The NBA’s playoff season is well underway, and the WNBA’s season will begin this month. This is a great time to check out a few books about basketball for young readers. Below are 30 books by or about basketball players. There are almost an equal number of fiction and nonfiction titles. Lion on the Inside and Pass It, Please! will be available in the fall, and all the others are available now.
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1. Lion on the Inside: How One Girl Changed Basketball
Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir | Judith Henderson | Katherine Ahmed | Kids Can Press | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
2. Pass It, Please!
Elliott Smith | Dolo Okecki | Picture Window Books | August 1, 2023 | Chp Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
3. Simon B. Rhymin’ Gets in the Game
Dwayne Reed | Little, BYR | April 4, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
4. The Crossover Tie-in Edition (The Crossover Series)
Kwame Alexander | Dawud Anyabwile |Clarion Books | February 14, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
5. Who Is LeBron James? (Who Was?)
Crystal Hubbard | Who HQ | Stephen Marchesi | Penguin Workshop | February 7, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
6. Basketball Dreams
Chris Paul | Courtney Lovett | Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan) | January 10, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
7. Bo and the Basketball Game
Elliott Smith | Subi Bosa | Lerner Publications | January 1, 2023 | Chp Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
8. Basketball’s Greatest Myths and Legends
Elliott Smith | Capstone Press | January 1, 2023 | Chp Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
9. Who Is the Man in the Air?: Michael Jordan: A Who HQ Graphic Novel
Gabe Soria | Who Hq | Brittney Williams | Penguin Workshop | November 01, 2022 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
10. Tacko Fall: To New Heights
Tacko Fall | Justin Haynes | Reggie Brown | Candlewick Entertainment | September 20, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
11. Shot Clock
Caron Butler | Justin A. Reynolds | HarperCollins/Tegen | September 6 2022 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
12. I Have a Superpower
Stephen Curry | Geneva Bowers | Penguin Workshop | September 6, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
13. The Legend of Gravity: A Tall Basketball Tale
Charly Palmer | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) | January 4, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
14. More than Just a Game: The Black Origins of Basketball
Madison Moore | Lonnie Ollivierre | Albert Whitman & Company | September 15, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
15. Hoop Kings 2: New Royalty
Charles R. Smith Jr. | Candlewick | September 7, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
16. We Are Family
LeBron James | Andrea Williams | HarperCollins | August 31, 2021 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
17. Michael’s Golden Rules
Deloris Jordan | Roslyn M. Jordan | Kadir Nelson | Simon & Schuster BYR | June 29, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
18. I Promise
LeBron James | Nina Mata | HarperCollins | August 11, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
19. The Crossover (Graphic Novel)
Kwame Alexander | Clarion Books | September 24, 2019 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
20. Dough Boys
Paula Chase | Greenwillow Books | August 27, 2019 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
21. Rebound (The Crossover Series)
Kwame Alexander | Clarion Books | April 2, 2018 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
22. Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Raymond Obstfeld | Little, Brown BYR | November 21, 2017 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
23. Despite The Height
Charles R. Smith Jr. | Ivory Latta | D. J. Coffman | Warren Publishing, Inc | June 09, 2017 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
24. The Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life
Kwame Alexander | Thai Neave | Clarion Books | February 14, 2017 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
25. Justin (Blacktop #1)
LJ Alonge | Grosset & Dunlap | June 7, 2016 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
26. Janae (Blacktop #2)
LJ Alonge | Grosset & Dunlap | June 7, 2016 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
27. Little Shaq
Shaquille O’Neal | Theodore Taylor III | Bloomsbury USA Childrens | October 6, 2015 | Chp Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
28. Dream Big: Michael Jordan and the Pursuit of Excellence
Deloris Jordan | Barry Root | Paula Wiseman Books | May 6, 2014 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
29. Jump Shot
Tiki Barber | Ronde Barber | Paul Mantell | aula Wiseman Books | November 5, 2013 | ChpBk | Amazon | Bookshop
30. Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream
Deloris Jordan | Roslyn M. Jordan | Kadir Nelson | Simon & Schuster BYR | November 1, 2000 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
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