Robert Lipsyte: 15 books

Celebrated sports journalist Robert Lipsyte—the New York Times’ longtime lead sports columnist—mines pure gold from his long and very eventful career to bring readers a memoir like no other. An enthralling book, as much about personal relationships and the culture of sports as the athletes and...

Tough and witty, SportsWorld is a well-known commentator’s overview of the most significant form of mass culture in America—sports. It’s a sweaty Oz that has grown in a century from a crucible for character to a complex of capitalism, a place where young people can find both self-fulfillment...

Mike has his junior year well under control. He's got a solid group of friends. He's dating Lori, one of the hottest girls in school. And Coach Cody has all but given him the starting spot as the Ridgedale Rangers' varsity center fielder. And then Oscar Ramirez shows up. Oscar is an amazing ballplayer,...

The breakthrough modern sports novel The Contender shows readers the true meaning of being a hero. This acclaimed novel by celebrated sportswriter Robert Lipsyte, the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in YA fiction, is the story of a young boxer in Harlem who...

In any race, there are drivers and, at the front of the pack, there are racers. In the final laps, it's the racer who moves his car through the sweet spot, picks off the competition, and drives through a hole to win. In Kyle's family, his older brother, Kris, has always been the racer, born...

What's it mean to think team? It means you don't talk team business with anybody who isn't on the team. It means whatever happens inside the team stays inside. It means you can only trust a brother Raider. Any questions? At Nearmont High School, football stars are treated like royalty, and...

A fight for his people. Sonny Bear, the Tomahawk Kid, has a championship left hook. But his boxing career's going nowhere, and he's ready to hang it up. Then his manager, tough ex-cop Alfred Brooks, and his "writer," college boy Martin Malcolm Witherspoon, scheme Sonny into a glitzy...

Sonny's been an outsider all his life. He has never fit into either world: the Moscondagas on the Reservation see him as white; whites see him as Indian. So far, Sonny's managed to harness his anger -- what he calls "the monster" -- in the boxing ring. But Sonny wants out of the Res. He's...

Sonny Bear is a champion. . .but he needs the help of an angel. Sonny Bear, the Tomahawk Kid, is on a fast downhill slide with the heavyweight championship at stake. He hardly knows who he is anymore, or why he should keep on fighting. Then the first e-mail arrives. Do not lose...

Michael Jordan was a late bloomer.Cut from the Varsity basketball team in high school when he first tried out, Michael nonetheless became the best basketball player that ever lived—Rare Air Jordan.The true story of how Michael Jordan achieved this amazing level of success as a basketball player—and...

A biography of the American Indian known as one of the best all-round athletes in history for his accomplishments as an Olympic medal winner and as an outstanding professional football and baseball player.

The acclaimed book behind the new major motion picture Measure of a Man, starring Donald Sutherland, Judy Greer, Luke Wilson, and Blake Cooper. A New York Times Outstanding Book and ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults For Bobby Marks, summer does not equal fun. While most people...

Comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory’s million-copy-plus bestselling memoir—now in trade paperback for the first time. “Powerful and ugly and beautiful...a moving story of a man who deeply wants a world without malice and hate and is doing something about it.”—The New York...

Tom is a smart, talented loner with a chip on his shoulder and a big secret: an imaginary twin on another planet. Eddie is Tom's opposite, a friendly, athletic kid who always looks on the good side. Tom worries sometimes: does confiding in Eddie mean he's nuts? The truth is even crazier than that....