Ocean State Libraries

"Seventh-grader Joseph Friedman is friendless and puny, with ADD to boot. He spends most of his time avoiding the class bully and hiding out in the Resource Room. But the Resource Room teacher encourages (i.e., practically forces) him to join the school cross country team, and he meets Heather, a new student who's tough and athletic and refuses to be pushed around by anybody"--

When a school bus accident leaves sixteen-year-old Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb and her track team finds a wonderful way to help rekindle her dream of running again.

"Patina, or Patty, runs like a flash and was chosen for the Defenders "Patty" Jones is the fastest girl on the Defenders, an elite middle school track team. She runs for many reasons -- like to escape the taunts from the kids at her new school. She runs from the reason WHY she's not able to live with her "real" mom any more: her mom has The Sugar, and Patty is terrified that the disease that took her mom's legs will one day take her away forever....

Sixteen-year-old Leo Coughlin's life is increasingly stressful because his autistic older brother Caleb's behavior is becoming more bizarre and even violent, and their parents' marriage is falling apart--but Leo finds an escape in long distance running, and in two new friends: Curtis, himself a potential state champion who teaches him the strategy of running, and Mary, his would-be girlfriend.

Growing up in the segregated town of Clarksville, Tennessee, in the 1960s, Alta's family cannot afford to buy her new sneakers--but she still plans to attend the parade celebrating her hero Wilma Rudolph's three Olympic gold medals.

After his grandfather dies, eleven-year-old JJ, a talented runner, assumes new responsibilities including taking care of his intellectually-challenged parents and figuring out how bills get paid.

Seventeen-year-old Phoebe, unable to control the powers inherited from her ancestor Nike, must attend summer camp with a group of ten-year-olds, while coping with her boyfriend's apparent betrayal and mysterious messages about her deceased father.

In the summer before high school, Tessa's decision to play football, instead of running cross-country, affects her blossoming romance with football prospect Caleb, her relationship with best friends Marina and Lexie, who are counting on Tessa to try out for cross-country, and her home life with her politically ambitious mother.

Gianna has less than one week to complete her leaf project if she wants to compete in the upcoming cross-country sectionals, but issues like procrastination, disorganization--and her grandmother's declining health--seem destined to keep her from finishing.

"When Alvin's twin sister, Yasmin, lands the lead role in their middle school play, Alvin is faced with the need to find something to do after school while she is rehearsing, so he takes up cross-country running (it is either that or doing homework in the library)--he has always been a fast runner, but he soon learns that distance running is more about patience and pacing than pure speed and staying in the lead, and he will have to adapt or be left...