for long distance running YA: Life at These Speeds by Jeremy Jackson

I think you have a point Alison. Except for the most sports devoted, kids play sports for fun and its apart of their lives, not their lives in and of themselves. It would be good to see different kids play different sports and have it just be a part of their lives and make them a fuller, more complex character. Also it would be a neat trick by the authors to play up the fact that, say, a girl is a Bobsledder instead of the stereotypical soccer or softball.
willothewispablogaboutchildrensbooks.blogspot.com/

Here's a list of titles from a recent column in School Libary Journal's Extra Helping newsletter:

FORD, Michael. You Wouldn't Want to Be a Greek Athlete!: Races You'd Rather Not Run. illus. by David Antram. Watts. 2004. PLB $29. ISBN 978-0-531-12352-2; pap. $9.95. ISBN 978-0-531-16394-8.
Gr 3-6–Full of facts and humor, Ford's punchy text and Antram's cartoon illustrations make this title a winner for a unit on Greek life as well as the Olympics. Readers are introduced to the basics of this now-international competition through the story of a poor farmer's son who competes in the Olympics in fifth-century Greece. Nude (“as a symbol of religious purity”) athletes are posed discreetly, and guarantee a lot of attention. A glossary and index are included.

MACY, Sue. Swifter, Higher, Stronger: A Photographic History of the Summer Olympics. National Geographic. 2008. Tr $18.95. ISBN 978-1-4263-0290-9; PLB $27.90. ISBN 978-1-4263-0302-9.
Gr 3 Up–Updated since the 2004 edition, this chronological photographic essay presents the history of the Olympics from its earliest times to a preview of the 2008 Games. Every image in this browser’s delight has a great story behind it, and Macy tells them all. Any young athlete who has dreamed of being part of the OIympics will find inspiration in both the photographs and writing. Like it cold? Check out Macy’s Freeze Frame: A Photographic History of the Winter Olympics (National Geographic, 2006).

OSBORNE, Mary Pope. Hour of the Olympics. illus. by Sal Murdocca. Random. 1998. PLB $11.99. ISBN 978-0-679-99062-8; pap. $3.99. ISBN 978-0-679-89062-1.
Gr 3-5–Magical librarian Morgan le Fay charges Jack and Annie with the recovery of an ancient story, landing them in Greece at an early Olympics. Readers will learn about Greek words, customs, and mythology as the pair's adventure unfolds. A meeting with Plato, Annie's arrest, and a daring rescue by Pegasus make for a satisfying bit of historical fiction. The companion nonfiction research guide, Ancient Greece and the Olympics (Random, 2004), provides excellent background on both topics, and includes an index and list of additional resources.

YOO, Paula. Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story. Lee & Low. 2005. Tr $16.95. ISBN 978-1-58430-247-6.
K-Gr 3–Korean-American Sammy Lee loves to swim, but the pool is only available to nonwhites one day a week. His African-American friend teaches him how to dive, and Sammy sets his sights on being an Olympic diver, despite his father's wish for him to become a doctor. Against the odds, he wins a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics, at age 28. This beautifully illustrated and inspirational picture book covers a lot of ground—segregation, integration, reverence, and perseverance.

ZUCKER, Jonny. Speed Star. illus. by Enzo Troiano. Stone Arch. 2007. PLB $21.26. ISBN 978-1-59889-335-9; pap. $4.95. ISBN 978-1-59889-431-8.
Gr 3-5–Designed to encourage reluctant readers, this graphic novel features Rex Jones, the best runner in his school. He is initially intimidated by bully Mike Stone, who tells him, "You are a waste of time.... I'm going to beat you so easily in the race." Determined to make it into the Olympics, Rex keeps trying, and with the help of a mysterious stranger, he thinks he can make it to the finish line. A glossary and discussion questions are included. A nice addition to the hi-lo fiction genre.

I agree, there's a dearth of sports oriented fiction. Here's my theory as to why: bookish kids don't play sports so much (your experience notwithstanding) and sporty kids don't have as much reading time. Bookish kids grow up to become writers. Sporty kids grow up to become management in large successful companies, or Olympic field hockey coaches. ;-)

Alison, I completely agree with you -- where ARE those books? I would love to see comments from editors or publishers, to hear their side of things. That list above of Olympics books kind of missed the point. Does anyone know of some more books along the lines of Alison's post that haven't been mentioned? It would be great to know about them. And I can now admit that I, too, am shamefully hooked on the Olympics, and also staying up way too late. But I do have to ask: What's the deal with Bob Costas's hair??

I disagree with suec. My sister, me, and three cousins of my cousins were all athletes when we were kids and all of us read and still read voraciously.

I see a bigger point here: Because of the familiarity of certain activities, it's easy for characters to become one-dimensional -- e.g. "he's a baseball player" or "she's rides horses" -- when we should be looking at the totality of character's life -- all the interests, likes, dislikes, fears and hopes that make up "real" people.

