's head grounded--and suddenly trouble has a way of finding him. That is, until a washed-up former playground legend steps back onto the court and takes True under his wing.

In this age of street agents promising riches to kids barely out of elementary school and college programs being taken down because of recruiting violations,True Legend is a resonant and inspiring novel in the Lupica tradition. - NYTimes