Friday Night Lights: Football Season Kids Books for All Ages
Football season is here! Do you have sports fans in your household or classrooms? This collection of books includes football-themed books for kids of all ages. Do you have a favorite football story you’d like to see on this list?
Read about some of the most popular football books below, and head to our Bookshop to purchase and review more recommendations!
Board Books
Football Baby
Author: Diane Adams | Illustrator: Charlene Chua | Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Autumn brings a slight chill in the air, leaves changing color, and of course, football season! This pair of siblings is putting on their gear, warming up, and trying to get a play going all before a quick apple cider break at halftime. A change in sides brings new momentum and the chance to score a touchdown before they lay their heads to rest.
Let's Play Football
Author: Ginger Swift | Illustrator: Kathryn Selbert | Publisher: Cottage Door Press
Let's Play Football! Introduce your little one to the great sport of football in this lively, interactive Lift-a-Flap board book. Learn all about basic game, equipment, team members, terms, and good sportsmanship. Babies and toddlers will love exploring every playful scene filled with animal friends and tons of football fun. Thick, durable board pages and easy-to-lift chunky flaps are perfectly sized for little hands and fingers to turn and read along during storytime. Most importantly, learn how to be a kind, good sport. It is sure to be a touchdown with every little fan! Time to go play!
Picture Books
Football with Dad
Author: Frank Berrios | Illustrator: Brian Biggs | Publisher: Golden Books
Every Sunday, a boy and his dad watch the big football game on TV, and then go outside to play it. In this simple introduction to the game, the emphasis is on playing safely and having fun.
Heroic Heart: the Legacy of a Professional Football Player
Author: Frank Murphy and Charnaie Gordon | Illustrator: Anastasia Magloire Williams | Publisher: Triumph Books
On the football field, Joe Delaney possessed all the qualities of a great running back. He was fast with keen instincts, a burst of red and gold as he sprinted toward the end zone for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Off the field, he embodied the qualities of a great person: generous, hard-working, humble, and honest. Helping people was simply second nature to Joe.
In 1983, on a summer's day in Louisiana, Joe Delaney gave his life trying to save three children from drowning in a pond. While others stood by, Joe didn't hesitate before rushing into the water, though he was not a strong swimmer himself. Now, football fans of all teams honor his legacy as an extraordinarily brave young man who cared fiercely for his community.
My Football Family
Author: Andy Halloway | Illustrator: Honee Jang | Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Calling all football lovers! Share your love for the sport - and how it brings family together - in My Football Family, a joyful celebration of sport and the ways it can illuminate the boundless love between a parent and child.
Goodnight Football
Author: Michael Dahl | Illustrator: Christina Forshay | Publisher: Capstone
Football, food, fans, and fun are highlighted in this entertaining bedtime board book. The rhyming text, vibrant illustrations, and gentle ending perfectly capture the love of the game. Goodnight Football is a win for everyone!
Chapter Books and Middle Grade
Inspirational Football Stories for Young Readers
Author: Michelle Weiss
YES! it's an adventure of 12 amazing stories and 100+ football facts that transport young minds into the heart of football, where dreams are pursued with grit, and heroes are made on and off the field.
Perfect for readers ages 7 and up, this collection is a gateway to a world where determination, teamwork, and courage lead to unimaginable triumphs.
Who is Travis Kelce?
Author: Ellen Labrecque | Publisher: Capstone
How did a young boy who played three sports become a two-time Super Bowl champion? Find out in this exciting Who HQ Now book about one of America's favorite football players.
This series also features books about Tom Brady, the Super Bowl, and so much more!
Graphic Novels
Change the Game: A Graphic Novel
Author: Colin Kaepernick and Eve L. Ewing| Illustrator: Orlando Caicedo | Publisher: Graphix
High school star athlete Colin Kaepernick is at a crossroads in life. Heavily scouted by colleges and MLB as a baseball pitcher, he has a bright future ahead of him as a highly touted prospect. Everyone from his parents to his teachers and coaches are in agreement on his future. Colin feels differently.
Colin isn’t excited about baseball. In the words of five-time all-star MLB player Adam Jones, “Baseball is a white man’s game.” Colin looks up to athletes like Allen Iverson: talented, hyper-competitive, unapologetically Black, and dominating their sports while staying true to themselves. College football looks a lot more fun than sleeping on hotel room floors in the minor leagues of baseball. But Colin doesn't have a single offer to play football. Yet.
This touching graphic novel explores the story of how a young change-maker learned to find himself and never compromise. How the right decision is very rarely the easy one, but taking the road less traveled can make all the difference in the world.
Play Like a Girl
Author: Misty Wilson| Illustrator: David Wilson| Publisher: Graphix
Misty never shies away from a challenge, on or off the field. So when the boys tell her she can’t play football, there’s only one thing to do: join their team and show them what she’s got.
But the training is rougher than she thought—and so are the other guys, who aren’t thrilled about having a girl on their team.
Middle school isn’t so easy, either. Misty wants to fit in with the popular kids, but they think a girl playing football is “weird.” Even her best friend doesn’t get it.
Can Misty find a way to score points with her teammates, make new friends, and show everyone—including herself—what it means to play like a girl?
Young Adult
Friday Night Lights
Author: H.G. Bissinger | Publisher: Da Capo Press
Return once again to the timeless account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa -- the winningest high-school football team in Texas history. Socially and racially divided, Odessa isn't known to be a place big on dreams, but every Friday night from September to December, when the Panthers play football, dreams can come true.
With frankness and compassion, Pulitzer Prize winner H. G. Bissinger unforgettably captures a season in the life of Odessa and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires -- and sometimes shatters -- the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms.
The inspiration for the hit television program and film of the same name, this anniversary edition features a new afterword by the author.
Before the Ever After
Author: Jacqueline Woodson | Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone's hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he's as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ's house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ's mom explains it's because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that--but it doesn't make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name. As ZJ contemplates his new reality, he has to figure out how to hold on tight to family traditions and recollections of the glory days, all the while wondering what their past amounts to if his father can't remember it. And most importantly, can those happy feelings ever be reclaimed when they are all so busy aching for the past?
留言