It’s basketball season in the fourth book of this highly illustrated middle grade series from the nationally syndicated cartoonist of “In the Bleachers,” starring a kid who plays the same position in every sport: benchwarmer. Steve is King of the Bench. No brag. It’s just a fact. And this season, Steve and his athletically challenged best friends Joey and Carlos—along with super athlete Becky O’Callahan—are joining the Mighty Plumbers basketball team. But instead of playing on the court, Steve is waiting on the sidelines to perform his top-secret ritual that turns the tide of every game in an instant. Why is it a secret? Well, big, drooly duh, everyone knows it’s a strict rule when selling a book not to blurt out the whole juicy plot! Perfect for fans of Timmy Failure and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, King of the Bench is an ode to teammates, underdogs, and benchwarmers everywhere.

From the nationally syndicated cartoonist of “In the Bleachers” comes a new, highly illustrated middle grade series about Steve, who plays the same position in every sport: bench-warmer. Perfect for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Timmy Failure, King of the Bench is an ode to teammates, underdogs, and bench-warmers everywhere. Steve is King of the Bench. No brag. It’s just a fact. But this year, Steve and his friends are excited to try out for the Spiro T. Agnew Middle School baseball team. The only problem is, after watching another player get beaned by a fastball, Steve has developed a serious case of bean-o-phobia—the fear of getting hit by a pitch. If Steve ever wants to get off the bench and get in the game, he’s going to have to muster up some courage, and fast. Oh, and if you’re wondering why Steve would write a book and tell total strangers all about the humiliating phobia that almost ruined his first year on the baseball team? Duh. It’s pretty much a rule that you spill your guts when you write a book about yourself.

In the third book of this highly illustrated middle grade series from the nationally syndicated cartoonist of “In the Bleachers,” Steve takes one for the benchwarmers to play his least favorite sport. Perfect for fans of Timmy Failure and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, King of the Bench is an ode to teammates, underdogs, and benchwarmers everywhere. Steve is King of the Bench. No brag. It’s just a fact. But this season, his soccer-loving pals Joey and Carlos—plus soccer superstar Becky O’Callahan—are dragging him off the bench to play for the Spiro T. Agnew JV soccer team, even though soccer doesn’t exactly fry his burger. Will Steve’s epic and hilarious weekend at an away tournament leave him hating soccer more than ever? Or will he finally discover what all the kicking and screaming is about?

In the second book of this new, highly illustrated middle grade series by the nationally syndicated cartoonist of “In the Bleachers,” Steve reprises his role as perpetual bench-warmer. Perfect for fans of Timmy Failure and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, King of the Bench is an ode to teammates, underdogs, and bench-warmers everywhere. Steve is King of the Bench. No brag. That’s just a fact. And this season, Steve and his friends are ready to sit on the sidelines of the Spiro T. Agnew Middle school football field. But then they stumble upon an old-school video game controller, and they become convinced it can control sports plays. With it, Steve might become King of Football too! Oh, and if you’re wondering why Steve would write a book and tell complete strangers about a mysterious magic device that pretty much controlled his first season on the football team, too bad! It’s a strict rule when writing a book that you have to build suspense first.

Sylvester's baseball has been so dismal that the coach has him warming the bench. So when Cheeko offers to show him a few pointers, he eagerly accepts his offer. But Sylvester can't help thinking there's something fishy about Cheeko.

One Last Shot gives Jordan fans the inside scoop they're looking for on basketball's greatest legend, with exclusive interviews from NBA executives, players, and coaches. Mitchell Krugel uses his fifteen years of following Michael Jordan's every move to explain why the man who left the game as The Greatest Player of All Time would risk his unparalleled legend to play again. After delivering the Chicago Bulls their sixth championship in 1998 by pulling off what became known as the greatest money shot in the history of the NBA, Michael believed he still had much of that Greatest-Player-Of-All-Time left in his game. But he felt that retirement was forced on him in 1999, and he left the game craving more doses of fifty-point binges, winner-take-all confrontations, and repeated nights of reminding fans they just saw the greatest player ever. One Last Shot not only explains why Michael Jordan came back to the court but also looks at his transition from Wizards executive to player, his struggle to join a team that had grown up with his posters on their walls, and his glories and setbacks in a Wizards season chock full of both struggles and surprises. Krugel also details the star-laden workouts Michael designed in the summer of 2001 to get his game back into shape. This look at Michael Jordan, circa 2001-2002, shows how much basketball had changed since his last coming and how much it hadn't, and how his drive pushed him to the verge of a crippling knee injury all in the pursuit of winning. And for six weeks he did make it back. He made the shots. He made good on his mission to teach the Wizards how to be winners, to teach talented teammate Richard Hamilton to be a shooting star, and to whip Kwame Brown, the high school kid he made the first-ever first pick in the NBA draft, into a man. And he did the things that only a man of legend could do. Krugel analyzes both the man and the legend to trace how the First Coming led to a Second and to a Third, and he chronicles the season that defines Michael Jordan as a man who will forever be playing for one last shot.

From the #1 bestselling author of Heat, Travel Team and Million-Dollar Throw comes a story of every football kid’s dream come true. 12-year-old Charlie is a fantasy football guru. He may be just a bench warmer for his school's football team, but when it comes to knowing and loving the game, he's first-string. He even becomes a celebrity when his podcast gets noticed by a sports radio host, who plays Charlie's fantasy picks for all of Los Angeles to hear. Soon Charlie befriends the elderly owner of the L.A. Bulldogs -- a fictional NFL team -- and convinces him to take a chance on an aging quarterback. After that, watch out . . . it's press conferences and national fame as Charlie becomes a media curiosity and source of conflict for the Bulldogs general manager, whose job Charlie seems to have taken. It's all a bit much for a kid just trying to stay on top of his grades and maintain his friendship with his verbal sparring partner, Anna. Like the best Disney film in book form, like Moneyball for kids, Fantasy League is every football kid's dream scenario. Praise for FANTASY LEAGUE: * "This Moneyball story with kids is on the money."–Booklist, starred review "The feel good book of the year."–VOYA “Readers will be alternately cheering and reaching for a tissue during the final playoff-deciding game for the Bulldogs. This will be devoured by young football fans.”–School Library Journal