Here are some great books to read --

Painting the Black -- Carl Deuker - sports and mystery

Gym Candy -- Carl Deuker -- sports and substance abuse -

Sunrise over Fallujah -- Walter Dean Myers -- the Iraq war from the eyes of a young soldier

The Witch of Blackbird Pond -- Elizabeth Speare -- a girl in colonial times

The Hobbit -- J.R.R. Tolkien -- a fantasy adventure in another world.

Ember in the Ashes -- Sabaa Tahir -- a teenage girl with special powers must save her people.