When Silas Walker does a school presentation on former Major League Baseball player Glenn Burke, it's more than a report on the inventor of the high five. Burke was a black gay baseball player in the '70s - and for Silas, the presentation is his own first baby step toward coming out as gay. Soon he tells his best friend Zoey, but the longer he keeps his secret from his baseball teammates, the more he suspects that they know something's up. Kids get pulled from the team, fingers point at Silas, and he stages one big cover-up with terrible consequences. Was it a mistake to share his truth? This is Phil Bildner's most personal novel yet, and weaves the real history of Glenn Burke into a heartfelt and relatable story of a kid learning just to be himself.

In "Blastin' the Blues," still fearing they are being followed and even more worried they have a traitor in their midst, the team travels to New Orleans, where the magic of their ball and the music of the city create one memorable game. But like always, trouble is right around the corner and the hits keep on coming for the Payne family and all of the Travelin' Nine
In "Home of the Brave," after the rousing success in New Orleans, Griffith, Ruby, and Graham are determined to beat the Chancellor at his own game and save their family as well as the game of baseball. Pulling into their hometown of Baltimore, the Paynes are reunited with a familiar face, and the Travelin' Nine are tested on the field once again. Can they win without the help of their baseball? Prepare for fireworks in this final inning to the grand slam series, "Sluggers"

In over their heads?

THE YEAR IS 1899, and the Travelin' Nine are barnstorming their way across the good ol' U.S. of A., trying to raise money to pay off the Payne family's big-league debt.

Griffith has a run-in with the Chancellor and learns that the baseball isn't the only item the infamous industrialist is after. Even more mysteriously, the Chancellor claims to have something that the Paynes want.

And Ruby. Where in the world has she vanished to? Does her disappearance have anything to do with the Chancellor's threats? Or is there some other plan in play?

And finally, Graham makes a heartfelt birthday wish and somehow gets exactly what he asks for. But questions still remain: Was it real? Can it possibly be true? Or is it all just a dream?

If they don't watch out, Griffith, Ruby, Graham, and the Travelin' Nine may find themselves in deep water in the Land of 10,000 Lakes!

It's Thanksgiving, and that means it's time for...football
Ethan has waited his whole nine-year-old life to be old enough to play in the annual family Turkey Bowl football game. This is his year. He wakes up Thanksgiving Day, dresses in all of his football finest, and runs downstairs to greet the team -- his whole family.
But the kitchen isn't full of aunts and cousins and uncles -- a blizzard has snowed them out. And it looks like the Turkey Bowl just isn't meant to be this year. After all, who could play football in a blizzard?
Ethan, that's who

"In a country struggling with acceptance, hope can come in many different forms."
As a boy, Hector loved playing soccer in his small Johannesburg township. He dreamed of playing on a real pitch with the boys from another part of the city, but apartheid made that impossible. Then, in 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison, and apartheid began to crumble. The march toward freedom in South Africa was a slow one, but when the beloved Bafana Bafana national soccer team won the African Cup of Nations, Hector realized that dreams once impossible could now come true.
This poignant story of friendship artfully depicts a brief but critical moment in South Africa's history and the unique role that sports can play in bringing people together.

In high school, anyone can get busted.
It could be the senior class ski trip, or maybe it's the way you cope with the school bully, or how you entertain yourself in the world's most boring class. Every kid has some secret crime, something that they are afraid they'll get in trouble for. In "Busted," four different stories take place throughout one year at Coldwater Creek High School and intertwine to show that no one, whether you are an honors student or the best athlete in school, is safe from getting busted.

All Darcy wants is to play on the baseball team, to hear her name announced, "Now batting, Darcy Miller," to play the field. Is that so much to ask? Unfortunately, it might be. In a few short months, Darcy Miller goes from typical senior in high school to candidate for Jerry Springer. Her mom has started dating Darcy's principal, the very principal whose son Darcy happened to have started a huge flirt-fest with, now brought to a screeching halt. When she decides to let her mom go to bat (so to speak) for her to play on the baseball team, Darcy thinks things are starting to look up. After all, Principal Basset caves and decides to let her play. But he has two conditions that shake up her entire game: She must pretend to be a lesbian (WHAT?) and she must join the GSA, the Gay-Straight Alliance (WHAT? WHAT?), the president of which happens to be her best friend -- make that her ex-best friend, Josh. Okay, Darcy's senior year might seem complicated at first. It's not. It's insurmountably, unforgettably, and -- most of the time -- hilariously complicated.
But if anyone can handle it, it's Darcy. She'll do anything just to play the field.