Football! Soccer! Swimming! Skateboarding! These seven novels ranging from early-to-upper middle grade cover many bases. See the Sports tag in the Guide/Reviews Database for even more.

The Big Splash [Julia on the Go!]
by Angela Ahn; illus. by Julie Kim
Primary, Intermediate    Tundra    176 pp.
2/25    9781774882078    $12.99
e-book ed.  9781774882085    $7.99

Picking up right where Swimming into Trouble (rev. 3/24) left off, the story finds Julia Nam, having recovered from her ear infection, back in the water, preparing for a regional swim meet. When Coach Marissa takes a leave of absence because of a family health emergency, a new coach steps in. Julia is sure that Coach Nathan “was the angriest, shoutiest swimming coach that the Vancouver Vipers had ever had.” His harsh and commanding coaching style, bitter tone of voice, and sour facial expressions cause several swimmers to leave the team, including Julia’s best friend. She becomes closer to Olivia, who she previously thought was unfriendly but now realizes is a lot of fun. Julia suspects that she needs to look differently at things she doesn’t like and ultimately realizes that she jumped to negative conclusions about Coach Nathan. Black-and-white illustrations help bring the swim team, coach drama, and friend dynamics to life. A lighthearted story that challenges readers to look deeper and see what’s beneath the surface. JULIE HAKIM AZZAM

The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze
by Derrick Barnes
Middle School    Viking    272 pp.
9/25    9781984836755    $17.99

Thirteen-year-old Henson Blayze is about to start eighth grade and, as his friend Menkah tells him, “The whole town, the whole state of Mississippi has been waiting on you.” He’ll be playing football with the high school team; his mostly white town of Great Mountain has never before had a Black athlete to pin their hopes on, but now they have “a ‘Negro’ of their own.” And it is a charmed first day — adoring students, special food, an exclusive area in the lunchroom, even an ode written to him by last year’s class president. But the head of the cafeteria, Mrs. Pendegrass, a Black woman, warns him: “Watch yourself, Henson. Ya hear? When they start acting like this — and I done seen it before — it never ends well. Just protect yourself, baby.” Barnes creates something bigger than a traditional sports novel with an effective combination of well-realized characters, a contemporary setting rooted in history, and mythic elements that lend a transcendent feel. Especially well drawn is Henson’s internal conflict: he loves football but doesn’t want to feel “owned” by white fans; he loves his father and the heritage of the Blayze land, but being the one to carry on the family legacy feels claustrophobic when you want to find own your place in the world. By book’s end, readers will feel that Henson will figure it out. A memorable story (with a powerful opening author’s note) that takes a strong stand for true history. DEAN SCHNEIDER

Goalkeeper
by Edward Bloor
Middle School    Clarion/HarperCollins    192 pp.
10/25    9780063428324    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780063428348    $10.99

Twenty-eight years after Tangerine (rev. 7/97) was published, Bloor returns with a sequel to his classic debut that picks up after the first book ends. Having been expelled from public school, Paul Fisher is finishing up seventh grade at St. Anthony’s Prep, but he cannot wait to return to Tangerine Middle School for eighth grade to rejoin their championship soccer team as goalie. Once again, his sociopathic older brother, Erik, has escaped the consequences of his actions — his involvement in a series of robberies and in a boy’s death — and has been sentenced to house arrest rather than incarceration. As the summer wears on, Paul stays away from Erik, befriends a Jewish boy facing antisemitism, practices with the War Eagles, and avoids the new family who has moved into the community to open a sandwich franchise. The parents are soliciting investors, while the daughter aggressively pushes coupon sales, and Paul is convinced that the oldest boy robbed the local 7-Eleven. As a tropical storm passes through Tangerine, everything comes to a head, and Paul is named as the sole witness to an alleged crime. He’ll need to weigh competing claims of truth, loyalty, justice, and mercy to find a path through the ethical dilemma. If Bloor’s villains seem a bit over the top, they fit perfectly in Tangerine County with its sinkholes, underground fires, and frequent lightning strikes. A welcome reunion with a memorable character. JONATHAN HUNT

The Strongest Heart
by Saadia Faruqi
Middle School    Quill Tree/HarperCollins    384 pp.
3/25    9780063115859    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780063115897    $9.99

