Best Selling Books by Carl Deuker

Ten-year-old Kenny (Kenji in Japanese) worships his older brother, Mickey (Mitsuo), a baseball hero whose outstanding performance on the Asahi baseball team has given him fame and popularity. Despite Kenny''s suspected heart condition, he is determined to practice secretly with Mickey so he, too, can one day try out for the Asahi. But world events soon overtake life in this quiet community. When Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in 1941, everything for Kenny and his family spirals out of control: schools are closed, businesses are confiscated, fathers are arrested and sent to work camps in the BC interior and mothers and children are relocated to internment camps. When Mickey is arrested for a small act of violence, Kenny manages to keep his family''s spirits up, despite the deplorable conditions in camp. Coming across a "vacant" field covered with scrap wood, broken shakes and torn tar paper, Kenny gets permission to clear it and convert it into a baseball field. One by one, the boys in the camp pitch in, and the work gives purpose to their long days. Kenny''s persistence, hard work and big dreams shape the teen he is to become in this story of happiness found despite all odds.

Lazarus Weathers, a high school senior from the wrong side of the tracks, seeks to protect his half-brother while pitching his way out of poverty, one strike at a time.

Living with his alcoholic father on a broken-down sailboat on Puget Sound has been hard on seventeen-year-old Chance Taylor, but when his love of running leads to a high-paying job, he quickly learns that the money is not worth the risk.

For the first time ever, comes a digital boxed set containing Gym Candy, Payback Time, Night Hoops, and Runner, four books from award-winning sportswriter Carl Deuker.

While trying to prove that he is good enough to on his high school''s varsity basketball team, Nick must also deal with his parents'' divorce and erratic behavior of a troubled classmate who lives across the street.

High school senior point guard Jonas Dolan is on the fast track to a basketball career until an unthinkable choice puts his future on the line.

Award-winning novelist Carl Deuker creates a mystery-thriller against the backdrop of high school football and the criminal underworld.

“Look, Mick,” he said, “you’re going to find out from somebody in the gym, so you might as well find out from me. Those supplements you’re taking? They might get you a little bigger, but just a little. If you’re after serious results, there’s other stuff that produces better results much faster, stuff that a lot of guys in the gym use.” “What other stuff?” “You know what I’m talking about—gym candy.” Runningback Mick Johnson has dreams: dreams of cutting back, finding the hole, breaking into the open, and running free with nothing but green grass ahead. He has dreams of winning and of being the best. But football is a cruel sport. It requires power, grace, speed, quickness, and knowledge of the game. It takes luck, too. One crazy bounce can turn a likely victory into sudden defeat. What elite athlete wouldn’t look for an edge? A way to make him bigger, stronger, faster? This novel explores the dark corners of the heart of a young football player as he struggles for success under the always glaring—and often unforgiving—stadium lights.

Beloved, award-winning author Carl Deuker serves up another fast-paced sports novel—this one about basketball and friendship. Nate plays soccer, but he doesn’t love it. He plays because it’s what his family expects. Then Lucas Cawley moves in across the street. Lucas isn’t like any of Nate’s sports friends—he’s poor, his parents are mostly absent, and he’s devoted to his sister, Megan, who has a learning disability. Lucas may be an outcast at school, but he and Nate find common ground in their fierce games of one-on-one basketball. It’s not long before Nate realizes that basketball is his sport. But Nate has an ax to grind with star players Colin and Bo, who have disrespected him for years. Nate believes that outplaying those two is the most important thing . . . until he learns that life is about more than getting ready for the next game.

In his senior year of high school, late bloomer Ryan Ward has just begun to feel the magic of baseball - the magic of catching a wicked slider, of throwing a runner out, of training hard and playing hard and pushing his limits. Giving up baseball would be like getting off the most exciting ride of his life. But when one of his teammates clearly pushes the limits too far, Ryan is faced with a heartbreaking dilemma: he must choose between his love for the game and his sense of integrity - two things that, in his mind, baseball should bring together.

"A clever blend of family conflict, superstition, and exciting sports action. Adolescent readers will empathize with the mind games Joe plays as he struggles for...independence; teachers will delight in the literary references...and librarians will praise this fine addition to sports fiction." -School Library Journal

As the star closer for his high school baseball team, Shane Hunter is untouchable. Firing fastballs at ninety miles per hour, he loves being a winner. But when his father is accused of a crime, Shane''s charmed world is turned upside down. Nothing is the way it once was, and Shane''s not sure he wants to -- or even can -- pitch ever again. But like baseball, life sometimes throws you curves, and Shane discovers it''s how you play the game that counts most of all.

From the author of Gym Candy comes a novel of football and bullying, finding friends and finding courage. With both good speed and good hands, wide receiver Brock Ripley should be a natural for the varsity team, but he shies away from physical contact. When he gets cut from varsity, he also loses his friendship with star quarterback Hunter Gates who begins lashing out at not only Brock, but also Brock’s friend, the quiet and smart Richie Fang. Brock wants to stand up for Fang, but he is younger, smaller, and doesn’t want to cause problems. But when the bullying goes too far, will Brock be able to face his fears, stop being a bystander, and prove to himself that he is brave enough?