Welcome to SPORTY GIRL BOOKS. At SPORTY GIRL, we want to give all girls the chance to love, watch, play, read, and write about any sport that interests them. We look forward to the day when the words, "You play like a girl," is the biggest compliment anyone can receive.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Happy Holidays with a heartwarming book: HAPPY LIKE SOCCER


The holidays are typically a happy occasion to spend quality time with family and friends. If you’re like my family – there’s always some competitive activity going on whether it was ice skating on the Pine River while growing up in Michigan, running a Christmas Town Dash, or taking a brisk walk after New Year’s dinner to “make room for dessert.” Participating in sports always makes me happy. HAPPY LIKE SOCCER is a picture book with marvelous watercolor illustrations and is a story about more than just a love of playing soccer. Sierra, the main character, doesn’t have family members able to come cheer her on at soccer games since her team plays in the suburbs far from where she lives in the city. Reading this made me recall my senior year in high school when (due to my father’s illness) my parents were absent most of the swim season. It was tough to glance at the bleachers from the starting block and see other parents cheering for their daughters but no one able to be there for me. I recall feeling very alone, and I had forgotten about that sad time until I read this book. In this story, Sierra lives with her Auntie who works at Café Garcia on Saturdays and can’t take time off to watch her games. One weekend, however, her boss allows her to switch shifts from Saturday to Sunday so she can attend her niece’s game, but darn luck would bring a storm that causes it to be canceled. What transpires after that, however, is an uplifting solution that brings to light the impact sports have on inner city neighborhoods and communities. Children of all backgrounds deserve to have an opportunity to play where they live and have access to safe playing fields. They also deserve to be cheered on by family members and neighbors and to hear their name called out as they dribble down the field, get a block on a shot, or score a goal. I highly recommend HAPPY LIKE SOCCER for a holiday read or gift for sporty girls who like soccer or any other sport.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Three Sporty Girl Books on the Connecticut Nutmeg Lists

I'm so excited to see that all three 2017 Connecticut Nutmeg Award Lists have sporty girl books. We have spoken about Roller Girl (Immediate List)  on this blog before, so today I'm going to introduce you to Queen of the Diamond (Elementary List) and A Time to Dance (Teen List). Both books are about girls that never let anyone stop them from following their dreams.



Queen of the Diamond is the true story of Lizzie Murphy.

Here's the blurb from IndieBound:
Lizzie Murphy was good at baseball. In fact, she was better than most of the boys. But she was born in 1900, and back then baseball was not a game for girls. Lizzie practiced with her brother anyway, and then she talked her way onto the local boys' team, first as a batboy, then as a player. Everyone was impressed by her hard catches and fast pitches. By the time she turned fifteen, she was playing for two different amateur boys' teams. When she turned eighteen, Lizzie did something else that women weren't supposed to do: she signed up with a professional baseball team, determined to earn her living playing the game.


Want to learn more about Lizzie Murphy? Here are some great articles about her baseball experience. 

Science of Baseball: Lizzie Murphy
Today I Found Out



I read A Time to Dance this summer and fell in love with this book.

Here's the blurb from IndieBound:
Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who's grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.

Good luck to all three sporty girl books. If you are a kid in Connecticut, make sure to read your Nutmeg list so you can vote for your favorite in April!