John Coy is an award-winning author, who worked as a dishwasher, mattress maker, and tour guide before taking up writing. He's active in sports and is a member of the NBA Reading All-Star Team as part of the Read to Achieve program. John has traveled to all fifty states as well as to many countries internationally. His work includes Night Driving, a Marion Vannett Ridgway Memorial Award winner and a Horn Book Fanfare title, Strong to the Hoop, an American Library Association Notable Book, Two Old Potatoes and Me, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book, a Nickelodeon Jr.'s Best Books of the Year, and a featured book on Reading Rainbow, and Vroomaloom Zoom, a book of excellence on the Children's Literature Choice List. His newest picture book Around the World is about international basketball, and his YA novel Crackback is set in the world of high school football. John's latest book, Box Out (Scholastic 2008) deals with the pressures facing a high school basketball player when he makes the varsity team.
More information can be found about John on his web site: www.johncoy.com
Sophomore Liam is forced to come to grips with whether his beliefs and his desire to play and win are at odds in this action-packed story that explores the boundaries of students' civil rights.
(Scholastic US, 2008)
Starred review, Booklist
"The author of Crackback crafts an equally perceptive, triumphant tale - this one centered on a highschool hoops player searching for, and finding, his own road....More a decent, average, level-headed kid than an introspective sort or a crusader, Liam struggles with the urge to conform and ultimately finds realistic ways to rebound from self-doubt as well as serious peer and adult pressure. Plainly well acquainted with teenagers as well as b-ball play and lingo, Coy adds subplots and supporting characters to give Liam's life dimension, but he weaves in plenty of breathlessly compelling game action too."
- Starred review, Booklist
"...nail-biting play-by-play action and nuanced portraits of main characters struggling to figure out where they fit in on the court and in their lives. High school sophomore Liam, in Minneapolis author Coy's "Box Out," switches midseason from the junior varsity team to varsity. While he's ecstatic about the promotion, he's also troubled by the group prayers his small-town basketball coach insists on before each game."
- The Capital Times
Crackback
When Miles Manning, a successful high school football player, discovers his teammates are using steroids — and one of them is his best friend — he's faced with a tough decision: Is he willing to do what it takes to win? (Scholastic US, 2007)
2009 Grand Canyon Reader Award, Teen Recommended
2006 edition of CCBC Choices
Cooperative Children’s Book Center
"A crackback block comes from the outside and it can destroy you if you're not careful. Miles Manning, a junior and a star football player, is blindsided by some crushing blows that seem to come out of nowhere....Football fans will pass a copy of this great catch to their friends when they finish it!"
- teenreads.com
Four friends attend a weeklong soccer camp and, while developing their talents, each grapples with realities in their family life.
(Feiwel & Friends, 2010)
Top of the Order
Four ten-year-old boys are a strong team on the baseball field and off.
(Feiwel & Friends, 2009)
2010 Best Books of the Year List,
Bank Street College of Education
"Gripping play-by-play and a fast-moving plot will appeal to sports enthusiasts and reluctant readers."
-School Library Journal
"Appealing characters and plenty of baseball action will make this a hit with young sports fans."
-Kirkus Reviews
"Keeping the tone light and folding in suspenseful game action, Coy underscores the importance of teamwork, bonding, and being open to change both on an off the field."
-Booklist
illustrated by Antonio Reonegro and Tom Lynch
(Lee and Low, 2005)
2005 Junior Library Guild Selection
Two Old Potatoes and Me
illustrated by Carolyn Fisher
(Random House, 2003, 2009)
Growing Good Kids Book Award,
Junior Master Gardener Program and the American Horticultural Society
Night Driving
illustrated by Peter McCarty
(Henry Holt and Co, 2001)
Horn Book Honor List
New York Times Best Book of the Year
MarionVannett Ridgway Best Picture Book
Vroomaloom Zoom
illustrated by Joe Cepeda
(Crown, 2000)
“The rhythmic, repetitive text and the vibrant pictures against colorful pages make this story a perfect read-aloud.”
–School Library Journal
Strong to the Hoop
illustrated by Leslie Jean-Bart
(Lee & Low, 1999)
Choices, Cooperative Children's Book Center
ALA Notable Children's Book,
American Library Association
Notable Books for a Global Society,
International Reading Association
Children's Books of the Year,
Bank Street College
Girls have reading down, but boys are losing interest
On a recent bookstore visit, a sign caught my eye: "Summer Reading for Teens." As an author of young adult novels, I was curious to see what books were selected for the table.
Fashionistas, mean girls, gossip girls, island girls, it girls, a whole sisterhood of traveling pants. Had I read the sign wrong? Was this the table of summer reading for girls? I checked the sign again: Summer Reading for Teens. I scanned the table. Where were the books for boys? Among the brightly colored covers, not a single book featured a male protagonist in a contemporary setting...
