Charlie Abbot's old friend comes to visit, and Charlie's excited. But when Pat--or Rick, as he's now known--arrives, Charlie can't help noticing how much Pat/Rick has changed. And some of these changes are downright dangerous. Illustrations.

While his mother is working overseas, Matt Harper is living temporarily with his uncle in Dragon Valley, where he practices his snowboard technique and contends with a local bully.

Ask most Olympians how their story begins and they will answer, "When I was young, I always dreamed of going to the Olympics. . ." Some will then go on to tell of their great athletic triumphs. Others will recall agonizing near-misses. But for most, the very fact that they reached the Games at all was a dream come true. For the Olympic Games offer athletes something few others sporting events can: the chance to be recognized as the best in the world at a chosen sport.

With stories of great triumphs and great tragedies, the Olympics not only embodies the competitive human spirit, but also...

It's early summer, and things are really heating up between Garry Wallis, star of Lacrosse Face-Off, and his nemesis, Michael Donofrio. At the end of last season, Garry sabotaged Michael's chances of becoming the league's top scorer. Now Michael is taking his revenge. He's got plenty of opportunity, too, for the Rockets are taking part in a week-long lacrosse tournament held at an overnight camp. Garry tries to ignore Michael, but the bullying finally gets to him-and what happens next sets off a string of near-disasters that finds Garry in the heart of a firestorm . . .
This...

At the start of the 1998 major league baseball season, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire hit a home run. In the games that followed, he did it again. And again. And again. And again. By the end of the season, in late September, he had done the hardest thing in baseball an earth-shattering seventy times. He didn't just break the decades-old single-season home-run record set by Roger Maris in 1961-he shattered it. And by doing so, he not only set a new benchmark for players to strive for, but also reminded people that baseball is fun, a game to be enjoyed, with heroes who play for...

Hockey has been a part of Mario Lemieux's life since his childhood. At the age of six he was holding his own against boys four years older; by the time he was sixteen, he had captured the attention of the National Hockey league, and soon after signed on with NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. At the 2002 Olympic Winter Games he captained the Canadian hockey team, leading them in their gold medal winning performance.

When Kelly Roberts plays basketball at home with her friend Ester, she's a whiz, but as soon as she faces a crowd, she freezes. Then one day Kelly finds a brand-new pair of red hightops in her locker. They fit her perfectly, and whenever she wears them, her teammates tell her she plays a better game. She is reluctant to believe in them at first, but soon even she has to admit that the sneakers have a strange, almost overpowering effect on her. Could the mysterious hightops somehow be touched with magic?

When Stookie Norris's brother, Greg, gets his picture in the paper for scoring three goals in one game, Stookie is dazzled. Greg insists strikers should try to score a hat trick every game. So when the 'Cats have their next game, Stookie does his best to score three goals - even though it means running wild chasing the ball. But is it the best way for him to play?