Out of Left Field by Ellen Klages | Book Review

Title: Out of Left Field
Author: Ellen Klages
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Published Date: May 1st, 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction, Little League, Baseball
Page Count: 320
Format: Paperback

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
A story about the fight for equal rights in America's favorite arena: the baseball field!
Every boy in the neighborhood knows Katy Gordon is their best pitcher, even though she's a girl. But when she tries out for Little League, it's a whole different story. Girls are not eligible, period. It is a boy's game and always has been. It's not fair, and Katy's going to fight back. Inspired by what she's learning about civil rights in school, she sets out to prove that she's not the only girl who plays baseball. With the help of friendly librarians and some tenacious research skills, Katy discovers the forgotten history of female ballplayers. Why does no one know about them? Where are they now? And how can one ten-year-old change people's minds about what girls can do?

Set in 1957--the world of Sputnik and Leave It to Beaver, saddle shoes and "Heartbreak Hotel"--Out of Left Field is both a detailed picture of a fascinating historic period and a timelessly inspiring story about standing up for equality at any age.

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 My Review:

"Why did not being a boy make such a big difference? I didn't always look like a girl, and I definetly didn't throw like a girl. Did what was inside my pants really count more than practice and skill?Not fair."

Out of Left Field follows Katy Gordon and a young girl who wants to keep playing baseball with the neighborhood boys as they join little league. Thiers one problem with this, she's a girl and it's 1957 and girls have no place in little league or baseball. 
This leads Katy Gordon on a fight to prove that girls can play just as good as boys and that the little league rules aren't right. 




Overall I absolutely loved this book! Katy was a character that is so smart, yet still able to be a child at the same time. Katy's mom is a professor at a local university and her dad while divorced from her mom is working for the military and is helping create a big part of Galactical History. Because of these things, Katy not only has the world at her fingertips she also has support to be anything that she can be. With a little help from her mom, Katy is able to start fighting the Little League rules and learns a lot about women in baseball and why they were pushed out. 

"Wrigley wanted players who looked like ladies and played like men."

If you loved the movie a League of Their Own then you will adore this book as well. I loved learning about so many different baseball players and the achievements they made. From desegregation of players to getting benched the whole game these women while always pushed to the side showed that girls are just as good as boys if not been when it comes to sports. If you want to know more about the women and a timeline here's a link to usabaseball.com page all about women in baseball