If you’re interested in reading fiction about sports, check out the following young adult fiction! The teenage main characters in these novels learn about life while they play sports. These books cover a wide variety of sports from football to hockey to basketball, focusing on personal growth, overcoming obstacles, and different forms of competition. As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

All the noise at once by DeAndra Davis

All Aiden has ever wanted to do was play football just like his star quarterback brother, Brandon. An overstimulation meltdown gets in the way of Aiden making the team during summer tryouts, but when the school year starts and a spot unexpectedly needs to be filled, he finally gets a chance to play the game he loves.

However, not every player is happy about the new addition to the team, wary of how Aiden’s autism will present itself on game day. Tensions rise. A fight breaks out. Cops are called.

Brandon interferes on behalf of his brother, but is arrested by the very same cops who, just hours earlier, were chanting his name from the bleachers. When he’s wrongly charged for felony assault on an officer, everything Brandon has worked for starts to slip away, and the brothers’ relationship is tested. As Brandon’s trial inches closer, Aiden is desperate to figure out what really happened that night. Can he clear his brother’s name in time? – Antheneum Books for Young Readers

Balancing Act by Paula Chase (The Heights volume 1)

A Sweet Valley High for a new generation, a dishy, dazzling YA drama set against the backdrop of an elite charter school where stars are made—or fade.

When Chyna gets a scholarship to the newest, most prestigious sports school in the city, it’s the best opportunity to do the gymnastics she loves. But between caring for her ailing mother and dealing with the elitist girls on her gymnastics team, she’s not sure she belongs.

Meanwhile, Jamaal is reeling from the death of his brother—who was also secretly Chyna’s boyfriend. Becoming star of the Power Panthers basketball team is his way to honor his brother’s memory and nothings going to stand in his way. Not even his health.

Filled with gossip, high-stakes sports drama, and tons of heart, BALANCING ACT is the first in a riveting new series about teens fighting for their dreams in a city where picking a side is no game. – Wednesday Books

Fake Skating by Lynn Painter

Growing up, Dani couldn’t help but follow around the adorable son of her mom’s best friend. Funny, kind of nerdy, and a little soft, Alec was always down to hang with Dani when they were little. From play dates to sneaking into movie theaters, Dani and Alec were inseparable. Until Dani moved away. Alec promised they’d stay in touch—except, they didn’t.

Flash forward and Dani is back in Minnesota for her senior year, she and her mom living with her grandfather. Dealing with the fallout of her parents’ devastating divorce, Dani wouldn’t mind a nerd-out with the cozy and comforting Alec (and maybe a chance to confront him on his MIA status for all these years). But teenage Alec is nothing like the kid Dani remembers. He’s a hockey star in a town where hockey players are worshiped as gods. Dani’s place as his shadow has been taken up by drooling female fans…and he loves it.

Dani is resolved to ice out her former best friend until an unlikely series of events brings them together—and forces them to fake being a couple. Once stuck together, the former childhood sweethearts begin to reconnect, unearth complicated family secrets, and face their true feelings towards each other…including the real reason Alec has been pushing Dani away all these years. – Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Heart Check : a varsity novel by Emily Charlotte (book 1 in Varsity series)

A star hockey player and his biggest critic must reexamine their assumptions about each other when forced to work together at an after-school job in this feel-good young adult rom-com debut about breaking the ice.

Luke Dawson and Harper Braedon could have been friends. They trade shifts at the same diner, share classes at school, and are driven by their greatest passions: hockey for Dawson and jewelry-making for Harper. But some things aren’t meant to be. Dawson thinks Harper is stuck-up, too good for anything resembling school spirit. Harper thinks Dawson is a self-centered jock, a perfect fit for a hockey team that seems to absorb all the budget away from the arts departments.

When his beloved hockey coach gets fired for misallocation of funds, Dawson is terrified that all his plans for impressing scouts are vanishing before his eyes. A rumor goes around that Harper was the one who got him fired, and suddenly she’s public enemy number one.

