JULY 2018 - AudioFile
Narrator Julie Dretzin fully expresses Katy Gordon’s passion for all things baseball. It’s 1957, and though she pitches a curveball no boy can hit, fifth-grader Katy has no chance of playing on her local Little League team. Girls aren’t allowed. Dretzin makes Katy’s determination to play palpable. This believability gives the story credibility when Katy sets out to disguise herself and is chosen to play by a scout—whereupon she displays her gifts more openly and surprises everyone. Before that, Katy’s research on female players and letters of protest give Dretzin ample opportunity to express her frustration. The author gracefully weaves in historical context and the stories of others who face prejudice, along with well-developed portrayals of Katy’s supportive all-female household. This well-told, discussion-inspiring story makes a great family listen. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 04/02/2018
Ten-year-old Kathleen Curie Gordon’s knuckling curveball is so good it wins her a Little League tryout—wearing her cap, Katy can pass as a boy. She makes the team but is outed by another player’s parent; it’s 1957 and league rules expressly prohibit girls. Klages interweaves Katy’s story with the current events she’s studying in fifth grade: the space race, desegregation, and the move of the Giants from New York to San Francisco, where they displace Katy’s favorite team, the minor league Seals. When Katy decides to write her history paper on women in baseball (in part to refute the league official’s claim that baseball “has always been the sole province of male athletes”), she uncovers a trove of information about female stars. Katy’s mom, a chemistry professor who has faced her own discrimination battles, is particularly well drawn, as she empowers her daughter to fight injustice. By the time she affirms, “Other people’s rules about what girls can and cannot do have never applied in this house,” whether Katy gets to play or not is somewhat less important than what she has learned about resistance. Ages 8–12. (May)
From the Publisher
* "A grand slam in every way."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* "In her newest novel, set against the backdrop of the space race, acclaimed historical fiction author Klages returns in fine form."—Booklist, starred review
* "Katy’s mom . . . is particularly well drawn, as she empowers her daughter to fight injustice." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Featuring powerful female characters, this is historical fiction that doesn’t drag for a second."—School Library Journal
"There are writers with unique voices and important things to say about people of all kinds and shapes and minds. Ellen Klages is one of those writers. Ignore her at your peril."—Neil Gaiman, author of Newbery Award winner The Graveyard Book
"Out of Left Field shows us, with heart and precision, what it really takes to make the world change. Katy Gordon is my hero. She's your hero, too."—William Alexander, National Book Award winner
“Heartwarming, fresh, and full of surprises. Readers of all ages will cheer for funny, feisty Katy Gordon as she chases her big-league dreams. Ellen Klages hits this one out of the park!”—Jennifer L. Holm, three-time Newbery Honor recipient
"They say that history is written by the winners. I say hidden histories, like the one ten-year-old Katy Gordon uncovers in this book, are writ large by winning authors like Ellen Klages. A book that's part sports, part rabble-rousing activism, and all around amazing."—Betsy Bird, School Library Journal blogger and editor of Funny Girl
A Junior Library Guild selection
Selected praise for Ellen Klages's previous middle grade novels:
"An intense but accessible page-turner. . . . History and story are drawn together with confidence."—The Horn Book, starred review
"Klages has a gift for opening moral dilemmas to middle-graders. First-rate historical fiction."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
School Library Journal
04/01/2018
Gr 4–7—"Keep asking questions. Never settle for being ordinary." Katy Gordon is anything but ordinary. She's got a special Sunday pitch that will strike out just about anybody, but her local Little League won't let her on the team just because she's a girl. Katy sets out to change their minds; after all, it's 1957 and the world is changing. To back up her legal argument (including a phone call with an ACLU lawyer), she uncovers the history of the All-American Girls Baseball League during WWII, the Bloomer Girls teams of the 1890s, and the young women who played in the Negro Leagues throughout the 1940s and 50s. Spurred on by her intelligent and independent single mother, Katy incorporates all of these forgotten women into a school project. Whenever Katy makes a new discovery, her excitement is contagious. The 1957 setting, a particularly tumultuous year for the U.S., is incorporated seamlessly into the narrative. The narrative, though rich in details, never gets bogged down. This title also includes substantial back matter, such as a list of female ballplayers, an author's note, a glossary of baseball terms, and further recommended reading. Klages gives Katy a strong voice and helps spotlight the history of marginalized women in sports history. VERDICT Featuring powerful female characters, this is historical fiction that doesn't drag for a second. A fine purchase.—Kerri Williams, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY
JULY 2018 - AudioFile
Narrator Julie Dretzin fully expresses Katy Gordon’s passion for all things baseball. It’s 1957, and though she pitches a curveball no boy can hit, fifth-grader Katy has no chance of playing on her local Little League team. Girls aren’t allowed. Dretzin makes Katy’s determination to play palpable. This believability gives the story credibility when Katy sets out to disguise herself and is chosen to play by a scout—whereupon she displays her gifts more openly and surprises everyone. Before that, Katy’s research on female players and letters of protest give Dretzin ample opportunity to express her frustration. The author gracefully weaves in historical context and the stories of others who face prejudice, along with well-developed portrayals of Katy’s supportive all-female household. This well-told, discussion-inspiring story makes a great family listen. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2018-02-13
Katy's such a good pitcher that she is accepted as one of the boys on the local sandlot in 1957 San Francisco.She calls herself Casey and tries out for Little League as a boy. She makes the team, but her ruse is discovered, and she is ruled ineligible. But Katy is from a family of strong, highly educated women, and she will not give up. In a reply to her letter to Little League headquarters, she is informed that the game had always been solely for males. Determined to find proof that girls have played baseball, Katy meticulously begins her research, enlarging her parameters to dovetail it with an assigned fifth-grade project. Her first discovery is of Jackie Mitchell, the girl who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in 1931. She delves deeper and discovers that "girl's baseball had a lot of history, but not a lot of now." Klages seamlessly interweaves Katy's research with the world-changing events of 1957, from Sputnik to Little Rock, allowing readers to access the information with Katy. She is Jewish, and her friends are Jewish, Japanese, African-American, white, and more—both ethnicity and race play important roles in the tale. Katy can't win the battle, but readers with be enthralled by both her spirit and the stories of the real women of baseball, thumbnail bios of whom appear in the backmatter.A grand slam in every way. (author's notes, glossary, recommended reading, acknowledgements) (Historical fiction. 8-12)
