Basketball Sparkplug

Kim's teammates tease him about singing in the church choir, but they change their tune when the choir helps the Arrows become Small Fry Basketball Champions.

In 1954, Matt Christopher wrote and published The Lucky Baseball Bat and has since published more than one hundred twenty novels, making him the most prolific and bestselling sportswriter for children ever. With over 6 million copies sold, Matt's books have a permanent place in the hearts of young sports fans. Throughout 2004, we celebrate 50 years with Matt Christopher's own commemorative biography written by his son, Dale, in the tradition of the Matt Christopher Biography Bookshelf, with exclusive photos, original letters, and memorabilia.

This history of American sports fiction traces depictions of baseball, basketball and football in works for all age levels from early dime novels through the 1960s. Chapters cover dime novel heroes Frank and Dick Merriwell; the explosion of sports novels before World War II and its influence on the authors who later wrote for baby boom readers; how sports novels persisted during the Great Depression; the rise and decline of sports pulps; why sports comics failed; postwar heroes Chip Hilton and Bronc Burnett; the lack of sports fiction for females; Duane Decker's Blue Sox books; and the classic John R. Tunis novels. Appendices list sports pulp titles and comic books featuring sports fiction.

Forced to referee rather than play basketball due to the after effects of polio, Rusty believes he will never play again until a new man in town organizes a team and coaches him.

A new baseball team gets some supernatural help from a concerned wizard.

When their coach becomes ill and their baseball team starts falling apart, several of the Blazers begin receiving coaching tips from an anonymous phone caller.