5 Cool Middle Grade Books About Winter Sports

Sugar and Ice, by Kate Messner
This book is for any girl (or boy) who dreams of being a professional ice skater. And from an informal survey of my friends, this seems to be a lot of us! I mean the outfits alone…This book lets the reader live vicariously through our skating protagonist, Claire Boucher, who goes from small town farm life in Mojimuk Falls and skating on a frozen cow pond, to living out her wildest skating dreams. Claire gets picked for the “Silver Blades Scholarship Program” and starts training with the best of the best in Lake Placid. But can Claire handle the mean girls and pressure of performing at this level, or will this turn out to be a case of “be careful what you wish for“?

Breaking the Ice, by Gail Nall
Another awesome choice that will help you indulge in your inner figure skater! Breaking the Ice is about a 12-year old skater named Kaitlin, who dreams of one day becoming an Olympic figure skating champion. Anyone who participated in a high level of competitive sports as a kid, knows the pressure that comes along with those championship meets, when it feels like everything is on the line. Unfortunately, Kaitlin loses her cool and has a major meltdown when she places a disappointing 11 out of 13, demanding new judges who “know what they’re doing” and getting herself dropped by her coach as a result. Is her skating journey over before it began, or will she dig deep and get back to where she belongs—on the ice?

Snowboard Maverick, by Matt Christopher
I have never personally set foot on a snowboard, (which is probably directly related to why I’ve never broken a leg) but hypothetically I love the idea of it! As the best skateboarder in Moorsville, 13-year old Dennis O’Malley should have no problem picking up snowboarding. Right? In a town blanketed in snow for 5 months a year, this seems like the natural next step. Unfortunately Dennis is still haunted by a bad skiing accident he survived years ago, and getting his feet in the boots is going to be a little harder than it looks. A great book about facing your fears, and taking on life’s challenges, one downhill run at a time.

Golden Girl, by Mari Mancusi
This book definitely feels like it was written by a professional—a professional snowboarder, that is. The visceral descriptions will have you clutching your chair. It starts out with a bang, with a heart-pounding race down a mountain in subzero temps. Alexis (Lexi) Miller, daughter of Winter Games X Star Bruce Miller, is competing at Mountain Academy in Vermont. While waiting in the stalls for the race to start, she overhears the catty and jealous remarks of her fellow competitors, and we the reader, realize that competitive snowboarding is not going to be all fun and games for Lexi. Hang on for a wild, adrenaline-filled ride.

The Mean Girl Meltdown, by Lindsay Eyre
My good friend in high school was an ice hockey player and I always felt like she was the coolest girl in school because of it. She would show up to class with a broken nose or black eye after practices and games, and I felt like she couldn’t possibly be any more awesome. This ice hockey themed book is about fourth grader Sylvie Scruggs, who finally is old enough to join the town’s Jr. squad, and convinces her reluctant friends Josh, Miranda, and Georgie to join her on the ice. But as you may have suspected from the title, not everyone on the team is so nice. Sylvie’s motto “there’s no pain, no gain in sports” may be truer than she realizes!