Why was a book about a research project so good my kids and i couldn't wait for the next chapter. Heartfelt with great representation and family relationships. ( )

Set in 1957, Katy Gordon is a young girl who is most recognized in the neighborhood for being the best pitcher. However, when she wants to participate in the Little League, she is denied as baseball is a "boys-only" game. Katy is more than motivated to stand up for herself and uses what she learned about civil rights to prove that a girl can play baseball. I definitely recommend this inspiring book as it can be used as an instructional material in a middle school social studies class about the evolution of civil rights and feminism throughout history. ( )

Katy Gordon doesn't think of herself as a feminist. She doesn't think of herself as a fighter in the struggle for equal rights. She know it's not fair that she was denied the place that she earned on her local Little League team just because she's a girl. So she starts by writing a letter to Little League headquarters in Williamsport, PA. When they respond by telling her that baseball is, and always has been, a sport for boys and men, she sets out to prove them wrong. Her journey opens up a world of women in baseball that Katy (like probably most readers of this book) had no idea existed.

And what a world it is! Of course, Katy learns about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which by 1957 has already faded away, but she also learns about women who made it to the minor leagues, only to have their contracts cancelled because of their gender. She learns about women who played in the Negro Leagues, and women who formed barnstorming teams. She meets some of these women and interviews them for a school project. Through Katy, we learn so much about this history, and Katy's sheer excitement at finding so many other women who share her passion is infectious.

When I was a girl and played Little League, it didn't occur to me even to think about the girls and women who had come before me, let alone thank them, but after reading this book, I will never forget them. That's due in equal measure to the wonderful writing as to the short bios of some of these players that Klages includes at the end of the books, ending with Maria Pepe, who in 1974, with the support of NOW, finally made Little League change their rules. So, as someone who walked on the path they paved, I now know enough to thank them, and to also thank Ellen Klages for doing a masterful job at bringing their stories to a new generation. ( )

Ten-year-old Katy Gordon has a fantastic pitch and loves playing baseball with the boys in her neighborhood. But when the local Little League refuses to let her play -- even after she makes the cut in tryouts -- simply because she's a girl, she's determined to fight back. Katy does extensive research on the history of women in baseball to make her case.

This was a solid read set in the late 1950s and looking further back still at the various obstacles women in sports have faced. It should be an inspiring read for young girls ... except that Klages makes a distinction very early on about what kind of girls she is writing for/about. For instance, her main characters says and thinks things like:
- "Dewey said it means that we're not girly girls. We don't squeal when we see a spider, and we think for ourselves."
- "Right then I was glad I had my mom instead of some Betty Crocker woman."

I know it seems nitpicking to notice a few lines out of a long work, but these happen early on and left a sour taste for the rest of the book for me. This kind of discourse is incredibly frustrating and honestly damaging to young girls. It seems like this book is telling them that girls are only worthwhile if they act like boys. If you like to bake, get out of here. If you like sports, you're okay. It's not helpful and it undercuts the author's message about women pioneering change and progress. "Girly girls" need not apply apparently.

That all being said, the rest of the book was well done with likeable -- and diverse -- characters. The history is there, with backmatter fleshing it out a little more. It doesn't read like a didactic work even though readers will be learning a lot of hushed up history. That history also includes things like civil rights and the space race in addition to baseball. The story's ending is optimistic without being pie-in-the-sky naive about the realities for women in sports. ( )

First: I'm a girl baseball player. I may be 22 now, and maybe I haven't played in a league since I was 14 (when the all-male administration told me "that's enough" and to "go play softball"), but I am a ball player. I grew up around the Cape Cod Baseball League, coached in camps by players who went on to play professionally; made history in a boys' league by being the first girl to be on the roster and playing for years; spent the last two spring seasons assistant coaching a high school varsity boys' baseball team whenever I was home from university, etc. Fenway Park is one of my favorite places in the world. My brother and I played a 1v1 version of baseball we'd made up in our yard for years, and often for hours at a time. I am a ball player. And I have been looking for more fiction, specifically in children's literature where it's most important, featuring girl ball players. I am ecstatic to have run across this one on a whim at the bookstore.

Also: This is the second girls playing baseball book I read since yesterday afternoon. Loved them both. The contemporary one was special because in many ways, it was incredibly similar to my own experience. But: so was this one, if in other ways, AND it was historical to boot. Probably my favorite aspect of this book is its intersectionality within the historical accuracy. Mentions include Japanese internment camps, the Negro leagues, all the real women ball players featured including women of color, current events like fighting against integration, etc. And also, while fictional, Katy's two best ball player friends are Japanese and black, respectively. And they're awesome. I love Pee Wee and Chip so much.

So: THANK YOU for this book. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't fight harder to keep playing with my same team after I was forced to step away. My teammates, to their credit, were angry on my behalf. I continued to play in every practice, to warm up with them on the field before every game, and to join them in the dugout, spitting sunflower shells, blowing bubbles of Big League Chew, and rattling the chainlink fence at the opposing teams. It was still my team. And yet it wasn't.

It was 2010, and I was forced away.

In this book, it's 1957. Katy is forced away. So really, how far have we come?

150 years of women in baseball history existed before the 1950s, when official rules were made to keep out women - evidenced by the AAGPBL shutting down, the voiding of Eleanor Engle's contract with the majors before she could ever play in a game, etc. Men had come back after the war, and they didn't want to see or hear that women could do exactly what they could. And that stigma still exists today.

I've been watching my favorite 11 year old in the world, a family friend, play baseball since she was 7. She's a catcher. And she's amazing. I go to many of her games, and we nearly always stay after for her to hit in the batting cage and to practice catching. And as a treat, she pitches to me. And I get to hit. I grin the whole time. But I am so afraid that a moment will come when she's told the same thing I was when I was 14. If that happens, I will help her fight like hell to keep playing. All the while wishing someone had done the same for me.

So again, thank you for this book. Because I know an 11 year old girl ball player who needs it. And a 22 year old one who maybe needed it, too. ( )