Best Teen & Young Adult Extreme Sports Fiction

Seventeen-year-old Luke Savage jumps at the chance, envisioning endless hours of sunbathing on the private beach and riding the waves on his beloved surfboard.

Peter runs away from his foster home ... and right into danger Peter is a genius with dirt bikes. Matt Christopher is the best selling name behind more than 100 sports-themed books for young readers.

If Cam can stay on for the requisite eight seconds, could the $15,000 prize bring hope and a future for his big brother? Chapter One. Folks in Salt Lick say I couldn't shake bull riding if I tried. But if you've ever looked a sixteen-hundred-pound bucking bull named Ugly in the eye and thought about holding on to his back with a stiff rawhide handle, some pine tar, and a prayer, well, you'd know why I favored skateboarding. My grandpa Roy, my dad, my brother, Ben, they could all go as crazy as they liked, sticking eight seconds on a bull for the adrenaline rush and maybe a silver buckle. It was June and my big brother, Ben, was home on leave from the Marines. "Cam, I'm gonna break that thing and then you'll have time for something really extreme." "When are you gonna stop being some wannabe skater punk and do rodeo?" It's just his hair was buzzed from being in the Marines, and without his cowboy hat, he seemed stiff and different. He was Nevada State High School Bull Riding Champion and all. Grandpa Roy'd put in the money for an entry -- it was enough for a new skateboard for me, but that wasn't in his plan. It was almost time, and now that Ben was done squashing me, he rummaged in his drawer for his lucky socks. Me, come August, I had to face Mr. Killworth, "the knucklecruncher," in ninth grade. They looked regular enough -- gray work socks -- but he'd worn the fuzz down to a shine on the bottoms. Dad bought pop and ice cream for us, and Lali about jumped out of her skin, waving at the girls in their satin shirts and bright new jeans who galloped in carrying the flags. I was wired up, counting the minutes till the bull riders and Ben's go-round. His first bull was young and wanted to run around the ring instead of bucking. But the offspring gave Ben a wicked ride, hopping and twisting and kicking up a dust storm. The high school girls covered their eyes and shrieked when Ben landed. The guys slapped him on the back, and he disappeared behind the chutes, king of the bull ring. I pushed my hair out of my eyes and spotted Mike Gianni, my skateboarding buddy, and Favi Ruiz in the stands. Favi's father was foreman on our ranch, and they lived next door to us in the Old House, where my Grandpa Roy was born. The windows were down and the air blew around us, warm and sweet smelling from the sagebrush. "Man, those socks smell lucky and sweet," he said, and we laughed until I snorted. The tires hummed on the pavement, and after a while a pack of coyotes got to yipping as we drove by. The coyotes wound themselves into a frenzy -- howling and yelping till my skin bumped up. You're gonna win big money on the pro circuit and take it and raise bucking bulls. Ben had run on a hundred or so times about his plan to me and Dad and Grandpa. He put a stick of clove gum in his mouth and held the pack toward me. The truck swerved and Ben swung it back and forth a couple times across the empty road, and we laughed till it hurt. Two days later, Mom and Dad drove Ben in to Reno and he flew back to Iraq. Mom started marking the ninety days off on the kitchen calendar. Dad ran the video of Ben's high school championship ride again. There was Ben hanging on out of the chute, hand up, bull spinning. I knew that look by heart, so I slipped outside with my dog, Red, and my skateboard. Copyright © 2009 by Suzanne Morgan Williams. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Ocean breeze in her hair and sand between her toes, Anise can't wait to spend the summer before her senior year surfing and hanging out on the beach with friends. "Debut novelist Silverman realistically captures Anise's love for her surfing life and the terrible sacrifice she makes when leaving it behind for a whole summer, and her relationships with her family are bittersweet and loving, giving her depth of character. "Anise's reluctance to leave, rooted in worries of forgetting home and being forgotten, will resonate with readers who've ever been homesick...A quick summer read to reassure teens who worry about college or blooming where they're planted." The book features a cast of diverse characters and a fresh take on sports (surfing and skateboarding)... worthy of a spot in any teen's beach bag. ".

