The Literature of Sports

Ready, Set, Go… The Literature of Sports Cathy Belben, Librarian Burlington-Edison High School Updated February 2007 What is “literature”?  High-quality writing  Emphasis on presentation—interesting, funny, or otherwise entertaining  Thought-provoking--new ideas or old ideas presented in new ways  Researched as needed What is Sports Literature?  Literature that explores, analyzes, and/or celebrates the role and influence of athletics in individuals’ lives and society in general.  May include novels, poetry, fiction, full-length non-fiction, and shorter works of non-fiction, such as essay. Genres of Sports Literature         Memoir Analysis History Opinion Humor Instruction/Inspiration Science Fiction Themes in Sports Literature  Competition      Psychological benefits/detriments How it shapes character Role in society Art or not art? Ethics of competition Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Friday Night Lights Author: H.G. Bissinger Genre: Analysis Call #: 796.33 BIS Synopsis: Examines the role of high school sports in America as seen through the story of a high school football season in Odessa, Texas. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle Author: Madeleine Blais Genre: Narrative/History Call #: 796.323 BLA Synopsis: Blais chronicles one girls’ basketball season in Amherst, Massachusetts. She focuses on individual players, the challenges faced by the team, and the rewards of team sports. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Counting Coup Author: Larry Colton Genre: Memoir Call #: 796.323 COL Synopsis: Author Larry Colton spent a year on the Crow Reservation in Southern Montana, examining the lives of the girls on the Hardin High School basketball, who were from both Caucasian and Native American families. He becomes particularly fascinated with the team's star, Crow Indian Sharon LaForge, whose talent could be her escape from the poverty and alcoholism which plague her family. Themes in Sports Literature  Endurance/Determination  Importance of overcoming obstacles  Celebrating successes of “underdogs”  Inspiration/motivation of examples for own physical pursuits Recommended Sports Literature      Title: A Walk in the Woods Author: Bill Bryson Genre: Memoir Call #: 812 BRY Synopsis: Bryson describes his humorous and educational hiking trip along the 2000+ mile Appalachian Trail with an out-of-shape and overweight companion. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Swimming to Antarctica Author: Lynne Cox Genre: Memoir Call #: 797.2 COX Synopsis: Lynne Cox describes her lifelong devotion to long-distance swimming as well as memorable long distances swims she has completed. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Between a Rock and a Hard Place Author: Aron Ralston Genre: Memoir Call #: 796.22 RAL Synopsis: Ralston describes the events leading up to his accident in the wilderness in April 2003, in which he found himself trapped under an 800 pound boulder and was forced to amputate his own arm to escape. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Touching the Void Author: Joe Simpson Genre: Memoir Call #: 796.5 SIM Synopsis: Joe Simpson shares the story of his miraculous survival after he was injured while climbing in the Andes in 1985 and left for dead by his partner. Themes in Sports Literature  Physical Fitness  How sports help people stay healthy  The role of sports and fitness in individual lives  The variety of fitness activities that people participate in and how they affect individuals Recommended Sports Literature      Title: People Who Sweat: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Pursuits Author: Robin Chotzinoff Genre: Fitness Call #: 613.7 CHO Synopsis: Tells the stories of a variety of people who strive to perform athletic feats even though they may not be good athletes, including a fifty-threeyear-old triathlete called Little Fat Boy, elderly tap dancers, competitive tree climbers, a marathon mall walker, and others. Themes in Sports Literature  Values/Character/Sportsmanship  How sports shape character and values  How sports can foster relationships between people of different cultures  How sports teach us to follow rules/play fair/have fun/support others Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Hoop Dreams Author: John Edgar Wideman Genre: Sports Memoir Call #: BIO WIDEMAN Synopsis: Wideman's memoir describes his dicovery and relationship with the game of basketball, which has been his passion for nearly 50 years. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Seabiscuit: An American Legend Author: Laura Hildebrand Genre: History Call #: 798.40 HIL Synopsis: Describes how three men worked together to turn a rough-hewn, undersized horse into one of the fastest horses in racing history. Themes in Sports Literature  Team Spirit/Unity/Fellowship  How sports teach cooperation  How sports teach us to get along and solve problems together  The value of positive group dynamics Recommended Sports Literature      Title: The Imaginary Girlfriend Author: John Irving Genre: Memoir Call #: BIO IRVING Synopsis: John Irving, author of The World According to Garp, recounts his beginnings in writing and wrestling, describing their connections and showing how both endeavors have shaped his life. Recommended Sports Literature  Title: Fall River Dreams  Author: Bill Reynolds  Call #: 796.323 REY  Synopsis: The story of the Fall River, Massachusetts, basketball team and how the team is expected to revive the dying town's dreams of success. Themes in Sports Literature  Appreciation/Admiration/Fanaticism  How sports affect/influence spectators  How spectators influence sports  Benefits/detriments of sports fandom (and fanaticism) Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Fever Pitch Author: Nick Hornby Genre: Humor/Memoir Call #: 796.334 HOR Synopsis: The author recounts his interest in and development as a fanatical football (soccer) fan. