Running Back Dreams

In the biggest game of the year, Noah\u2019s on the bench as usual. But when another player is injured, Coach puts Noah in. And soon, the outcome of the game rests on his shoulders.

Noah Hart, a second-string running back for the Westfield Wildcats, has to rely on his knowledge and skills to win the game against their rival, the East Lake Eagles.

Teen coming of age story that deals with the particular challenges facing young people with autism as well as the normal teenage benchmarks--like the first date, fitting in, popularity, dealing with parental expectations, etc.

When Jessica is told she’ll never run again, she puts herself back together—and learns to dream bigger than ever before. The acclaimed author of Flipped delivers a powerful and healing story. Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She’s not comforted by the news that she’ll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? As she struggles to cope, Jessica feels that she’s both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don’t know what to say act like she’s not there. Jessica’s embarrassed to realize that she’s done the same to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she’s missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her. With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that’s not enough for her now. She doesn’t just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her. “Inspirational. The pace of Van Draanen’s prose matches Jessica’s at her swiftest. Readers will zoom through the book just as Jessica blazes around the track. A lively and lovely story.” —Kirkus Reviews

Mason is the newest addition to the Clearwater Middle School football team. His new team is nothing like his old one. The coach doesn't have much time for practice, the field and equipment are old and worn, and no one even wants to be quarterback. Can Mason help out his new home team?

Darius Livingston is the starting running back for the seventh-grade football team, but he dreams of playing quarterback. When the team is forced to forfeit the rest of its season, Darius and his teammates get the chance to play with the eighth graders. Darius is sure this is his chance to prove he can throw the ball and be a great quarterback. But can Darius show off his skills and still be a team player?

An exhilarating, wondrous middle grade debut about a brother and sister on a quest that “swoops from thrilling to terrifying to heartwarming and back again” (BookPage) to defeat a tyrannical ruler and protect a magical book. “[W]ill appeal to readers of Kelly Barnhill and Lemony Snicket” (Publishers Weekly). Rachel and Robert live a gray, dreary life under the rule of cruel and calculating Charles Malstain. That is, until one night, when their librarian father enlists their help to steal a forbidden book. Before their father is captured, Rachel and Robert are given one mission: find the missing final page. But to uncover the secrets of The Book of Stolen Dreams, the siblings must face darkness and combat many evils to be rewarded with the astonishing, magical truth about the book. Nevertheless, they resolve to do everything in their power to stop it from falling into Charles Malstain’s hands. For if it does, he could rule their world forever.

The true story of faith and triumph of one man's journey from his childhood wheelchair to the NFL. This true story follows a young man's journey as he battles back from injuries sustained in a tragic automobile accident. From the vantage point of his wheelchair an NFL game on TV inspires him to dream the impossible. As he recovers, he sets his sights on playing football in the NFL. This story takes you into his mind and heart as he makes decisions that take him off track from reaching his dream. He develops some bad habits that can not only destroy a career but can potentially take his life. But his faith along with the love from his family put his life back on course making his unlikely dream a miraculous reality.

Inner city communities in the US have become junkyards of dreams, to quote Mike Daviswastelands where gangs package narcotics to stimulate the local economy, gunshots occur multiple times on any given day, and dreams of a better life can fade into the realities of poverty and disability. Laurence Ralph lived in such a community in Chicago for three years, conducting interviews and participating in meetings with members of the local gang which has been central to the community since the 1950s. Ralph discovered that the experience of injury, whether physical or social, doesn t always crush dreams into oblivion; it can transform them into something productive: renegade dreams. The first part of this book moves from a critique of the way government officials, as opposed to grandmothers, have been handling the situation, to a study of the history of the historic Divine Knights gang, to a portrait of a duo of gang members who want to be recognized as authentic rappers (they call their musical style crack music ) and the difficulties they face in exiting the gang. The second part is on physical disability, including being wheelchair bound, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among heroin users, and the experience of brutality at the hands of Chicago police officers. In a final chapter, The Frame, Or How to Get Out of an Isolated Space, Ralph offers a fresh perspective on how to understand urban violence. The upshot is a total portrait of the interlocking complexities, symbols, and vicissitudes of gang life in one of the most dangerous inner city neighborhoods in the US. We expect this study will enjoy considerable readership, among anthropologists, sociologists, and other scholars interested in disability, urban crime, and race."