SOCCER DREAMS AND PLENTY OF ACTION this second book in the Gym Shorts series scores high with new readers. There's nothing Goose wants more than to play goalie for his soccer team. It looks like such fun – and so easy! – on TV. But to say Goose has a little trouble focusing is a bit of an understatement. Luckily, his friend Henry agrees to train him. Just as Goose starts to improve, Henry gets grounded for slipping grades. Can Goose make it to goalie? Can he help Henry who has helped him so much already? Goof-Off Goalie is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Hicks's new action-filled sports series packs the energy of the gym into two short novels for kids who are new to reading.

Basketball Bats Henry and his four friends on Rockford Road are an unbeatable basketball team—on their driveway court. But without team T-shirts or an official name, can they take on the Tigers, a team that plays at the huge YWCA and has a player old enough to shave? Henry feels sure he can lead his friends to victory, but is he really a team player? Or is he a ball hog? Goof-Off Goalie There's nothing Goose wants more than to play goalie for his soccer team. It looks like so much fun—and so easy!—on TV. But can he quit daydreaming long enough to stop the ball? With Henry's training, Goose is sure he can go from goof-off to goalie in no time. Just as Goose starts to improve, Henry gets grounded because his grades are slipping. Will Goose help Henry in return? Or is being a goalie more important than friendship? Basketball Bats and Goof-Off Goalie are both 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Books of the Year.

From the author of The Strain comes a tense, psychologically gripping, Hammet award-winning thriller. Four masked men—thieves, rivals, and friends from the tough streets of Charlestown—take on a Boston bank at gunpoint. Holding bank manager Claire Keesey hostage and cleaning out the vault were simple. But career criminal Doug MacRay didn't plan on one thing: falling hard for Claire. When he tracks her down without his mask and gun, their mutual attraction is undeniable. With a tenacious FBI agent following his every move, he imagines a life away from his gritty, dangerous work—a life centered around Claire. But before that can happen, Doug and his crew learn that there may be a way to rob Boston's venerable baseball stadium, Fenway Park. Risky yet utterly irresistible, it would be the perfect heist to end his criminal career and begin a new life. But, as it turns out, pursuing Claire may be the most dangerous act of all. Racing to an explosive climax, Prince of Thieves is a brash tale of robbery in all its forms—and an unforgettable odyssey of crime, love, ambition, and dreams.

Codie loves to spend time with her favorite aunt, Alix. Her aunt is a talented seamstress, and Codie knows that the perfect gift for Alix's new baby is a handmade blanket. Codie wants to have the blanket done before the baby is born. Suddenly, the baby is coming early. Will Codie be able to finish the blanket in time?

DOUBLE THE TROUBLE, DOUBLE THE FUN. Is it a game, set, match for Henry? Henry wants to win the doubles tennis trophy more than anything. He knows he'd good enough, but he's not sure his partner Rocky is. The advantage goes to new readers as they follow Henry as he helps Rocky train and, at the same time, works on his history project. Can Henry serve up an ace on and off the court?

Want to identify fiction books that boys in grades three through nine will find irresistible? This guide reveals dozens of worthwhile recommendations in categories ranging from adventure stories and sports novels to horror, humorous, and science fiction books. In Get Those Guys Reading!: Fiction and Series Books that Boys Will Love, authors Kathleen A. Baxter and Marcia A. Kochel provide compelling and current reading suggestions for younger boys—information that educators, librarians, and parents alike are desperate for. Comprising titles that are almost all well-reviewed in at least one major professional journal, or that are such big hits with kids that they've received the "stamp of approval" from the most important reviewers, this book will be invaluable to anyone whose goal is to help boys develop a healthy enthusiasm for reading. It includes chapters on adventure books; animal stories; graphic novels; historical fiction; humorous books; mystery, horror, and suspense titles; science fiction and fantasy; and sports novels. Within each chapter, the selections are further divided into books for younger readers (grades 3–6) and titles for older boys in grades 5–8. Elementary and middle school librarians and teachers, public librarians, Title One teachers, and parents of boys in grades 3–9 will all benefit greatly from having this book at hand.