Try Again, Champ!: 10 Inspiring Short Stories for Boys Ages 6-9 About Courage, Confidence, Resilience, and Never Giving Up (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798190887532)

He didn't make the team. The letter said no. So what happens next?
Marco spent an entire summer dreaming about the Riverside Rockets. He tied his skates tight. He gave everything he had. And two days later, a letter came in the mail that said he wasn't good enough.
"Not yet," his mom told him. "There's a difference."
What Marco did with that year is the whole point of this book.

Ten stories. Ten real boys. Ten moments that ask: are you going to get back up?

Try Again, Champ! is a collection of ten short stories about ordinary boys facing the exact things your son is facing right now - the tryout he didn't make, the new school where he doesn't know a single person, the bike he keeps falling off, the dark bedroom at 9pm, the best friend he just yelled at, the page of words that won't hold still.
No talking animals. No magic. No famous inventors from a hundred years ago. Just real kids, real problems, and the moment they decide to try one more time.

Inside this book:

• The Big Tryout - Marco doesn't make the team, and spends a whole year earning his second chance
• The New Kid - Theo moves three hundred miles away and has to build a life from nothing
• Just One More Try - Leo has fallen off his bike four times. He gives himself one more shot.
• Lights Out - Jake is brave about everything except the dark, until a camping trip changes that
• The Smallest Striker - Eli is the shortest kid on the field. He figures out how to make that an advantage.
• Sorry is a Small Word for a Big Thing - Owen breaks his best friend's LEGO ship and takes two days to say the hardest word
• The Bravest Kid in the Pool - Nate has stood at the bottom of the diving board ladder three visits in a row
• The Words on the Page - Danny loves stories more than anything, and reading is the hardest thing he does
• The Birthday Bench - Marcus has ten minutes and a kid sitting alone on a swing
• First Place, Last Place, Every Place - Finn will never beat the fastest kid in his grade. He finds a better race to run.

Why parents keep this one on the shelf:

• Ten complete stories, each one a ten-minute bedtime read with a real beginning, middle, and end
• Written for the 6-to-8 window - easy enough for a first grader to follow aloud, satisfying enough for a second or third grader to read alone
• Boys who are actually relatable - they get scared, they fail, they say the wrong thing, and they try anyway
• Real role models in the background - dads, grandpas, coaches, older brothers, best friends
• Conversation questions after every story, so the lesson doesn't end when the book closes
• Clean and worry-free - no violence, no scary content, nothing you need to preview first

A great fit if your son:

• Gets frustrated and quits the second something is hard
• Just changed schools, moved, or lost a friendship
• Is small for his age, slow to read, or convinced he's "bad at" something
• Loves hockey, soccer, basketball, or running
• Needs to hear that losing and being brave are not opposites

Perfect for bedtime reading, reluctant readers, first and second grade classrooms, quiet time, and birthday or holiday gifts for sons, grandsons, and nephews.

Because the getting-back-up part is where all the good stuff happens.
Scroll up and add Try Again, Champ! to your cart - and give your son ten stories he'll actually see himself in.

Author: Joe Grammatico
ISBN-13: 9798190887532
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 08/05/2026
Pages: 126
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.31lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.32d