Thirteen-year-old Pakistani American Mohammad and his father move from Queens to Houston to stay with his aunt and cousin while his research scientist mother works in a refugee camp in Greece. Mo’s father’s paranoid schizophrenia, which causes dramatic mood swings, makes it difficult to hold down a job and live independently, and Mo adopts a tough bad-boy act to protect himself from the pain of abandonment and anger at his parents. His aunt provides much needed warmth, love, and support, and his cousin Rayyan, coping with his own father’s tragic death, serves as a friend at his new school. Mo tries to channel his feelings through engrossing himself in South Asian folktales (interspersed throughout the story), boxing, and art. As he discovers truths about his family, he slowly opens himself up to being more accepting of others. Mo’s brave front in trying to deal with volatile situations makes him a sympathetic protagonist. Secondary characters provide nuanced perspectives on how people cope with trials in their lives. A raw portrayal of the pain, confusion, and hurt of a memorable young teenager. SADAF SIDDIQUE

Coach [Track]
by Jason Reynolds
Intermediate, Middle School    Dlouhy/Atheneum    256 pp.
10/25    9798347102372    $17.99

Middle-school athletes Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny each have their own titles in Reynolds’s Track series (most recently Lu, rev. 11/18); now it’s Coach’s turn. Who was he before he was an inspiring leader? How did he grow up to be so committed to his athletes’ lives? Reynolds delineates how track star Carl Lewis guides Otis (Otie) Brody’s path in his youth. Watching the 1984 Olympics on television with his father and witnessing Lewis winning the gold medal for the hundred-meter event took a boy who “wasn’t the athletic type. Couldn’t catch a ball, or dribble, or tackle” and made him a runner. Now, four years later, he’s a sprinter, with “9.99,” Lewis’s medal-winning time, written on his hand before each race. In Ghost (rev. 11/16), sprinter Castle Cranshaw says of his troubled home life, “You don’t know what it’s like, Coach. You don’t know.” But in this installment, we learn that Coach Brody does know. At the conclusion of the story, when young Otie is talking about his Olympic dreams, his mother says, “I think you gon’ make it. But if for some reason you don’t, guess what? I think you’d make a pretty good coach.” A strong entry in the series that provides backstory for the coach who has been there from the beginning. DEAN SCHNEIDER

Biggest Fake in the Universe
by Johan Rundberg; trans. from Swedish by Eva Apelqvist
Middle School    Amazon Crossing Kids    192 pp.
8/25    9781662532030    $18.99
Paper ed.  9781662532047    $9.99

What do you do when you fall in love with the best skateboarder in Midsommarkransen, but you’re just a nerdy seventh-grade boy who has never kissed a girl and loves chess, computer games, and cooking? Movits Lind (Mo for short) knows: “I’m going to be a skater!” He talks his parents into buying him a skateboard and protective equipment and practices with his best friend, bloodying his arms, hip, and shoulder in the process but not getting very good at it. Eventually, however, he accidentally pulls off an amazing grind, and in two days a video of the trick gets a quarter of a million views on YouTube. Mo is soon world famous, known as the “King of Kransen” and the “Knight of the Ramp.” Even Mo’s love interest, Bea, begins paying attention to him. But Mo feels like the biggest fake in the universe; that epic grind had been more pratfall than purposeful trick, and he wants Bea to love the real Mo. Rundberg skillfully limns the mysteries of first love in a well-structured, page-turning tale: how will Mo extricate himself from the fake persona he has inadvertently acquired and get the girl of his dreams to like him for who he is? A charming story of love and being true to yourself, topped off with a recipe for “Mo’s Love Pizza.” DEAN SCHNEIDER

El Niño
by Pam Muñoz Ryan; illus. by Joe Cepeda
Intermediate, Middle School    Scholastic    256 pp.
5/25    9781338068559    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781338068610    $18.99
Spanish ed.  9781546176473    $8.99

Thirteen-year-old Kai is anxious to continue the family legacy on his new elite swim team. Since his superstar older sister, Cali, disappeared while surfing two years before, swimming has felt bittersweet. Authorities have moved on from the search, but Kai receives signs that Cali is still out there: a dolphin with unique markings that the two of them had spotted together visits when he surfs, and Kai even hears Cali call out to him from their backyard beach in the middle of the night. When Kai discovers his sister’s favorite book about an ancient, underwater Realm, the mythical sunken Island of California, ruled by Queen Califia (for whom Cali is named), he becomes convinced that’s where she has gone. The novel is divided into four sections — Above, Below, Between, Beyond — and excerpts from the mythology book are interspersed, mirroring the plot’s blend of fantasy and realism. Kai tries to keep his grief distant, but it permeates his life, both with his newfound obsession with mythology and with more earthly concerns such as awkward interactions with peers addressing his loss and the worrying drop in his swimming performance. Whimsical pencil-style digital drawings bring the elaborate Realm to life in a way that feels cathartic, and for anyone who has experienced the call of the water, this book is a thoughtful exploration of the wonders of the ocean — real, imagined, and unexplained. MONICA DE LOS REYES

From the October 2025 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.