Backfield Boys by John Feinstein

Sports-writing powerhouse John Feinstein’s young adult novel Backfield Boys follows best friends and football stars Jason Roddin and Tom Jefferson, a perfect, though unconventional, pair: Jason, the Jewish kid, is lightning fast and a natural wide-receiver, while African-American Tom has an amazing arm and a quarterback’s feel for the game. After summer football camp at an elite sports-focused boarding school, the boys are thrilled to enroll on scholarship for their freshman year―despite their mothers' fears of injury and especially CTE.

On day one, they’re stunned when the coaches make Tom a receiver and Jason a quarterback, a complete contradiction to their skill sets and training. They soon suspect this is a racial issue. The boys speak out, risking both their scholarships and their chance to play. But when Jason gets a concussion in the first game of the season, he and Tom must decide how much they're willing to lose in their quest to expose the ugly remnants of a racist past that still linger in contemporary jock culture.

In Backfield Boys, “The best writer of sports books in America today” (The Boston Globe) tells a thrilling story of friendship, football, and a fight for justice.

Author's Website

We have many of John Feinstein's adult and young-adult books in the library.

The Silver Mask (Magisterium, #4)

Callum Hunt's life has fallen apart.

His friend is gone. The spy has escaped. His secret is out.

He is facing an existence behind bars, banished from the rest of the magical community for what he is - for what he might become.

But a shocking revelation has promised freedom - at a cost. Will he stay strong, and faithful to his friends and teachers? Or take the risk, and destroy everything he's ever loved?

This fourth year at the Magisterium will be unlike anything else that has gone before . . .

Author's Website

Crosstime Traffic Series by Harry Turtledove

Crosstime Traffic Series: The central premise of the stories is an Earth that has discovered access to alternate universes where history proceeded differently. "Crosstime Traffic" is the name of the company with a global monopoly on the technology.

• Gunpowder Empire: The first book in the series, it involves a pair of siblings stranded during a siege of an outpost of a Roman Empire that never collapsed.

• Curious Notions: The second book in the series is about a teenager and his father who are running an electronics store in San Francisco in a world where Imperial Germany reigns supreme following its victory in the First World War.

• In High Places: Takes place in a world where the Black Death killed four-fifths of Europe's population, and the Moors still occupy Spain and southern France, and the Industrial Revolution never happened.

• The Disunited States of America: This book concerns a pair of teenagers, one from the Crosstime civilization, one a native, who meet in a Virginia where the United States fell apart in the early 1800s due to the Constitutional Convention failing, in a North America torn by war between numerous independent states. The working title for this book was The United States of America.

• The Gladiator: This novel is set in a world dominated by Communism after the Soviet Union won the Cold War in the late 20th century. In Italy, two teenagers chafe under the deadening rule of communism — until they discover the existence of Crosstime Traffic through a strategy gaming shop which is not as it seems.

• The Valley-Westside War: The sixth book in the series, set in Los Angeles a world in which nuclear warfare took place in 1967. Los Angeles and the rest of the United States are split into several tiny republics, kingdoms, city states, and such, we are told a story of when the Kingdom of the Valley invaded the Democracy of Westside.

*Information from Wikipedia

House of Spies

Four months after the deadliest attack on the American homeland since 9/11,  a terrorist plot leaves a trail of carnage through London’s glittering West End. The attack is a brilliant feat of planning and secrecy, but with one loose thread.

The thread leads Gabriel Allon and his team to the south of France and to the gilded doorstep of one of the richest men in the country, Jean-Luc Martel, and his companion, Olivia Watson. A beautiful former British fashion model, Olivia pretends not to know the true source of Martel’s enormous wealth. And Martel, likewise, turns a blind eye to the fact he is doing business with a man whose objective is the very destruction of the West. Together, under Gabriel’s skilled hand, they will become an unlikely pair of heroes in the global war on terrorism. - Author's Website

Use of Force by Brad Thor

As a storm rages across the Mediterranean Sea, a terrifying distress call is made to the Italian Coast Guard. Days later, a body washes ashore. Identified as a high value terrorism suspect (who had disappeared three years prior), his name sends panic through the Central Intelligence Agency. Where was he headed? What was he planning? And could he be connected to the “spectacular attack” they have been fearing all summer? In a race against time, the CIA taps an unorthodox source to get answers: Navy SEAL turned covert counterterrorism operative, Scot Harvath. Hired on a black contract, Harvath will provide the deniability the United States needs, while he breaks every rule along the way.

Teeming with fascinating characters and electrifying intrigue, Brad Thor does it again and proves why he is known around-the-world as the “Master of Thrillers - Author's Website

Generation One (Lorien Legacies Reborn #1) by Pittacus Lore

The first book in a pulse-pounding new series that’s set in the world of the #1 New York Times bestselling I Am Number Four series. The war may be over—but for the next generation, the battle has just begun!

It has been over a year since the invasion of Earth was thwarted in Pittacus Lore’s United as One. But in order to win, our alien allies known as the Garde unleashed their Loric energy that spread throughout the globe. Now human teenagers have begun to develop incredible powers of their own, known as Legacies.

To help these incredible and potentially dangerous individuals—and put the world at ease—the Garde have created an academy where they can train this new generation to control their powers and hopefully one day help mankind. But not everyone thinks that’s the best use of their talents. And the teens may need to use their Legacies sooner than they ever imagined.

Perfect for fans of Marvel’s X-Men and Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave, this epic new series follows a diverse cast of teens as they struggle to hone their abilities and decide what, if anything, they should do with them. As a spin-off of the bestselling I Am Number Four series, those familiar with the original books and newcomers alike will devour this fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi adventure. - from the publisher

Also by Pittacus Lore: I am Number Four Series available in the Library