Mike Lupica

When the coach's son, Shawn O'Brien, is chosen to play quarterback, eleven-year-old Ben McBain is not surprised--but when he tries to be a good teammate and help the inconsistent Shawn, he is startled to learn that his new friend does not really want the position.

Still living large off their incredible football championship win just weeks before, Ben McBain and his crew must now prepare for basketball season. Ben is known as the best point guard throughout the league. And now that Shawn O'Brien has joined their team, they are a shoo-in to win it all. But there is a new kid in town, Chase Braggs, a point guard like Ben who seems to be better, stronger, and faster. Refusing to let his team down, Ben hits the...

Ben and his friends, the Core Four Plus One, are so excited to play in their town's All-Star Baseball league. But in the first game of the season Ben gets hit by a pitch. It's never happened to him before and it shakes him up. Another player on Ben's team, Justin, is acting really weirdly. Ben has known Justin for a while and they're friendly but he's not one of Ben's closest "boys." Justin is the team's best hitter but his behavior on and off the...

"When two seemingly unconnected mysterious deaths occur on his watch, police chief Jesse Stone must pull out all the stops to unravel the truth and stop a killer from striking again. The small town of Paradise is devastated when a star high-school baseball player is found dead at the bottom of a bluff just a day after winning the team's biggest game. For Jesse, the loss is doubly difficult -- the teen was the nephew of his colleague, Suitcase Simpson,...

Eighth-grade star quarterback Nate Brodie's family is feeling the stress of the troubled economy, and Nate is frantic because his best friend Abby is going blind, so when he gets a chance to win a million dollars if he can complete a pass during the halftime of a New England Patriot's game, he is nearly overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed.

Brainy Scott, a great kicker who otherwise struggles with football, and star quarterback Chris, who has dyslexia, team up to help each other succeed in both football and school.

"Teddy has been training all summer with his new friends Jack and Gus to make the new travel football team in Walton, but when his long-absent dad comes back to town and into his life he is faced with a much bigger challenge"--

Gus is excited for basketball this year, but he is disappointed to find that his team's center, Steve Kerrigan, likes poking fun at him for his Dominican heritage, telling him to go play baseball instead. Then, when the team gets a new player--a girl and one of Gus' best friends--things get more complicated. Gus starts questioning if he belongs in this town and school at all.

In Annapolis, Maryland, seventh-grader Wes is a good teammate but this basketball season has been challenging because of his ball hog teammate Dinero, who is determined to steal the spotlight, and Wes's army veteran father who is suffering from PTSD.

Twelve-year-old pitcher Nick Garcia dreams of winning the Little League MVP and throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. But he also dreams of a world where his sister can be cured of lupus and his undocumented parents don't have to live in fear of the government. Then his worst fears come to pass and they affect his fastball. Fortunately, an unlikely hero steps in just in time.