Ignatz Award winner Tillie Walden’s powerful graphic memoir Spinning captures what it’s like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing at ice rinks across the state. But as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given the reality: that she, and her friends on the team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. “Tillie Walden's Spinning is an engrossing, gorgeously quiet look back at the 12 years she devoted to figure and synchronized skating.” ― New York Times. “This beautiful story about sorrow, growth, and triumph will resonate in every reader’s heart.” ―Laurie Halse Anderson, New York Times –bestselling author and two-time National Book Award finalist. “This is a beautifully told story that will resonate with anyone who played an instrument, or did gymnastics, or got signed up for skating: these things weren't always what we wanted to do or cared about, but they gave us some focus when everything else was mystery and chaos.” ―Lucy Knisley, New York Times bestselling author of Relish: My Life in the Kitchen. “ Spinning is spare yet intimate, painfully honest, and oh-so-real.” ―Malinda Lo, three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist author of Ash and Adaptation.

"I felt love, excitement, respect and a ton of heartbreak..." - Amanda Nicole Books. The veil I’ve worn from birth carries with it a terrible loneliness; a suppression I cannot imagine ever being free of. When the peace delegation arrives from the savage world of Glacium, my life is shoved wildly out of control by the handsome Prince Kedrick who, for unfathomable reasons, shows me kindness. Sometimes it takes the world bringing you to your knees to find that spark you thought forever lost. "I felt love, excitement, respect and a ton of heartbreak..." - Amanda Nicole Books. When Kelly St Clare is not reading or writing, she is dreaming up a story in her head; the cause of many headaches for her friends and family, who have struggled to encourage her participation in normal activities - such as everyday life.

Instead, the legendary El Gato ("The Cat") quietly narrates a spellbinding tale that begins in a mythic corner of the South American rain forest, where a ghostly but very real mentor, the Keeper, emerges to teach the gangly boy the most thrilling secrets of the game. Grade 8 Up–When acclaimed South American journalist Paul Faustino begins his interview with World Cup soccer star El Gato, he expects to be recording the thoughts of a goalkeeper at the height of his career. Peet achieves his expressed desire to write an entirely new kind of soccer story, not only including the experience of play, but also mesmerizing readers with a supernatural mystery in a tale about relationships, loneliness, and believing in oneself.

She s thrilled when she discovers that the horse is real and, with the encouragement of Blackjack s owner, she learns to ride and show while developing a strong bond with the animal. But when tragedy strikes and Blackjack falls into the hands of a cruel trainer, Heather must find a way to get her beloved horse back before it is too late... Additionally, while the main character in the Morgan Horse series is a girl, and one of her best friends is a boy, their relationship is platonic. The reader will experience the thrill of competition in the ring as Heather and Blackjack participate in shows and the feeling of flight as she and Rusty jump the fences. Her accurate and detailed descriptions of basic horsemanship and stable management make the Morgan Horse Series books not only fun adventure stories, but educational as well.

Told in flashback, this is the story of 13-year-old Tom Leonard his AA hockey team and hometown's "can't miss kid." The relationships between father & son, adolescent friends, youth player & adult coach, and amongst hockey teammates are well done. I like the way that the main characters develop - Tom matures and learns the fun of playing a team game.

Through the eyes of Crash, readers get a rare glimpse into the life of a bully in this unforgettable and beloved story about stereotypes and the surprises life can bring. ?Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. "The line between dramatic monologue, verse novel, and standup comedy gets unequivocally-and hilariously and triumphantly-bent in this novel. "Nimbly blends sharp with unapologetic emotion....fluid narration deftly mingles raw feelings with funny, sardonic insight. "Alexie's humor and prose are easygoing and well suited to his young audience. "Fierce observations and sharp sense of humor...hilarious language.

An honest and knowledgeable book about overcoming adversity, and the basis for the television movie A Mile in His Shoes , Mickey’s powerful story shows that with support and determination anyone can be triumphant, even when the odds are stacked against him. -- Midwest Book Review. The Legend of Mickey Tussler is a very good story that I'm sure will resonate with those readers who have experience with special needs children and teens... -- BaseballBookReview.com. Praise for THE LEGEND OF MICKEY TUSSLER: "In my work with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America I see all kinds of challenges facing kids today, and this book does a very good job of treating gifted kids and teenagers with sensitivity and understanding in coping with and meeting these challenges." THE LEGEND OF MICKEY TUSSLER reaches the heart the way Alex Rodriguez reaches the bleachers." Milwaukee Brewer's manager Arthur Murphy recruits 17-year-old farm boy Mickey Tussler as a pitcher for his team. And though Mickey's slowness enrages his impossibly cruel father (who abuses his wife and derides Mickey as a "retard"), the boy's dad is happy to collect his son's pro baseball salary.