No Cream Puffs

by Karen Day

Overview

MADISON IS NOT your average 12-year-old girl from Michigan in 1980. She doesn’t use lipgloss, but she loves to play sports, and joins baseball for the summer—the first girl in Southern Michigan to play on a boys’ team. The press call her a star and a trailblazer, but Madison just wants to play ball. Who knew it would be so much pressure? Crowds flock to the games. Her team will win the championship—if she can keep up her pitching streak. Meanwhile, she’s got a crush on a fellow player, her best friend abandons her for the popular girls, the “O” on her Hinton’s uniform forms a bulls-eye over her left breast, and the boy she punched on the last day of school plans to bean her in the championship game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307497086
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	01/21/2009
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Lexile:	520L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Karen Day grew up in Indiana and now lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with her husband and three children. Her love of reading, writing, and literature has taken her through careers in journalism and teaching. She is the author of Tall Tales. You can reach her at: www.klday.com.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5-8- In this novel set in 1980, Madison is an awkward 12-year-old who is taller than most of the boys in her class. As summer begins, she finds herself on the outs with her friend Sara and thrust into the role of reluctant trailblazer as the first girl to play league baseball in her area of Southern Michigan. Madison's a gifted athlete, but she doesn't like being called a tomboy and she's not sure how she feels about baseball. She loves to pitch, but is uncomfortable with the pressure and the crowds and is self-conscious about her changing body. She struggles to fit in with her teammates, developing a crush on one boy and finding an unexpected ally in another. Also, she finds herself bristling at her mother's attempts to be supportive. The coming-of-age theme is familiar, but Madison's voice and perceptions ring true. At times, Day's plot feels a bit overcrowded and a few of the supporting characters seem one-dimensional, but these are small missteps in an otherwise engaging novel. Recommend this book to readers who enjoyed Kristi Roberts's My Thirteenth Season (Holt, 2005) and Dori Hillestad Butler's Sliding into Home (Peachtree, 2003).-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA

School Library Journal

Baseball provides fertile ground for exploring cultural and personal issues in this satisfying novel set in the summer of 1980. Twelve-year-old Madison, a natural athlete, learned to pitch in pick-up games with coaching from her brother. When he encourages her to try out for a boys' team in their small Michigan town, Madison thinks it might be fun. But she finds that when she pitches well, which is almost always, people say she "throws like a boy." If a boy pitches poorly, he "throws like a girl." Her teammates react to her with mixed feelings; two show romantic interest. Coming-of-age themes emerge naturally at home and on the field. Madison chafes at the feminist views of her mother, a well-drawn character, but recognizes her love and loyalty. She resents her former best friend's interest in clothes and popularity, but sees her own role in undermining the friendship. Her feelings and choices ring true as do her teammates' complex reactions. Since controversy still surrounds girls playing football, this fine sports story is fresh and relevant. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews