Shana Corey has the unique ability to make history accessible and fun, a talent that has been praised in all of her celebrated picture books, including MERMAID QUEEN, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham and YOU FORGOT YOUR SKIRT, AMELIA BLOOMER!, illustrated by Chesley McLaren, which was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and an Orbis Pictus Recommended Title. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books July/August 2003
If you can only imagine 'Take Me Out to the Bafigaine' as sung by a
gravelly Harry Caray or a chorus of beer-soaked male spectators,
then you probably haven't heard all the verses. The 'voice' belongs
to fictional Katic Casey (no relation, we presume, to the venerable
Mudvifle slugger), who drags her beau to the balipark. Corey warps
the 1908 'baseball mad' maid ahead to 1943, where she becomes an
archetypal player on the Kenosha Comets of the AR-American Girls
Professional Baseball League. While this contortion is an
unnecessary stretch, the story of Katie's long step up to the plate
is lots of fun, as World War 11 and a visionary Phifip Wrigicy
offer aspiring women players a chance of a lifetime. Corey has an
eye for the details that will satisfy the picture-book set-from
naysayers behind the scenes and hecklers in the stands, to prissy,
impractical unifornu and mandatory charm-school manners on the
field. Gibbon sets her lanky players against airy white space and
swathes of summery pastels, coyly contrasting their tomboyish grace
with the more demure stylishness of their stay-at-home sisters. A
lengthy author's note supplies information about the league, and
lyrics to 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' and the 'Victory Song' of
the AAGPBL grace the endpapers. A more enticing title than Adler's
Mama Played Baseball (BCCB 4/03), Pigtails is a solid hit. EB
Booklist June 1, 2003 *STAR*
The author of You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer (2000) is back,
and using the movie A League of Their Own as inspiration, has
penned an exuberant tribute to the real-life All-American Girls
Professional Baseball League. She opens with all the words to Take
Me Out to the Ball Game, including the opening lines that show the
1908 song is in a female voice. Setting the story during World War
11, Corey introduces baseball-mad Katie Casey. Katie doesn't dance
well, or cook well, or knit, but she sure can play baseball,
although she isn't allowed to try out for the school team. Then,
with all the boys going off to war, Phillip Wrigley, owner of the
Chicago Cubs, holds tryouts for girls' teams, and hundreds show up,
including Katie. The Rockford Peaches (and three other teams) are
born and play worthy baseball. Kids, both girls and boys, will
revel in the energy and joy Corey packs into her story. Gibbon's
pictures look straight out of the 1940s, with vintage details and
an evocative color palette. They also possess a winsome charm that
plays nicely with the text. Corey's sly repetition of the phrase
What good is baseball to a girl? will have modem-day sluggers
longing for a turn at bat. -GraceAnne A. DeCandido. School Library
Journal
(April 1, 2003; 0-439-18305-7) K-Gr 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 brie
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