Sports fiction for girls

Fiction reflects life – and that goes for girl's sports fiction too.  

Many of the issues that female athletes have faced in the past continue to be problems. Sports fiction plays a role in reflecting the issues real-life girls encounter in a way that tween girls can relate to.

For many young female athletes, balancing sports with changing interests and the pressures of growing up can be a lot to deal with. Toronto children's book author Deb Loughead understands this and in her new novel, a 13-year-old relay runner must learn not to let everything that is going on around her influence her team's performance. The girls on the team are distracted by boys, sibling rivalry, and pressures at home. Only when the girls solve their problems and learn to leave them off the track, do they perform well again as a team.

Often girls who like sports face external issues, such as joining a new team or making the move to an all-girls team after playing co-ed sports. This is the case for the main character in Lorna Schultz Nicholson’s novel Delaying the Game which tells the story of a girl hockey player who has to switch from a boys' to an all-girl's team, where she feels her teammates aren't concentrating enough on the game. 

Lorimer’s list includes 20+ recent girls' sports books – with issues that range from joining newteams to conflicting interests, bullying and rivalry, gender expectations and disabilities.

HOCKEY

SOCCER

 HORSEBACK RIDING

 TRACK

SWIMMING