New Releases by Robert Lipsyte

“You can’t play it safe when you’re the captain.” From celebrated author Robert Lipsyte, this powerful coming-of-age follows high school football player Ronnie "Rhino" Rhinehart after a violent incident at school leaves him questioning everything he ever believed. Ronnie Rhinehart, better known as Rhino on the field, is the captain of his high school team in Woodhaven, a small town obsessed with football. His only goal is to earn a Division I football scholarship so he can escape this town forever. Until the day he punches Josh Kremens in the face. To avoid serious punishment and stay in school, Ronnie is forced to join Group, a cast of misfits who discuss their feelings with a counselor. At the same time, tensions are rising on the football team. Not everyone is happy that Ronnie, a junior, was named captain, especially Cogan and his friends the Berserkers. Other than his best friend, Andy, Ronnie struggles to find solace and support, even at home, where his dad puts pressure on him to maintain his role on the team. Reluctantly, Ronnie finds himself liking aspects of Group, even if he isn’t always a welcome presence to the other members. Then one fateful day, Keith, another Group member, comes to school with a gun . . . and everything changes.

Tough and witty, SportsWorld is a well-known commentator’s overview of the most significant form of mass culture in America—sports. It’s a sweaty Oz that has grown in a century from a crucible for character to a complex of capitalism, a place where young people can find both self-fulfillment and cruel exploitation, where families can huddle in a sanctuary of entertainment and be force fed values and where cities and countries can be pillaged by greedy team owners and their paid-for politicians. But this book is not just a screed, it’s a guided visit with such heroes of sports as Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Joe Namath, who the author knew well, and with some he met in passing, like Richard Nixon, who seemed never to have gotten over missing the cut in college varsity football, a major mark of manhood. We see how SportsWorld sensibilities help elect our politicians, judge our children, fight our wars, and oppress our minorities. And now featuring a new introduction by the author,SportsWorld is a book that will provide the foundation for understanding today’s world of sports and the time of Trump. In the America of 2017—where the SuperBowl is worth billions, athletes are penalized or forced out of sports for political and anti-racist activism, and Title IX is constantly questioned and undermined—Robert Lipsyte’s 1975 critique remains startlingly and intensely relevant.

Identical twins and mirror opposites Tom and Eddie share a "road trip" between planets and risk everything to save their father from the alien scientists.

Tom is a smart, talented loner with a chip on his shoulder and a big secret: an imaginary twin on another planet. Eddie is Tom''s opposite, a friendly, athletic kid who always looks on the good side. Tom worries sometimes: does confiding in Eddie mean he''s nuts? The truth is even crazier than that. Eddie and his planet are just as real as Tom and his Earth, but fifty-some years in the past. And the twins are caught up in an alien master plan that might just mean Earth—both Earths—will be destroyed. Switching places and identities, "slipping" between planets and across decades, a desperate escape, and the unraveling of deeper secrets leave Tom and Eddie aware of the danger they''re facing and the tools they can use to overcome it.

Celebrated sports journalist Robert Lipsyte—the New York Times’ longtime lead sports columnist—mines pure gold from his long and very eventful career to bring readers a memoir like no other. An enthralling book, as much about personal relationships and the culture of sports as the athletes and teams themselves, An Accidental Sportswriter interweaves stories from Lipsyte’s life and the events he covered to explore the connections between the games we play and the lives we lead. Robert Lipsyte has been there—from the Mets’ first Spring Training to the fight that made Muhammad Ali an international icon to the current steroids scandals that rewired our view of sports—and in An Accidental Sportswriter he offers a fresh and refreshing view of the world of professional athletes as seen through the eyes of a journalist who always managed to remain independent of our jock-obsessed culture.

A biography of the American Indian known as one of the best all-round athletes in history for his accomplishments as an Olympic medal winner and as an outstanding professional football and baseball player.

Michael Jordan was a late bloomer.Cut from the Varsity basketball team in high school when he first tried out, Michael nonetheless became the best basketball player that ever lived—Rare Air Jordan.The true story of how Michael Jordan achieved this amazing level of success as a basketball player—and as the high king of commercial endorsements—underscores one of the new roles of athletes in our society today.Here''s a fascinating look at both the evolution of basketball and Michael Jordan''s stunning climb to the peak of his sport, and his season in minor league baseball.

A fight for his people. Sonny Bear, the Tomahawk Kid, has a championship left hook. But his boxing career''s going nowhere, and he''s ready to hang it up. Then his manager, tough ex-cop Alfred Brooks, and his "writer," college boy Martin Malcolm Witherspoon, scheme Sonny into a glitzy Las Vegas match. Suddenly he''s everybody''s darling and headed for Hollywood stardom. But fame isn''t all it''s cracked up to be, and Sonny needs to make the fight of his life to decide where he really belongs.

