Showing results for "Novelle" in Sports Fiction

In the late 1940s, the minor league Milwaukee Brewers are foundering yet again and manager Arthur Murphy is desperate. When he sees 17-year-old Mickey Tussler throwing apples into a barrel, he knows he has found the next pitching phenom. But not everyone is so hopeful. Mickey’s autism - a disorder still not truly understood even today - has alienated the boy from the world, and he is berated by other players and fans. Mickey faces immense trials in the harsh and competitive world of baseball while coping with the challenges inherent to his disorder.

It's 1950 and Mickey Tussler - the now-famous pitching prodigy with autism and a golden arm - is back for another baseball season in this third installment of Frank Nappi's critically acclaimed Legend of Mickey Tussler series. Talk of Mickey's legendary exploits on the field has grown since his improbable debut two years prior, as have the fortunes of Murph and the rest of the lovable ragtag Brew Crew. Now Mickey, Murph, and Lester find themselves heading to Bean Town to play for the Boston Braves.

It’s 1949 and 18-year-old pitching phenom Mickey Tussler is back with the rejuvenated minor league Brewers in the sequel to The Legend of Mickey Tussler (the basis for the television movie A Mile in His Shoes). Despite Mickey’s proclamation that he will never play baseball again after last season’s violent conclusion, his manager - and now surrogate father - Arthur Murphy cajoles the emotionally fragile, socially awkward boy with autism into giving it another shot.

Sixteen-year-old Dylan's life sucks. A careless driver cost him his leg, and as if that wasn't bad enough, he's being bullied at his new school. But a viral video and a life-changing encounter with a one-armed MMA fighter is about to change his life in ways he never could have imagined. Could Dylan's biggest weakness turn out to be his greatest strength?

Moses and his cousin Charlie were best friends, wisecracking pranksters, unstoppable forces of teenage energy - until the night they became accidental arsonists and set in motion a chain of events that left Moses alone, guilt-stricken, and most likely trapped in his dead-end town. Then Moses gets a lucky break: the chance to volunteer as a camp counselor for a week and prove the incident at the bowling alley should be expunged from his record. And since a criminal record and enrollment at Duke are mutually exclusive, he’s determined. But tragedy seems to follow him wherever he goes.

There was a time when all was right in Taylor Dresden’s world - that is, as long as she was on the baseball diamond, pitching with all her heart. But that was years ago. Now, as she heads toward her senior year, the magic is gone. There’s no competition in her New Jersey high school, and summer league is not much better. With the scouts losing interest on account of her poor grades, and with the challenge of the game gone, Taylor has made a difficult decision: She won’t be playing her senior year.

Maybe, she’s right to be miserable. A social misfit and mediocre student, she has never known her mother, and her father seems to hate her. This is the life of Taylor Dresden, a freshman in a gritty New Jersey high school. The only pleasure she’s ever had was playing baseball. But at the age of eight, she stopped playing when she overheard her dad say how embarrassed he was that her athletic talent far exceeded her older brother’s.

A fiercely honest and spirited debut that shines a spotlight onto mental illness, the cost of keeping secrets, and childhood trauma, through the hopeful eyes of 18-year-old high school wrestling star, Klay Atwater. Klay is destined for greatness, with his eye on the prize – the nation’s top-rated wrestling program at Penn State. He’s also got his eye on Kassie, his adoring, patient girlfriend – and the only person who has ever made him feel safe and loved.

Seventeen-year-old Meg Barnes is all about control. However, the only kind of control she can find is with a razor. As if life wasn't hard enough, an accident has forced her to view everything from a wheelchair. Then a promise to an old friend forces her to resume her martial arts training and save the Little Ninja Program. While relearning self defense and pushing the limits of her body, new friends drag her to church

For 14-year-old Krissy, her new life maxim is pretty sad: First choices out. Second choices in. It's been that way since dialysis left her disabled. Her limitations went from none to a ton, and now they stand in the way of her dream - to compete in dog agility with her runty Sheltie pup, Aslan. Krissy has seen videos of agility handlers sprinting, spinning, and twisting as they race with their dogs through the intricate obstacle courses. It's a beautiful sport. Like dance. Like art. And surely impossible for someone like her.

For sophomore Jenny Taylor, every year means at least three moves - all thanks to her famous baseball player dad, Sam Taylor. But Sunny View promises a different life, a chance at a new home - until her dad comes home with lipstick on his collar and Jenny shoves that promise out the window.

After having her heart broken, seventeen-year-old Nora Nichols decides to escape her hometown and take a summer job as an arts and crafts counsellor at an all-girls' camp in the mountains of West Virginia.