Out of Left Field (The Gordon Family Saga)

My eleven year-old tomboy daughter and I read this together every night before bed recently. I can say hands-down that it is my favorite young adult book I’ve ever read with my girl.Having grown up in the Bay Area (in the 70’s after the setting of the story, which is the late fifties) so much of this story connected to my own memories (Willie Mays! SF Seals!! the SF library system!) this book was the jumping off point for so many conversations with my girl; Sputnik, black lists/the red scare, freedom of speech, gender equality, racism, the particularly American farce that is class mobility, baseball history, how history is often re-written to suit the needs of the powerful... all these topics are touched on in a natural and apropos-to-the-story fashion. You don’t have to be a pinko commie like me to love this book because it is an somewhat accurate synthesis of what it was like to be a young person in California in a different era - which includes ardor, pride, and hope for America as much as it confronts our less savory history (Japanese-American concentration camps during WWII, for instance) and questions that are still (STILL!!!) not easy to answer like why girls are excluded from playing baseball.I couldn’t recommend this book enough to any kid or parent. If you love baseball like my daughter and I do, you will not be disappointed. I felt invested in the main character’s narrative and felt truly sad that the story had ended as I really wanted to see this strong, young woman tackle more of life’s complications with the appropriate anger, empathy, perspective of an era that helped influence the political climate we live in today.As a middle-aged father, I hope that our daughters grow to be as strong, as questioning, and open to to seeing the world as it is and for what it can be as our little hero, Katy Gordon.I haven’t even touched on gender and identity politics - a consistent undercurrent here. It is great to see this handled so elegantly. Because the main character is pre-teen we get a window into the absurdity of the continued binary-gendered societal system we insist that everyone adhere to. It’s been a long time since I was pre-teen, so it was nice to be reminded that, while I found my way through it, navigating adolescence is not a simple process - especially when the rules of our society often don’t always add up to free and equal - as the popular American myth is told.I give this book 5 stars and two socialist/feminist/Buddhist thumbs up. Suck it dominant paradigm.

My 9 year old daughter and I really enjoyed this book. We read it as part of the Read On Lead On program with Baseball for All. She plays baseball and found a lot in common with Katy the protagonist. So many great lessons on perseverance and making the best out of less than ideal outcomes. Also a great history lesson as it's set in the 1950's. Highly recommend for girls and boys. Through Read On Lead On we also got to have a zoom call with the Author Ellen Klages who is herself a wonderful role model for never giving up.

My 8 year old granddaughter loved the book. She is a prolific reader however and reads books on all kinds of issues and topics.

As advertised

Gordon’s persistence is awesome. My daughter read this book in a few hours.

OUT OF LEFT FIELD took me by surprise and I love it when books do that.The plot sounded good. I like books with strong girls and Katy who is determined to play baseball at all costs sounded like a girl with gumption. I also enjoy historical fiction. I've always been a bit of a history geek so I love when authors utilize the sense of place and deep history of a period as the setting for their stories.I was expected a good historical fiction story about a strong girl. I got so much more. This is a book full of heart and history and depth that everyone should read.OUT OF LEFT FIELD tells the story of a girl named Katy Gordon in 1957 who makes the little league team in her town only to be told she can't play because the rules state girls are ineligible. Surrounded by a cool history teacher, a strong scientist mom, and the role model of two creative older sisters she takes is upon herself to stand up and change this policy. In the process she learns the fascinating and true history of women in baseball.Even as I'm typing out the plot I have to admit that it sounds a little slow and a little cliche. I think that's how this book surprised me. It is a page turner and little turns out as you would expect.The characters are so vividly portrayed that you feel like you know them and can't wait to see how their stories all turn out. It is of course Katy, flawed, impatient, determined Katy, that you root for from the start to the end, but the book is full of interesting people who all have depth and purpose and dreams that are articulated by a skillful writer.The addition of the history only warms the pages with quirky trivia and intense details that bring alive the time of sputnik and integration and Hostess cupcakes. This is a book that confidently says we came from somewhere and that history is important and yet we are always responsible for our every day decisions.I don't know how it's possible to write a book that includes the space race, internment camps, integration, gender inequality, baseball history and more and still have you feel like it's a gripping story of a girl standing up for herself but that is exactly what Ellen Klages has done. This is a book that should be read as much for it's look at an important time in American history as it should for just being a really good story.*Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.