Players In Pigtails (Scholastic Bookshelf) [Paperback]

Shana Corey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2006 | Age Level: 3 and up | Series: Scholastic Bookshelf

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Category: Sports

Inspired by the hit movie A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, this is a delightful tribute to the All- American Girls Professional Baseball League, created during World War II. The story focuses in particular on Katie Casey, who preferred "sliding to sewing" and "batting to baking" and is mentioned as a "baseball-mad" girl in the song TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME! Determined Katie makes it all the way to the big leagues and finds a sisterhood of friends and players. This is a girl-power story like no other.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Katie Casey is in a league of her own: "She preferred sliding to sewing, batting to baking, and home runs to homecoming." Unfortunately, baseball is not considered ladylike in 1942. But when the male professional baseball players are called away to war, Katie has her chance to step up to the plate. Players in Pigtails, inspired by the movie A League of Their Own, is a delightful tribute to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League created by Chicago Cubs owner Phillip Wrigley during World War II. When author Shana Corey (Milly and the Macy’s Parade, You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer!) discovered that the lyrics of the popular 1908 song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" featured a "baseball-mad" girl named Katie Casey, she simply had to share the story with children. Illustrator Rebecca Gibbon captures a gleeful era of women’s baseball in cheerful colors and carefully researched 1940s styles. Young readers will enjoy this exuberant, well-paced picture book about good old-fashioned girl power, complete with an informative and engaging author’s note about the girls’ league along with the lyrics to both "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and the official "Victory Song" of the AAGPBL. (Ages 5 and older) --Karin Snelson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4-Inspired by the movie A League of Their Own about Phillip Wrigley's All-American Girls Professional Baseball League started during World War II, Corey researched and uncovered a little-known verse to the popular song, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." The verse begins: "Katie Casey was baseball mad/Had the fever and had it bad." The fictional female becomes the main character in this thoroughly charming picture book about a young woman whose "heart just wasn't in home ec" but who "walked baseball- talked baseball" and "even dreamed baseball." Corey takes readers through Katie's disastrous knitting and dancing, her successful tryout for the Kenosha Comets, the charm school the team members were required to attend, and the excitement of the first game. Through lively prose, she perfectly captures the character and spirit of the events described. Gibbon's watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations are absolutely delightful, depicting both humor and drama. Even libraries owning Doreen Rappaport and Lyndall Callan's Dirt on Their Skirts (Dial, 2000) should make room on their shelves for this tribute to a brief, but fascinating aspect, of America's sports history.
Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439183065
• ISBN-13: 978-0439183062
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #844,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in South--in Savannah and Athens, Georgia and then Charlotte, North Carolina. When I was little, I loved stories about olden-day girls--my favorites were Betsy-Tacy, All-of-a-Kind Family, Little House On the Prairie. Imagine my delight when I went to college and discovered that I could take ENTIRE classes on (and get credit for learning about!) olden-day girls! Yay college! In college, I learned to call it women's history, but really--it was the exact same topic I'd been interested in since I was five. Now, I have the great pleasure and honor of editing books for children myself. I also write picture books, most of them true stories about brave women and girls in history--women like Amelia Bloomer and Juliette Gordon Low, who had the guts to take a stand for the things they believed in and change the world. When I'm not writing or editing, I'm usually reading with my two little boys. They like stories about oldenday girls, too (though truth be told, they prefer a good truck story).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical realism., January 13, 2008

By 

Dr. Joan E. Aitken "author of Interpersonal C... (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Players in Pigtails (Hardcover)

Young elementary picture book, although the concept is rather sophisticated for the book style.

This book tells the story of Katie Casey, who played with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II.

Illustrations are simple, cute.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baseball Mad, May 9, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Players In Pigtails (Hardcover)

Baseball mad!! That's Katie Casey for you. Cooking sewing dancing forget it!! The only thing Katie wanted to do and was amazing at was baseball. Nobody would let Katie play baseball untill ...all the men go to war and fans are getting crazy and mad. Coaches decide to start womens baseball leauge. Katie makes a team! It was their first game it was the bottem of the ninth inning Katie was the last hitter up for her team. The Rockford Peaches had 9, and Katie's team the Kenpsha Comets had 6, the bases were loaded, Katie swung and......????? Read this book to find out. This book is crazy funny, and most of all BASEBALL MAD!!!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Historical Fiction Piece From Shana Corey, February 27, 2003

By 

Frank Murphy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Players In Pigtails (Hardcover)

Shana Corey has crafted another great historical fiction picture book (See YOU FORGOT YOUR SKIRT, AMELIA BLOOMER & MILLIE AND THE MACY'S PARADE). Playful, colorfull illustrations complement a well-paced text (this is a great read-aloud) that delivers a history of the first girl's professional baseball league (see the movie A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN).
Corey's author's note makes this picture book that much more valuable and will allow elementary school teachers to more readily use it with upper grades.
I read it to my 22 6th graders and they loved it!!! The amazing fact that the first line of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" includes the name of a GIRL will surely amaze all readers.
Corey's knack for effectively and poetically crafting text in a picture book is something that older (and younger) elementary-aged students can study for their own ventures into writing.
She provides excellent models (with these historical fiction picture books) for taking history and reshaping it with a fictional slant while preserving the integrity of the historical events.
Wow!!! Buy it and read it to a kid!!!!!