16 Comments

I used Happy Like Soccer in my classroom as a writing mentor text (some great imagery!) and cried the first time I read it to my class, which was always slightly embarrassing but also important for the kids to see how books and stories can move you. Love that one and excited to check out some of the others listed! Thank you.

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I will have to check this one out!

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Putting I'll Root for You on hold at my library 🙌 The picture book Muhammad Ali and Me is another good one!

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Thanks for including "The Field" by Baptiste Paul! Not a sports person either but I also "tried" cross country because everyone was doing it. I was the team alternate but I made it!

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I expected this to be shorter based on your intro! 😂 Have you read GIRL RUNNING? It’s a picture book biography about the first girl run the Boston Marathon.

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Would LOVE to read that one!

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I have not, but I'll check it out! Sports books have grown on me since I wrote this, tbh.

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WOW, this list is spectacular! You've hit a home run with this one (sorry, I couldn't resist 😂).

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Ha! 😂 Thank you, friend.

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I'm a big fan of kids and sports books. Thanks for including Ten Thousand Tries!

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Oh Amy, I'm happy to!

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Highly recommend books by Charles R. Smith, who has written a lot about Black athletes. So good!! Great poetry!

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Oh yes! I read one of his books -- Soccer Queens, I think -- when I was judging for a children's book award last year. (I just looked him up and didn't realized how many titles he has -- I'm going to put a few on hold. Thank you!)

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I am solidly in the "I read picture books to myself because I love them" phase (youngest - 15 - just let me know recently if it's not about marine biology she's done with the picture books... (cue tear) we had a long run!

I *love* picture book biographies and almost all of them are in my library's system! And I'm not a sports person, either! LOL

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I love this for you 😉

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Ooo this is so fun! Thank you! I will add a suggestion: Players in Pigtails by Shana Corey and Rebecca Gibbon. It’s A League of Their Own in picture book form. Minus Tom Hanks’s character’s shenanigans.

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