The acclaimed book behind the new major motion picture Measure of a Man, starring Donald Sutherland, Judy Greer, Luke Wilson, and Blake Cooper. A New York Times Outstanding Book and ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults For Bobby Marks, summer does not equal fun. While most people are happy to take off their heavy jackets and long pants, Bobby can''t even button his jeans or reach over his belly to touch his toes. Spending the summer at Rumson Lake is sheer torture. This particular summer promises to be worse than usual. His parents can''t stop fighting. His best friend, Joanie, goes home to New York City and won''t tell him why. Dr. Kahn, a rich, stingy estate owner who hires him to manage an enormous lawn, is working him to death. And to top it off, a local bully won''t stop torturing him. Bobby is about to find out just how terrifying and exhilarating one fat summer can be.

Mike has his junior year well under control. He''s got a solid group of friends. He''s dating Lori, one of the hottest girls in school. And Coach Cody has all but given him the starting spot as the Ridgedale Rangers'' varsity center fielder. And then Oscar Ramirez shows up. Oscar is an amazing ballplayer, as talented at the plate as he is in center field, and it''s not long before Mike loses control. He''s on the bench, he''s getting into fights, and he finds himself in weekend detention with Katherine Herold, the most mysterious, abrasive, alluring girl in school. Mike is lost, confused, and looking to Coach Cody to help him get back on track. But the coach has his own set of rules for Mike to play by, and the decisions Mike makes are going to impact more than just the starting lineup. Robert Lipsyte, one of the most celebrated writers in young adult literature, has crafted a subtly intense tale of adolescent struggle, a sports story about much more than sports—one that shows us how the moves one makes off the field matter even more than the moves one has on it.

The breakthrough modern sports novel The Contender shows readers the true meaning of being a hero. This acclaimed novel by celebrated sportswriter Robert Lipsyte, the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in YA fiction, is the story of a young boxer in Harlem who overcomes hardships and finds hope in the ring on his path to becoming a contender. Alfred Brooks is scared. He’s a high-school dropout, and his grocery store job is leading nowhere. His best friend is sinking further and further into drug addiction. Some street kids are after him for something he didn’t even do. So Alfred begins going to Donatelli’s Gym, a boxing club in Harlem that has trained champions. There he learns it’s the effort, not the win, that makes the boxer—that before you can be a champion, you have to be a contender. ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults * ALA Notable Children’s Book * New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age

Sonny Bear is a champion. . .but he needs the help of an angel. Sonny Bear, the Tomahawk Kid, is on a fast downhill slide with the heavyweight championship at stake. He hardly knows who he is anymore, or why he should keep on fighting. Then the first e-mail arrives. Do not lose heart. I come on a Mission from the Creator to save you. -- Warrior Angel The Warrior Angel might be just what Sonny Bear needs -- but will Sonny be prepared to save him, too?

What''s it mean to think team? It means you don''t talk team business with anybody who isn''t on the team. It means whatever happens inside the team stays inside. It means you can only trust a brother Raider. Any questions? At Nearmont High School, football stars are treated like royalty, and Matt Rydek has just ascended to the throne. He''s got it all: hot girls, chill friends, plenty of juice to make him strong, and a winning team poised to go all the way. If he can keep his eye on the ball now, his future will be set. But when the team turns on one of its own, should Matt play by Raiders rules, or should he go long alone?

When seventeen-year-old Kyle reluctantly succumbs to family pressure and replaces his injured brother in the family racecar, he struggles to keep up with his trumpet playing while deciding how--or if--he can continue making music with a brass quintet and headlines as a Nascar racer.

The author offers advice on coping with illness and with communicating and thriving in the hospital setting.

A symbol of strength and a master of change, Schwarzenegger is one of the most fascinating and complex sports figures of our time.

A biography of Joe Louis, the "Brown Bomber", who beat the German Max Schmeling on the eve of World War II and became a symbol of all-American power.

When the drugs that he takes as part of his chemotherapy suddenly transform him from wimp into superhero, sixteen-year-old Fred and his friends plot to rid the town of its most lethal environmental hazard, toxic waste in the water supply.

When Bobby Marks takes a summer job in a laundry, he gets more than he bargains for: prejudice, unrequited love, and other hazards.

A teen-age boy has to deal with an unwanted summer camp job, his first love, and some crucial decisions.

Having left the Indian reservation for the streets of New York. 17 year old boxer Sonny Bear tries to harness his inner rage by training with Alfred Brooks, who has left the sport to become a policeman.

An overweight fourteen-year-old boy experiences a turning point summer in which he learns to stand up for himself.

Jack Ryder, aspiring baseball star, meets Jillian, a girl who makes him reevaluate all his priorities.

A biography of a boxer, twice holder of the title of world heavyweight champion, who has come to be known as "The Greatest".

A charismatic astronaut issues a call to America to transform itself in a second American Revolution. Trying to stop him, Washington calls in the "plumbers" and plant a mole in his group. Can he sway enough of the people before it''s too late?