Kammie on First: Baseball's Dottie Kamenshek

Gr 3–5—When readers think back on sports news from 2014 and remember 13-year-old female pitcher Mo'ne Davis at the Little League Baseball World Series games, they will be pleased to come across this biography of a key female athlete. The daughter of Hungarian and Romanian immigrant parents, Dorothy "Kammie" Kamenshek—whom Geena Davis portrayed in the 1992 film A League of Their Own—played first base in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, established by Chicago Cubs owner Philip Wrigley during World War II, when male players were away fighting. These young women encountered challenges while living away from home, but they earned a salary that helped their families during difficult times. Readers will be able to relate to the athletes, who in addition to making the grade on the field also had to take beauty tips (charm school was mandated), curfews, and chaperones in stride. The succinct, clearly delineated narration is interrupted by page-long asides, such as a discussion about the popularity of the name Dorothy during the 1940s, and sentences punctuated with exclamation points. Informative photographs depict Kamenshek and other players on and off the field. This solid title could be used for reports and will fill a gap in biography collections.—Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA