Dirt on Their Skirts: The Story of the Young Women Who Won the World Championship

The book is based on a true event that takes place in 1946 while the men are gone off to war. Margaret and her family are at the 1946 championship game of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The two teams, Racine Belles of Wisconsin and the Rockford Peaches of Illinois are locked in a fierce battle for the championship. The score is 0-0 at the bottom of the fourteenth inning. Baseball fans can almost hear the crack of the bat as the author, young Margaret, vividly describes how Sophie "The Flash" Kurys connects with a perfect pitch. This book is sure to excite young readers and any girl who ever loved the game. Acclaimed artist, E.B. Lewis' artwork compliments the exciting text. Actual photographs of the Racine Belles and the Rockford Peaches on the endpages adds a nice historical touch. An added bonus for fans is the scorecard of the actual game at the end of the book. This would be a great read-aloud book for a classroom or family. Highly recommended.

It is wonderful to have a book like this to set an example for the girls of today who have so much more access to athletics. This honors the women who paved the road but then had to back out of the picture when the men returned from the war. Read this one to your daughters to let them know how lucky they are!

On September 16th in 1946, the world was healing from the war and the baseball was still America's game, even when played by women with "dirt on their skirts." The two best teams competed for the championship in September and Dirt on Their Skirts chronicles the championship game in 1946. Doreen Rappaport and Lyndell Callan tell the story of the Margaret, a little girl with baseball stars in her eyes. Like the boys in my class today, she is full of the statistics and habits of her heroes as she watches them in the biggest game of their lives. Margaret keeps careful track of the game on her scorecard...all the way to the 14th inning! E.B. Lewis's luminous watercolors draw the reader through the book. The book is a fitting tribute to the days where women played ball and men AND women cheered for them. Endnotes provide historical details. A wonderful celebration of pioneers in baseball!