Let Me Play (Informational Books)

Blumenthal, Karen. Let me play : the story of Title IX : the law that changed the future of girls in America. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers,     2005.

Summary
    Today, no one batts an eye when a young girl says her dream is to win a gold medal in the Olympics or go to college on a softball scholarship. This was not always the case. It took years of hard work by strong women to lay forth a law in the 1970s that would change how America viewed equality, gender, and athletics.  Nonfiction author Karen Blumenthal takes readers on a fascinating exploration of how Title IX came about and impacted the lives of girls and young women in the United States in her book, Let Me Play: The story for Title IX: the law that changed the future of girls in America.

Critical Review
    Blumenthal surveys the incredible endeavor of many individuals in their work to achieve gender equality in school sport’s programs across America in Let Me Play. In the book, she skillfully combines primary and secondary resources to create a seamless story of the groundbreaking legislation Title IX. Events are chronologically laid out and divided into chapters that correspond to major happenings in the creation and implementation of Title IX. The source notes and index are logically organized and provide readers with easy access to information from within the book.
    Let Me Play is visually appealing and engaging to read with its straightforward language, combined with photographs, graphs, quotes, and cartoons. Short stories, such as the “player profiles” cover women athletes and “instant replays” tell real life anecdotes and serve to strategically break up large chunks of text and make history appear to come alive. The text demonstrates a flair for factual storytelling that challenges readers of all ages to understand history as it really was and it defines the future.

Awards and Review Excerpts
2003 Robert F. Silbert Informational Honor Book
ALA Notable Children’s Book
Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2002
Booklist- “Few books cover the last few decades of American women's history with such clarity and detail”
School Library Journal- “A fascinating look at the birth, growth, stagnation, and final emergence of Title IX.”
The Horn Book- “richly layered presentation”

Connections
Read stories of inspiring women in sports:
    Krull, Kathleen. Wilma unlimited : how Wilma Rudolph became the world's fastest woman. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc, 2000.
    Macy, Sue and Jane Gottesman. Play like a girl : a celebration of women in sports. New York: Henry Holt, 1999.

Learn more about the history of womens sports:
    Macy, Sue. Basketball belles : how two teams and one scrappy player put women's hoops on the map. New York: Holiday House, 2011.
    Stout, Glenn. Yes she can! : women's sports pioneers. Boston: Sandpiper, 2011.

Give students an opportunity to read one of these novels as they look for connections:
    Curtis, Christopher. The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963:a novel. New York: Dell Laurel Leaf, 2000.
    Murdock, Catherine. The off season. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.
    Park, Linda. Keeping score. Boston: Sandpiper, 2010.