John Coy

Discover the true story of how Naismith invented basketball in 1891 at a school in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Each season has its own qualities that set it apart. Winter, with its stark-white crust of snow, turns even a mundane scene into a sparkling fairyland. Spring, along with her many shades of green, brings a promise of new beginnings. Summer gifts us with long, lazy days of endless blue skies and the scent of freshly mown grass. But fall has a magic, a secret, all its own. It offers a kaleidoscope of textures, smells, and colors. But what's behind those...

Four sports-crazy 5th grade boys deal with family, school, and friendship issues against the backdrop of their baseball season. Jackson's parents are divorced and his mother has started dating. Gig's dad is in the National Guard and has been called up to serve in the Middle East. Isaac's dad wants him to go to a different middle school than all his friends. Diego is the new kid in school, a power-hitter who works with his family on the weekends and...

Here is a story about how life, like sports, can be unpredictable, frustrating, and exhilarating. Eyes on the Goal by John Coy is part of the 4 for 4 series, an action-packed middle grade series for young readers about four boys from diverse backgrounds who deal with family, friendship, and school situations. Just before they're due to start middle school, Diego, Gig, Jackson, and Isaac, four sports-loving friends, all attend the same weeklong...

Middle school and life on and off the basketball court are what four friends deal with in this satisfying conclusion to the 4 for 4 series. Here are four very different boys dealing with family, friends, school, and sports, told in a believable and accessible style. John Coy writes sports stories that run deep, and this series scores more and more readers each season. You'll win big fans in readers who like Mike Lupica, Chris Lynch, and Matt Christopher...

Middle school is full of new challenges for Jackson, Gig, Isaac, and Diego, four sports-loving friends who have always stuck together. Lockers that won't open, older (and bigger) kids, classes that are far apart, tons of homework-there's a lot to get used to. One thing the boys are looking forward to, however, is making the football team. Not everyone will get what he wants, though, on the field and at home.

Next to a speck of sand, you're huge. But gaze up into the night sky with its millions of stars, and suddenly you're tiny. So, which is true? Are you big or little? Author John Coy captures the whimsical poetry of a child's perspective as he looks at everything gigantic and minuscule in the universe to arrive at a surprising conclusion: kids are both big and little, just the right size to be exactly who they're meant to be.

"Discover the true story of how in 1944, Coach John McLendon orchestrated a secret game between the best players from a white college and his team from the North Carolina College of Negroes. At a time of widespread segregation and rampant racism, this illegal gathering changed the sport of basketball forever"--Dust jacket flap.

"The American high school experience is as complex as we are as humans. It takes place at a time when young people are discovering who they are or who they may become. Life in high school is often made more complex as a result of family values mixing with newly discovered social values. Young people often dabble in any number of acceptable or unacceptable behavior without giving much thought to the consequences of their conduct and how it might play...

Stokes tells the story of the NBA's first Black superstar, Maurice Stokes, who is not as well known as he should be in part because of a career-ending injury. Coauthors and basketball enthusiasts John Coy and Ty Chapman highlight what a standout Stokes was: he was 6'7” and as they write, “nobody had ever seen a guy his size score, defend, rebound, dribble, and pass so well.” In a 1958 game against the Minneapolis Lakers, Stokes, went down...