An inspirational story for young girls! Watch it read by Kevin Costner & Jillian Estell on Storylineonline. ( )

This true story is powerful, and it addresses gender roles and goals. Marcenia loves baseball, but everyone around her criticizes her for playing a boy's sport. Marcenia's parents doubted her by stating she's not going to be a pro-player, she will be a maid, or teacher like the other women do. Marcenia didn't want to be like the other girls. She wanted to play baseball, she didn't look at baseball as a man's sport, she just knew baseball was fun. Marcenia had to prove it to the boys that she played ball with Mr. Street and her father so that she can be allowed to go to baseball camp. They still believe girls should not play baseball, but in the end, they were convinced they should be allowed to play. I believe the theme of this story is to follow your dreams because Marcenia was determined and passionate about baseball. This is inspiring for young girls who go through adversity, trying to accomplish their goals. Marcenia believed and kept going because she didn't give up. I would read this story to the children because I know they will enjoy it. ( )

Marcenia loved baseball and had dreams of becoming a baseball player one day, but her father had wished she focused more on school. Marcenia played baseball every day at school and one day a man was watching her and the boys play. Marcenia had no idea who the man was until one of the boys said he was Mr. Street, the owner of a baseball camp and the owner of a baseball team. Marcenia played hard that day in hopes she would be invited to his baseball camp, but after the game was over, Mr. Street invited all the boys except Marcenia because she was a girl. Mr. Street watched them play every day now and one day when Marcenia got tired of hearing that Mr. Street doesn't take girls in his camp, she took one of the biggest chances in baseball, stealing home. She stole home successfully which was the winning run for her team and Mr. Street finally changed his mind. When Marcenia got home to tell her father, her father was displeased and said she couldn't go unless she found some money to buy herself the baseball cleats. The next day Marcenia told Mr. Street the news and the following day Mr. Street gave Marcenia some baseball cleats to use for his camp because he wanted good baseball players at his camp and he knew Marcenia would be a great baseball player at his camp. When Marcenia got home that night to tell her dad the news, he finally realized how important this was for Marcenia and how good of a player she must be for someone important, like Mr. Street to buy Marcenia cleats to attend his camp.

I really liked this book. It was a sweet and heartwarming read that shows young children that they can do anything they put their mind to. I will definitely be keeping this book in mind for when I become a teacher. I would love to share this book with my students. ( )

There are so many reasons that I like this book. The first being that it is based off of a true story. A young girl dreams of becoming a professional baseball player but has some obstacles to overcome. Those obstacles being people. Trying to convince boys her age she is a good ball player, convince a man named Mr. Street to let her go to his baseball camp, and finally, convince her father to let her play baseball. This book does a wonderful job at portraying this young girl’s dream. Showing how she had to earn her place to play with the boys at the baseball field. Some of the boys even backed her up when Mr. Street said that he doesn’t let girls in his camp saying, “She’s the only player that will steal a base”. Another reason why I like this book is because of its overall message to young girls. This book teaches young girls that it is okay to have a dream that no one else has and to believe in that dream no matter who tells you differently. Marcenia broke the barriers of women in male sports. I also liked this book because of Marcenia’s character. Whenever someone talked her down she always showed them up with her actions by being a good baseball player. That is a lesson in itself to young girls and boys alike. ( )

This biography highlights pivotal events in the childhood of African American baseball player Marcenia "Toni Stone" Lyle Alberga, the woman who broke baseball's gender barrier by becoming the first female roster member of a professional Negro league.