Why am I passionate about this?

I was a very active kid ā€“ the kind of kid who was constantly told to sit still and be quiet. Growing up in the 1960s, I had few opportunities to engage in athletics, other than neighborhood games of tag and kick-the-can. But when I got to high school, our school district had just begun offering competitive sports for girls. Finally, my energy and athletic ability were appreciated (at least by my coaches and teammates). So I guess it was inevitable that when I began writing books for young readers, I would start with a book about a girl who loves sports.


I wrote

Book cover of Nikki on the Line

What is my book about?

When our sports-loving son was growing up in the early 2000s, he devoured stacks and stacks of books about boysā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Dairy Queen

Barbara Carroll Roberts Why did I love this book?

Youā€™d have a hard time finding a funnier, more captivating first-person narrator than D.J. Swank. Growing up on her familyā€™s farm, hoisting hay bales, and playing pick-up football with her brothers, itā€™s no wonder D.J. has the strength, ability, and desire to play on her high schoolā€™s football team. The two things I love most about this book are D.J.ā€™s sheer joy in physical movement and Murdockā€™s depiction of how the hard work required to master sports skills can build self-confidence and a sense of achievement in young people. The characters are a bit older than those in most middle-grade books, but with nothing more controversial than the drinking of a beer, this is a book kids in the upper range of middle grade will love.

By Catherine Gilbert Murdock,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dairy Queen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

When you donā€™t talk, thereā€™s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.
Harsh words indeed, from Brian Nelson of all people. But, D. J. canā€™t help admitting, maybe heā€™s right.

When you donā€™t talk, thereā€™s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.
Stuff like why her best friend, Amber, isnā€™t so friendly anymore. Or why her little brother, Curtis, never opens his mouth. Why her mom has two jobs and a big secret. Why her college-football-star brothers wonā€™t even call home. Why her dad would go ballistic if she tried out for the highā€¦


Book cover of Samira Surfs

Barbara Carroll Roberts Why did I love this book?

Samira is a Rohingya girl whose family fled anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar and now lives near a refugee camp in a Bangladesh beach town. This doesnā€™t sound like the set-up for a ā€œsportsā€ book, yet like all the best sports books, this beautiful novel-in-verse is about so much more than simply winning or losing a game. I love the way Guidroz shows the strong bonds that form within a team ā€“ in this case, a group of girls who help one another learn to swim and surf, defying cultural standards that bar girls from these activities. I also love how participating in this sport gives Samira a way to grow as an individual and claim her own identity: ā€œBefore I was Samira,ā€ she says. ā€œNow, I am Samira the Surfer.ā€

By Rukhsanna Guidroz, Fahmida Azim (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Samira Surfs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

A middle grade novel in verse about Samira, an eleven-year-old Rohingya refugee living in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, who finds strength and sisterhood in a local surf club for girls.

Samira thinks of her life as before and after: before the burning and violence in her village in Burma, when she and her best friend would play in the fields, and after, when her family was forced to flee. There's before the uncertain journey to Bangladesh by river, and after, when the river swallowed her nana and nani whole. And now, months after rebuilding a life in Bangladesh with her mama,ā€¦


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Book cover of Spirit Sight

Spirit Sight by Ross Hightower,

"Witches take on the patriarchy in this epic feminist fantasy." Spirit Sight book 1 volume 1 is an award-winning debut epic fantasy novel written by Ross Hightower, the first in the six-book Spirit Song series. Winner of numerous awards, including the Readers Favorite Fantasy Finalist and the Eric B Hofferā€¦

Book cover of The Girl Who Threw Butterflies

Barbara Carroll Roberts Why did I love this book?

This is one of my absolute favorite books. Itā€™s beautifully written, telling a compelling story about Molly Williams, who shared a love of baseball and a deep connection with her father through the long hours they spent talking while he taught her to pitch a knuckleball. When he dies in a car accident, Mollyā€™s world falls apart. Her mother descends into depression, and communication between them stops. Molly slowly puts her life back together when she earns a place on a boysā€™ baseball team and builds friendships with her teammates. The power of this book lies in its central metaphor: the need for communication. Between pitcher and catcher, between base coach and runner, between parent and child, between friends. 