But even with their mutual dislike at an all-time high, Harper and Dawson can’t escape splitting shifts forever. Can forced proximity help them find some common ground, or will long-held grudges finally succeed in bringing them both down? – Margaret K. McElderry Books

Most Valuable Player by A. M. Woody

The cocky star QB and the team’s sarcastic water boy. What could go wrong? A sports romance with humor and heart from the author of They Hate Each Other

Cameron Morelli is hot sh*t. Worse, he knows it. With a godlike physique and a position as his varsity football team’s star quarterback, there’s nobody he can’t charm. So one might imagine his mortification when he’s rejected by Mason Gray, the team’s snarky water boy. To make matters worse, this disgrace is followed by Cam’s coach benching him until he can get his grades up. Luckily, a reliable tutor steps forward to help Cam reclaim his dignity—the boy who just humiliated him.

For Mason, tutoring an airheaded jock is nothing but a distraction from a past he can’t escape. What he doesn’t expect is to find something worthwhile in their conversations—something softening in the ice between them. Nor does Cam expect that Mason’s calm smile hides a harrowing story. As they slowly nudge through each other’s steel gates, the dangerous realities beyond high school threaten their deepening bond.

But really, it’s about football. – Viking Books for Young Readers

One of The Boys by Victoria Zeller

From exciting debut talent Victoria Zeller comes One of the Boys, a coming-of-age story with an unforgettable voice following one trans girl’s journey through the intimate relationships of newly-out queerness, the goofy banter of 17-year old jocks, and the epic highs and lows of high school football.

Grace Woodhouse has left a lot behind. She used to have a great friend group, an amazing girlfriend, and a right foot set to earn her a Division I football scholarship—before she came out as trans. As senior year begins, Grace is struggling to find her place in early transition, new social circles, and a life without football. But when her skills as the best kicker in the state prove to be vital, her old teammates beg her to come out of retirement, dragging her back into a sport—into a way of life—she thought had turned its back on her forever. When a chance meeting cracks the door to college football back open, she has to decide how much of herself she’s willing to give up for the game she loves. – Levine Querido

Rhino’s run by Robert Lipsyte

“You can’t play it safe when you’re the captain.”

From celebrated author Robert Lipsyte, this powerful coming-of-age follows high school football player Ronnie “Rhino” Rhinehart after a violent incident at school leaves him questioning everything he ever believed.

Ronnie Rhinehart, better known as Rhino on the field, is the captain of his high school team in Woodhaven, a small town obsessed with football. His only goal is to earn a Division I football scholarship so he can escape this town forever. Until the day he punches Josh Kremens in the face.

To avoid serious punishment and stay in school, Ronnie is forced to join Group, a cast of misfits who discuss their feelings with a counselor. At the same time, tensions are rising on the football team. Not everyone is happy that Ronnie, a junior, was named captain, especially Cogan and his friends the Berserkers. Other than his best friend, Andy, Ronnie struggles to find solace and support, even at home, where his dad puts pressure on him to maintain his role on the team. Reluctantly, Ronnie finds himself liking aspects of Group, even if he isn’t always a welcome presence to the other members. Then one fateful day, Keith, another Group member, comes to school with a gun . . . and everything changes. – HarperCollins

This thing of ours by Frederick Joseph

In an instant, Ossie Brown’s entire future is in jeopardy when a torn ACL ends his promising basketball career. Now that basketball is no longer a major part of his identity, Ossie—a Black teen who doesn’t come from wealth and privilege—must navigate his new place in the social and academic ecosystems of his affluent, predominantly white school. When a Black teacher encourages him to join her highly regarded writing program, Ossie begins to find a new purpose, buoyed by not only the rich works of literature by marginalized authors he’s now reading, but also by new friends who see him as something more than an asset to the sports program. Everything changes when some students’ viral “anti-woke” video puts the teacher’s job, the writing program, and even Ossie’s friends’ safety at risk—and Ossie must find his true voice. This unflinching novel confronts critical issues like racism and classism, the treatment of student athletes, homophobia, and book banning while weaving together a moving testament to family, romance, friendship, and the power of words. – Candlewick