As we enter March Madness, you may be interested in picking up some fun books centering around basketball for you or a loved one. I have compiled a list of options you might be interested in based on age. If you were so inclined you could even check them all out and pit them against each other in a bracket…
Early Elementary
I got next by Daria Peoples-Riley
It’s game day! In this action-packed picture book from Daria Peoples-Riley, the creator of the acclaimed This Is It, a young basketball player gets ready for a neighborhood pickup game. I Got Next encourages hard work and determination and celebrates the imagination and the joy of basketball. Fans of Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, by Derrick Barnes, will devour this exuberant book.
Long Shot: never too small to dream big by Chris Paul
Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul–NBA All-Star and former Rookie of the year, community activist, and Olympic gold medalist–shares his inspiring story of overcoming impossible odds to achieve his dream of playing professional basketball. Everybody told Chris that he was too small to play basketball. But he ignored them all…because he had big dreams.
Tweens
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Kwame Alexander’s New York Times bestseller and Newbery Medal-winning The Crossover is vividly brought to life as a graphic novel with stunning illustrations by star talent Dawud Anyabwile. See the Bell family in a whole new light through Dawud Anyabwile’s dynamic illustrations as the brothers’ winning season unfolds, and the world as they know it begins to change. Plus you can join us for our Graphic Novel Crew on March 22nd where we will discuss this novel!
Who is the man in the air? : Michael Jordan by Gabriel Soria
Explore the relentless grit of Michael Jordan, as he powers through a mysterious illness in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA finals against the Utah Jazz, infamously known as The Flu Game. A story of athleticism, willpower, and triumph, this graphic novel invites readers to immerse themselves into the unyielding drive of the one of the greatest basketball players of all time — brought to life by gripping narrative and vivid full-color illustrations that jump off the page.
Teens
Planet Middle Scool by Nikki Grimes
New York Times bestselling author of One Last Word and Coretta Scott King award-winning Bronx Masquerade Nikki Grimes offers fresh novel in verse story about young heartbreak and hope. In short, poems that perfectly capture the crazy feelings of adolescence and first crushes, award-winning author Nikki Grimes has crafted a delightful, often hilarious, heart-tugging story.
Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court — but don’t tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny’s father, still smarting from his own troubles, knows Danny isn’t the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured.
Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang
In his latest graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches. Gene understands stories–comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins. But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it’s all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well.
Adults
Basketball: a love story by Jackie MacMullan
Inspired by a major ESPN film series, this is an extraordinary oral history of basketball–its eye-opening untold history, its profound deeper meaning, its transformative influence on the world–as told through an unprecedented series of candid conversations with the game’s ultimate icons. At once a definitive oral history and something far more revelatory and life affirming, Basketball: A Love Story is the defining untold oral history of how basketball came to be, and what it means to those who love it.
The inside, Moneyball-esque story of 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers and the team’s hero, LeBron James, telling the four-year story of how the Cavs lost their star player, but immediately put together both a plan and team that would bring the city a long-awaited NBA Championship.
