Customer Reviews

A Girl Named Dan (Picture Books)

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Dandi, an athletic and competitive girl growing up during the early 1960s in Hamilton, Missouri, is a talented baseball player and a devoted fan. She knows all the baseball jargon and wants nothing more than to play ball with the boys during recess and after school. But at a time when the U.S. legal structure and social norms still did not give girls and women equal opportunities in sports, Dandi has little recourse when the boys decide they don't want her to join them in the ball field.

Determined to stay in the game, Dandi uses her other strong skill in writing to enter an essay contest held by the Kansas City A's to recruit batboys. In an attempt to bypass the "for boys only" requirement, she signs her submission with her nickname Dan. Dandi's experience teachers her that it takes more than a simple trick to be a winner and feel like a winner in any competition.

Although A Girl Named Dan focuses on baseball, parents and teachers can use this interesting book to teach children a powerful set of lessons about discrimination and how legal reforms have helped to change discriminatory practices. In this case, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits unequal treatment by sex in all education-related activities that receive federal financial assistance. The book provides a valuable opportunity to talk with children about the barriers that girls used to face within and outside of school, and the extent to which those barriers have changed.

This is a fantastic book for girls AND for boys. Girls will see what was like before Title IX, and they'll be challenged to dream. And boys need to see what it's like to be denied on the basis of gender. The baseball slang and story are terrific, but don't miss the author's letter in the front. It gives such a nice flavor and picture of what the world was like in 1961.

In 1972, 37 words that made up the Title IX of the Educational Amendment ended sex discrimination under federally financed educational programs. For one author that law hit close to home plate, it meant girls were given a chance - to play ball! Author, Dandi Daley Mackall, shares her spirit of determination in this historical account of her own childhood experience. Illustrator, Renee Graef, captures the emotional challenges of the characters in expressive realistic illustrations that compliment Mackall's voice as she retells her young tale. The raw grit of this narrative and baseball lingo will excite any Sports - man or woman. A Girl Named Dan, highlights one girl's desire to play baseball in a world that had not yet accepted female participation in boyish sports. After being shunned from the playing field by her schoolmates, Dan turns her attention to securing her place on the field, as a batboy, for the Kansas City A's. Though this girl named Dan faced major league disappointments, she found herself left with a surprising gift that led her down another path to a new field. Dandi Daley Mackall really is A Girl Named Dan, and her story reminds young girls to handle their defeats with strength, courage and optimism.

Sara Hassler
Reviewer

I grew up playing baseball with my two brothers back in that same era and, though they always let me play with them in neighborhood games, I remember being jealous that they could be in Little League and I couldn't because I was a girl. Dandi Mackall's delightful book brought back so many memories and the fact that her story is true makes it all the better! Hooray for Dandi!