Top 15 Sports Books For Teens Updated 04 /2024

YA books about sports aren't the most common, but for some reason, I keep coming across them even though I don't like sports! Then again, some of my favorite characters and sports I didn't think teenagers played in high school are in these books. That's why I made this list.

In this list of young adult books about sports, you'll meet people who row and play hockey. You'll also see gymnasts, basketball players, a sumo wrestler, soccer players, and a lot of other people there, too.

We Are the Perfect Girl

Aphra Brown is bold and a little crazy. Her best friend, Bethany, is so beautiful that it hurts. Both of them could work on their self-esteem on their own, but when they work together? All together, they can win over Greg D'Agostino, a proverbial "ten," who can speak six languages, and seven more if you count the language that burns in your eyes as one.

What starts out as a simple mistake quickly turns into a complicated ruse. Bethany goes on dates with Greg while Aphra gives her advice on what to say and texts him in the guise of Bethany, trying and failing to keep her own crush at bay. In the end, things will fall apart. What will happen when Greg learns? And will Aphra and Bethany's friendship be able to stand up to the fallout?

Girl Against the Universe

16-year-old Maguire knows everything is against her. Not even if she has a lot of good luck charms she buys from the internet or performs good luck ritual every morning, bad things happen when they're around her. I think it was like that time the roller coaster jumped off its tracks. There was the time Maguire walked away from a car accident with no injuries. Her brother, father and uncle were all killed in the accident, but Maguire was fine. Maguire doesn't care what her therapist says. She thinks it's best to stay in her room, far away from anyone she might hurt. Jordy, a tennis star-in-the-making, comes into the picture. He wants to help her break her bad luck. He needs Maguire to stay away, but it turns out it may be more difficult than she thought.

Here to Stay

During high school, what happens when one of the kids who hasn't been talked about is called up to make the winning basket?

He gets high fives in the hallways and invites to exclusive parties if his name is Bijan Majidi. A school cyberbully sends him a picture that makes him look like a terrorist.

The administration says they'll find and punish the person who did this. Bijan wants to forget about it. When people see him, they don't want him to be the face of Islamophobia. Many of his classmates want to help him. He or anyone who looks like him isn't welcome at their school. People can be hard to tell apart, and it's not always easy to figure out who is good and who is bad.

After The Shot Drops

Friend Bunny and Nasir have been best friends for a long time. When Bunny accepts an athletic scholarship in another town, Nasir feels like he's been let down. New, rich friends are making Bunny feel out of place. Nasir spends more time with his cousin Wallace, who is moving out. Nasir can't help but wonder why everyone in the neighborhood helps Bunny when Wallace is in trouble.

Whenever Wallace bets against Bunny, Nasir has a very hard choice to make.

After the Shot Drops is a heart-pounding story about the responsibilities of great talent and the importance of being kind. It's told from two different points of view.

Tumbling

It doesn't matter how hard Grace tries, she can never be good enough.

As Grace's best friend, Leigh does gymnastics and has a normal high school life. and a secret that could make everything bad.

As a child, Camille wants to be liked by her mother and her boyfriend. She also wants to walk away.

When Wilhelmina was told she couldn't go to the Olympics four years ago, she didn't give up. She won't let anything stop her again. I don't care what.

Monica is afraid. Nobody has faith in her, and why should they?

It will be over after the two days of the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, and some of these girls will be big stars. Some people will go home with nothing. All of their lives will be changed for good.

On The Road To Find Out

She runs on New Year's Day. Her first time. It's painful and embarrassing, but getting turned down by the only college she cares about was even worse. People like Alice's best friend Jenni and her pet rat Walter don't want to hear about how bad she is. On the Road to Find Out by Rachel Toor: But what she doesn't know is that by taking those first steps out of the door, she's setting off on a new path full of new challenges, like vicious side stitches, chafing in unmentionable places, and race-paced first love. She's also strengthening herself to keep going when the going gets tougher than she ever imagined.

Sumo (Graphic Novel)

In the end, Scott was a football player who never made it, and his girlfriend left him and his dreams of playing in the NFL. In this sweet, poetic story, things work out for the best. As the old chapter in Scott's life comes to an end, a new one starts up in its place. Scott gives up his old life, his old name, and even his old hair color to become an aspiring sumo wrestler when he gets a job at a Japanese sumo training "stable." Then, he starts to find a place in himself that had been lost for good.

Thien Pham, the acclaimed illustrator of Gene Luen Yang's Level Up, is back to write and draw a new comic book.

Pham's Sumo is a unique and beautiful book because it's written in a way that reflects the buildup and sudden clash of a sumo match. "It's almost like a contradiction in terms: a story that is very soft, very clever, and very tender." sumo fights

Justin #1 (Blacktop Series)

Justin keeps a list of goals under his mattress. It's the first thing to do. Number 5 says that you should get a Zen Master rating in WoW. It's not on that list, but he always finds himself in trouble.

The first book in LJ Alonge's new basketball series is full of action both on and off the court. When Justin talks about himself with humor, wit, and honesty, he shows how his life has changed over one hot summer.

Bruised

She was a black belt in Tae Kwon Do when she was 16, but when she froze in the middle of a holdup at a local diner, the gunman was shot and killed by the police. Imogen blames herself for his death. Before the shooting, she thought that because she had a black belt, she was stronger than everyone else. She was more responsible and more able. But now that her sense of who she is has been shaken, she has to start over. This includes redefining her relationship with her family and figuring out how to deal with first love with the boy who was at the diner with her during the shoot-out, among other things. It's full of action, romance, and a complicated heroine. It's full of dark humor and hard truths, and it's a great book for people who are young adults.

---