Short Sports Biographies for YAs
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compiled by Deirdre Miller (dlmm34@hotmail.com)
from posts to PUBYAC, September 2000


>i recommend the matt christopher sports biographies...they are paperbacks 
>and the kids love them.

>I have been pretty pleased, in general, with the titles offered by 
>Millbrook, Chelsea, and Watts. I must forewarn you however, finding that 
>kind of length is not always easy, especially when you're talking about 
>sports biographies. Since they are generally marketed to reluctant readers,
>they aren't always that long.

>In response to your search for biographies on current sports figures for 
>kids, PowerKids' press had many on page 21 of their 2000-2001 catalog. 
>Their number is 800 237-9932.

>The Matt Christopher sports biog series is pretty good, and since they are 
>paperback they are cheap, too. I try to mainly buy paperbacks of this type 
>of book since sports stars come and go so frequently (I just weeded 2 books

>about Bo Jackson, for example). I went into Amazon with a few names to 
>search and they then linked me to more.

>I like the Matt Christopher biography series "On the (field, court, mound, 
>etc.) with.... Name" Each title is just over 100 pgs. They are interesting 
>and he has a nice balance between male and female and a variety of sports.

>One series that is used in this library is Ice Hockey Legends . It is 
>published by Chelsea House Publishers and includes the following players; 
>Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Jaromir Jagr, Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros and 
>Mark Messier. Unfortunately they are only about 65 pages long.

  I also searched Amazon and found several books in a series that sounds 
interesting.  It is Champion Sport Biographies and each of the titles is YA 
level, paperback, from 96-108 p.  Subjects include Pete Sampras, Serena and 
Venus Williams, Mia Hamm, Shaquille O'Neal, Tara Lipinski, Tiger Woods, and 
Martina Hingis, among others.  If you have read these and have a 
recommendation, I'd appreciate it.
  Impact Biography series also features YA level bios of Muhammed Ali, 
Arthur Ashe, and Jesse Owens, that are about 144-160 p. long.