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A Bonanza of Basketball Books

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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