Product Description

MADISON IS NOT your average 12-year-old girl from Michigan in 1980. She doesn’t use lipgloss, but she loves to play sports, and joins baseball for the summer—the first girl in Southern Michigan to play on a boys’ team. The press call her a star and a trailblazer, but Madison just wants to play ball. Who knew it would be so much pressure? Crowds flock to the games. Her team will win the championship—if she can keep up her pitching streak. Meanwhile, she’s got a crush on a fellow player, her best friend abandons her for the popular girls, the “O” on her Hinton’s uniform forms a bulls-eye over her left breast, and the boy she punched on the last day of school plans to bean her in the championship game.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #246806 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-13
• Released on: 2008-05-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 5–8—In this novel set in 1980, Madison is an awkward 12-year-old who is taller than most of the boys in her class. As summer begins, she finds herself on the outs with her friend Sara and thrust into the role of reluctant trailblazer as the first girl to play league baseball in her area of Southern Michigan. Madison's a gifted athlete, but she doesn't like being called a tomboy and she's not sure how she feels about baseball. She loves to pitch, but is uncomfortable with the pressure and the crowds and is self-conscious about her changing body. She struggles to fit in with her teammates, developing a crush on one boy and finding an unexpected ally in another. Also, she finds herself bristling at her mother's attempts to be supportive. The coming-of-age theme is familiar, but Madison's voice and perceptions ring true. At times, Day's plot feels a bit overcrowded and a few of the supporting characters seem one-dimensional, but these are small missteps in an otherwise engaging novel. Recommend this book to readers who enjoyed Kristi Roberts's My Thirteenth Season (Holt, 2005) and Dori Hillestad Butler's Sliding into Home (Peachtree, 2003).—Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
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From Booklist
Baseball has been 12-year-old Madison’s passion for years, in contrast to the makeup, clothes, and hairstyles that her best friend, Sara, can’t live without. In fact, Madison is such a good pitcher that her older brother, David, who has coached her for years, finds a boys’ team for her to join, making hers the first team to accept a girl in southern Michigan. As a media storm gradually brews around her, Madison hunkers down to become a valuable team player, pitching and hitting her way to the championship. Set in 1980, Day’s novel explores both the mixed emotions many teenage girls encounter as they move between the rough-and-tumble life of childhood sports and more ladylike pursuits as well as the additional pressure Madison feels by being the first girl to play on a boys’ baseball team. History is full of sport stories about first females, but YA fiction is not, making this perceptive, enjoyable title, packed with exciting baseball, particularly welcome. Grades 6-9. --Frances Bradburn

About the Author
Karen Day grew up in Indiana and now lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with her husband and three children. Her love of reading, writing, and literature has taken her through careers in journalism and teaching. She is the author of Tall Tales. You can reach her at: www.klday.com.

Customer Reviews

Another Home Run by Karen Day!
I sat down to read this book and had to finish it in one night because it was so much fun. An engaging, upbeat plot with subtle humor and meanings underneath. As a child psychologist, I appreciate the multidimensional relationship that Madison has with her mom, and her understated, but intense longing for a dad. Madison's relationships are very realistic and psychologically accurate, and they capture your attention in a thought-provoking way. Speaking of attention, this is what Madison is trying to teach herself to do. And this is what I love most about her. She's trying to pay attention to what's really important and not fall for superficiality, whether it is revealed in fame, self-seeking attention, or pseudo-romance. It's very compelling to watch Madison as she tries to make sense of what love is about in all it's ambiguous forms (best friend, a crush, and as a loving daughter). Over the course of the novel, it is also a privilege to observe as Madison changes and grows up. The over-arching theme of being true to yourself and finding out what that really entails is portrayed in a compassionate and enticing way. It is also interesting to witness the dilemmas inherent in what it was like for a girl to become involved in the world of boys' sports in the 70's. You will laugh and cheer for Madison as she tentatively, and then, proudly steps into a new phase of her life.

Daddy's review
I loved this book a little more than Tall Tales which I also liked. Do you suspect that Karen Day pitched on a boys little league team?
Daddy Day

Did I have these worries when I was 13?
What a joy to read a book that is so interesting and fun. It can be enjoyed by people of all ages, including baseball players.