This book is suitable for primary grades. It is about a girl who has a love for baseball, but she does not get a lot of opportunity to play, since she is a girl. This book portrays how girls are just as capable to do the things boys can. It also shows gender roles that exist in our society. I do not think I would use this book in my classroom since it was written in 2008. Society has advanced since then in gender discrimination, and I do not find it as prevalent as it might have been a few years back. ( )

summary: Dan writes a note to win a contest to play with a baseball team in the Major Leagues.
reflection: Just because boys/girls are "supposed" to do something, doesn't always mean that they should. It makes me upset that the men who told her that "her brother, Dan" won the contest and then didn't believe her when she said that she goes by Dan.

This is a story about a girl named Dandi Mackall following her passion for writing and baseball. She is rejected by the town baseball team, and turns to writing to try to win a spot in the Kansas City A's. When she wins a scholarship, she faces a new challenge as the judges are looking for a boy.
I would classify this as a auto-biography because it is a true story from Dandi's life.
I would read this to third grade and older.

As a young girl, I have only seen a few books that allow the female to be the hero. The girl is usually the damsel in distress, or the brains side kick that comes up wit the plan that the guy protagonist takes credit for. This book puts antifeminism to rest.By using the young and powerful "Dan" to tell the story of sex discrimination in something as small as baseball, not only is a story worth reading but a powerful message to young readers both young and old. The story lets us see in illustrations of Dan's emotions as well as in words in the text how innovative and strong Dan is in her ability to overcome sexism and be able to actually enjoy the one thing that brings her happiness. ( )

This autobiographical book tells the story of Dandi, who is the author of the book, and how she wanted to be batboy for a big league baseball team. She loves playing baseball, but it is set in the 1960s, when girls were excluded from such things. Boys told her she could not play with them because she was a girl. She had to wear a dress to school. She found out about a contest to become batboy for a big team, and she won first place with the 50 words she wrote. But when they found out she was a girl, they told her she could not be batboy. She went on to write about dreams and baseball.