By using less familiar sports, as you suggest, authors can avoid having their work pigeonholed as a "baseball story" or a "book about dancing" -- and they can avoid falling into the trap of thinking about their story (and their characters) in the same manner.

Excellent stuff -- real food for thought.

Jon, write4kids.com

Hey. Who is this Sue C.? There is another? Anyway, I do think she has a point, to some extent. However I was a bookish kid and captain of my high school gymnastics team and I would love to write a novel that had a gymnastics subplot especially if it meant somebody would let me tumble my 40-something body across their mats for a few weeks or hang upside down from the parallel bars so I could recreate the feeling of the blood rushing to one's head. Everytime I see a gym mat I get an itch to do a cartwheel which could cause me to really really hurt myself.

Sue C(orbett)

I'm actually working on a novel about an Olympic hopeful pairs skater (if all goes well deadline-wise, it will be published by Ballantine next year.) I was a skater when I was young (not an Olympic hopeful, but a hopeful skater nonetheless) and it's wonderful to return to the ice on the page.

p.s. I should note that my novel in progress is not a children's novel, but I do have a skating-related novel in mind for young readers, as well.

What happened to my English skills? My second comment should have been this:"I disagree with suec. My sister, three of my five cousins and I were all athletes when we were kids, and all of us read voraciously."

I agree as a former competitive figure skater. As winter sports go, figure skating and hockey are easier to find in books. I've written a picture book that includes not only figure skating, but luge and ski jumping as well. I chose the latter 2 b/c of their obscurity and b/c they upped the humor factor.

In my novel, which I am sending to a publisher, one of the characters is on the Olympic track for gymnastics. Yet it doesn't center on this at all. I hope publishers are feeling the same way as you. I am also very excited about the Olympics this year. My entire family is glued to the TV and the emotions of the athletes have really communicated to us. We are rooting for the volleyball teams and cheering on the swimmers and my daughter and I had tears in our eyes tonight when both the girls won gold and silver. Just terrific!

for swimming YA - The Isabel Factor by Gayle Friesen

As an Olympics junkie and a YA fan, I've often wondered the same thing. The Alex Archer books by New Zealand writer Tessa Duder are quite good.

While we're on Olympics and children's fiction, how about a children's book about Michael Phelps? Perhaps a picture book and a biography. And what about a graphic novel(?), that should be pretty cool.

I think the boy in Chris Crutcher's STAYING FAT FOR SARAH BYRNES is a swimmer, right? And Cynthia Voigt's THE RUNNER (one of the books about the Tillerman family) has to do with long-distance running (but not exclusively). Oh, and Holling does some running and running training in THE WEDNESDAY WARS (Gary Schmidt). But that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Stone Arch Books is honored that we are included in Allison’s short list of publishers of sports stories. We choose our sports topics very carefully to make sure they are of interest to kids. We can see from your list that there are some more topics to consider in our publishing plan! Below is a list of all the sports we have covered in our publishing list:
Baseball
Basketball
BMX Biking
Cheerleading
Fishing
Football
Go-Karting
Hiking
Hockey
Hunting
Lacross
Motocross Racing
Paintball
Rock Climbing
Running
Skateboarding
Snowboarding
Soccer
Softball
Surfing
Tennis
Volleyball
Wrestling
Check out Jake Maddox, Rex Jones, Graphic Trax and Ridge Riders from Stone Arch Books for exciting sports fiction for all types of readers.
We know how important it is to create stories that get kids to read, and with the help of your list we will include topics of interest to all readers.
Krista Monyhan, Planning Editor, Stone Arch Books

In the Laura Lippman Tess Monaghan books, Tess is a rower. Ms Lippman integrates this into her stories very well. (These are adult mysteries.)My kids were captains on the Crew team all through high school, and were honor graduates as well.

I'm constantly yearning for middle-grade novels with with settings and characters involved in horse show jumping and horse shows. Not on an Olympic, or even international circuit level, but just the basic 4-H horse show level I so loved when I was a middle-grader and adolescent. Most of the horse books I've found, are based more around characters living with horses on a farm or ranch but seldom participating in shows or jumping events. And as far as adult novels with these settings, I can only think of a few (all well written).

Read Kiss The Sky by Dale Greenlee. It focuses on the Olympics taking place in Chicago as well as a plot to fix the games.

Check out "The Olympian: A Tale of Ancient Hellas." Powerful book narrated by the poet Simonides that overlays the 75th Olympiad with the Battle of Thermopylae.

The main character in Heroes' Day by Jesse Gordon (ISBN 978-0615220307) is an Olympic gymnast. The plot revolves around a young girl's experiences on the women's gymnastics team 100 years or so from now, though much of it is social and emotional rather than strictly sports.

When I was a kid in elementary school (about 35 years ago), I read a book about a boy who studies Judo. I think the title had the words "

Ooops, my comment got truncated. Anyway, the title had the words Green Belt in it, I think. If anyone has any leads on this book, please contact me at frasierj@msn.com. Thanks!