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Road Swing Author: Steve Rushin Genre: Memoir/Humor Call #: 070.4 RUS Synopsis: Steve Rushin recounts the adventures he has as he spent seven months traveling to all of America's most popular sports shrines. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Rammer, Jammer, Yellow Hammer Author: Warren St. John Genre: Memoir/Analysis Call #: 796.332 STJ Synopsis: Warren St. John follows a group of die-hard Alabama fans as they travel around the South in RVs to watch Crimson Tide football games. Themes in Sports Literature  Sexism/Gender Equity  How sports affect or shape men and women  How men and women are or have been treated differently in athletics  How men and women perform differently and similarly in sports  How men’s and women’s roles and opportunities in sports have changed Recommended Sports Literature      Title: The Frailty Myth Author: Colette Dowling Genre: Sports science Call #: 305.33 DOW Synopsis: Drawing on extensive research in motor development, performance assessment, sports physiology, and endocrinology, Dowling presents an astonishing picture of the new physical woman. She creates a powerful argument that true equality isn't possible until women learn how to stand up for themselves physically. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Ultimate Fitness Author: Gina Kolata Genre: History/Science Call #: 613.7 KOL Synopsis: Investigates the scientific truth behind the health benefits of various exercise regimes, tracing the history of the fitness movement, examining trends in the late twentieth century, and including interviews with exercise devotees, as well as a look at the exercise industry. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Little Girls in Pretty Boxes Author: Joan Ryan Genre: Analysis Call #: 796.44 RYA Synopsis: Investigates the destructive side of women's elite competition in gymnastics and figure-skating, exposing such problems as eating disorders, stunted growth, and debilitating injuries. Concludes that abusive coaches and intense pressure from parents are often to blame. Themes in Sports Literature  Fictional Stories about Athletes  Stories address physical, moral, and ethical challenges faced by athletes  Some sports fiction revolves around the sport, some around the character and the sport is just part of their character Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Painting the Black Author: Carl Deuker Genre: Sports Fiction Call #: FICTION DEUKER Synopsis: When star athlete Josh Daniels moves in across the street, Remy Ward doesn't realize how much his life will change during his senior year at Seattle's Crown Hill High. Josh persuades Remy to turn out for baseball and play catcher to his pitching. The two make the team and take it to the tournament, but then Josh does something that threatens his place in the spotlight, as well as the team’s chances for championship, and Remy’s sense of right and wrong. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: On the Devil’s Court Author: Carl Deuker Genre: Sports Lit, Fiction Call #: FICTION DEUKER Synopsis: Struggling with his feelings of inadequacy and his failure to make the basketball team in his new school, seventeen-yearold Joe Faust finds himself willing to trade his soul for one perfect season of basketball. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Whale Talk Author: Chris Crutcher Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION CRUTCHER Synopsis: Intellectually and athletically gifted, T. J., a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Slo Mo Author: Rick Reilly Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION REILLY Synopsis: Growing up in a bizarre cave-dwelling cult in Colorado, seven-foot, eight inch Maurice "Slo-Mo" Finsternick knows nothing about the NBA-that is until the day he's discovered and becomes the hottest sports icon in the country. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Wrestling with Honor Author: David Klass Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION KLASS Synopsis: Champion high school wrestler Ron Woods faces a soul-searching season when he refuses to retake a mandatory drug test he has failed. This decision affects every area of his life, including his feelings about his father, who died in Vietnam, and his first tentative romance. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Shots on Goal Author: Rich Wallace Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION WALLACE Synopsis: While pursuing his goal of helping his soccer team win the championship in the district playoffs, fifteenyear-old Bones tries to deal with his resentment of his best friend, on whose girlfriend he has a crush. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Vision Quest Author: Terry Davis Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION DAVIS Synopsis: Eighteen-year-old Louden Swain pursues many interests as he strives to achieve maturity. During his senior year, he drops a weight division so that he can wrestle against a cross-town legend and gets involved in a relationship with an older woman. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Life at these Speeds Author: Jeremy Jackson Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION JACKSON Synopsis: Kevin Schuler's track teammates are killed when their van crashes off a bridge after a meet. Following the incident, Kevin can remember nothing about the event, including the names of his teammates and the connections he had with them before they were killed. When he enters high school, he is persuaded to turn out for cross country and track, and although he insists he isn't interested in either sport, he immediately begins making incredible progress in both, setting running records for sprinting and distance events. As he does so, he also begins to regain some of his memories of the past. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Going for the Record Author: Julie Swanson Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION SWANSON Synopsis: Seventeen-yearold Leah's quest to make the national soccer team does not seem so important when she learns that her father has cancer and may only have months to live. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Last Shot Author: John Feinstein Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: After winning a basketball reporting contest, eighth graders Stevie and Susan Carol are sent to cover the Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the final game. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Players Author: Joyce Sweeney Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: Eighteen-yearold Corey sees a threat to his dream of winning the basketball championship when he discovers that the new player on his team is a girl-stealing, friend-framing, team-destroying force of evil. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Home of the Braves Author: David Klass Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: Eighteen-yearold Joe,captain of the soccer team, is dismayed when a hotshot player shows up from Brazil and threatens to take over both the team and the girl whom Joe hopes to date. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: How This All Started Author: Pete Fromm Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: Abilene and Austin, brother and sister, live with their parents in a stark, desolate portion of Texas, where Abilene hopes to escape the monotony and boredom by making her brother into a star baseball pitcher. Her enthusiasm, however, soon takes on a darker cast and she drives the two of them to the edge of sanity. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Burning City Author: Ariel & Joaquin Dorfman Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Heller Highland, who is living with his grandparents while his parents are away, burns rubber across Manhattan delivering bad news by bicycle, and as a summer heat wave melts the city, he is struck by first love. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Waiting for Teddy Williams Author: Howard Mosher Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: Ethan "E.A." Allen, a boy raised in the remote village of Kingdom Common, Vermont, by his honky-tonk mother and crippled grandmother, shares the town's obsession with baseball and the Boston Red Sox, and with the coaching of Teddy Williams, a mystery man who arrives in town one day, becomes the pitcher who breaks the team's long-time losing streak. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: The Necessary Hunger Author: Nina Revoyr Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: The story of two high school senior who must negotiate the pressures of being star athletes, the complicated terrain of their home situation, and the ambiguities of their own intense, competitive friendship. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: The Crazy Horse Electric Game Author: Chris Crutcher Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: A high school athlete, frustrated at being handicapped after an accident, runs away from home and is helped back to mental and physical health by a black benefactor and the people in a special school where he enrolls. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Running Loose Author: Chris Crutcher Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: Louie, a high school senior in a small Idaho town, learns about sportsmanship, love, and death when he loses his spot on the football team after refusing to follow his coach’s order. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes Author: Chris Crutcher Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: The daily class discussions about the nature of man, the existence of God, abortion, organized religion, suicide and other contemporary issues serve as a backdrop for a highschool senior's attempt to answer a friend's dramatic cry for help. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Farm Team Author: Will Weaver Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: With his father in jail and his mother working fulltime, fourteen-year-old Billy Baggs finds himself in charge of running the family farm in northern Minnesota and having to give up the thing he loves most--baseball. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Restless Author: Rich Wallace Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: Frank, a teenaged ghost who has not been able to move on to a higher realm in the afterlife, tries to connect with his younger brother Herbie, a high school senior who was eight years old when Frank died. Recommended Sports Literature      Title: Shots on Goal Author: Rich Wallace Genre: Sports Lit Fiction Call #: FICTION Synopsis: While pursuing his goal of helping his soccer team win the championship in the district playoffs, fifteen-year-old Bones tries to deal with his resentment of his best friend, on whose girlfriend he has a crush.