By Mick Cochrane,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Girl Who Threw Butterflies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

For an eighth grader, Molly Williams has more than her fair share of problems. Her father has just died in a car accident, and her mother has become a withdrawn, quiet version of herself.

Molly doesnā€™t want to be seen as ā€œMiss Difficulty Overcomeā€; she wants to make herself known to the kids at school for something other than her fatherā€™s death. So she decides to join the baseball team. The boysā€™ baseball team. Her father taught her how to throw a knuckleball, and Molly hopes itā€™s enough to impress her coaches as well as her new teammates.

Over theā€¦


Book cover of Sidetracked

Barbara Carroll Roberts Why did I love this book?

Although the main character in this warm and funny book is a boy, I include it in my list of favorite books about girls who love sports because the best athlete in this story of a middle-school cross country team is a girl. Sheā€™s the team member all the other kids depend on. The team member who pushes Joseph Friedman ā€“ a boy with attention challenges, innumerable phobias, and no athletic ā€œgiftsā€ ā€“ to keep trying. She just wonā€™t let Joseph give up. I love the relationships between the teammates in this book. And I love the way Asher shows that in running ā€“ as in life ā€“ winning doesnā€™t always mean coming in first. It means trying to do just a little bit better each time you step onto the track.

By Diana Harmon Asher,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Sidetracked as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

ABA Indies Introduce Book
ALA Notable Book

"This is a splendid novel that I read in one sitting. . . . You will cheer when this kid embraces 'Do your best' and shows it to be a ringing call to nothing less than Triumph." -Gary D. Schmidt, Printz Honor winner and two-time Newbery Honor winner "Diana Harmon Asher tells an entertaining story about a boy picking his way through the potholes and pitfalls of puberty, with a little help from his friends." -Richard Peck, Newbery Medal winner
"Just read it! Diana Harmon Asher has written a witty, observant, and sensitiveā€¦


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Book cover of Hatching Love

Hatching Love by Heidi Matonis,

This is a story of how the human-animal bond can heal, connect and redeem us all ā€“ even possibly a very jaded ghost!

The story opens with Tomā€™s wife, Beth, receiving a shipment of duck eggs. She has watched a YouTube video and was charmed by the idea of hatchingā€¦

Book cover of Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX: The Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America

Barbara Carroll Roberts Why did I love this book?

Todayā€™s young readers canā€™t believe that when I was in high school, our basketball team was only allowed in the gym when the boys werenā€™t using it. They canā€™t believe there was a time when people thought girls shouldnā€™t play competitive sports. But really, who could believe it? Who could believe it would take an act of Congress ā€“ the 1972 law known as Title IX ā€“ to guarantee girls and women the right to equal opportunities in every academic field and in athletics? I love this book because it tells the story of Title IX, a law that mandated academic equity for girls and women, and changed the world for girls who love sports. 

By Karen Blumenthal,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Let Me Play as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Can girls play softball? Can girls be school crossing guards? Can girls become lawyers or doctors or engineers? Of course they can... today. But just a few decades ago, opportunities for girls were far more limited, not because they weren't capable or didn't want to, but because they weren't allowed to. Ages 8-12.


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Book cover of Nikki on the Line

What is my book about?

When our sports-loving son was growing up in the early 2000s, he devoured stacks and stacks of books about boys who play sports. When our sports-loving daughter was growing up, a few years behind him, she stopped reading for pleasure when she got to sixth grade. Why? Because she couldnā€™t find more than a handful of books about girls like her ā€“ girls whose whole world revolved around sports. Thatā€™s why I wrote Nikki on the Line. My research for this book was simply my daily life ā€“ the hundreds of hours I spent inside gyms, watching our daughter and her teammates practice and compete. And the hundreds more I spent rebounding for her while she shot ā€“ and shot and shot ā€“ on our driveway hoop. 

Book cover of Dairy Queen
Book cover of Samira Surfs
Book cover of The Girl Who Threw Butterflies

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