Mighty Jackie: The Strike-Out Queen

By Marissa Moss

Book Overview

An ALA Notable Children's Book An ILA Teachers' Choice A Read Aloud/Comstock Honor Book An ALA Amelia Bloomer Project Book For as long as she could remember, Jackie Mitchell's father had told Jackie she could be good at whatever she wanted, as long as she worked at it. Jackie worked at baseball. She worked hard. And before long Jackie could outplay anyone in her neighborhood--even the boys. She had one pitch--a wicked, dropping curve ball. But no seventeen-year-old girl could pitch against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. It was unthinkable. Then on April 2, 1931, the New York Yankees stopped in Tennessee for an exhibition game against the Chattanooga Lookouts. And on that day Jackie Mitchell made baseball history. Marissa Moss tells a true story of determination and heroism, a gem of baseball history sure to inspire ballplayers of all ages. And C. F. Payne's vibrant, glorious illustrations make the golden age of baseball come alive. Other awards include: Bill Martin Jr. Picture Book Award Nominee (KS) Black Eyed Susan Book Award Master List (MD) Capitol Choices List (DC) Chickadee Award Nominee (ME) Child Magazine's Guide to Top Books, Videos and Software of the Year Delaware Diamonds Award Program Master List Garden State Children's Book Award Nominee (NJ) Kansas State Reading Circle List Starred Primary Title Monarch Award Master List (IL) South Carolina Book Award Nominee Virginia Young Readers List WA Children's Choice Picture Book Award Master List

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689863292
• ISBN13: 9780689863295
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Paula Wiseman Book/Beach Lane Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.5" x 12.1"
• Age Range: 5 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Mighty Jackie The Strike-Out Queen Book Review

Mighty Jackie is great book for young readers to be introduced to short biographies. This David and Goliath account of Jackie Mitchell is almost unheard of to avid sports enthusiasts. This is a great way to show young children that no matter what gender you are, hard work will pay off for those who try to reach their goals. Illustrator C.F. Payne had very good depictions of the baseball greats from the past that Mighty Jackie made history with in 1931.

The Girl with the Dreams

Jackie Mitchell set high goals and dreams to become a professional major-league baseball player. Even though there were the stereotypes about girls not playing baseball, she didn't let that hinder her determination in becoming her very best. Through hard-work and lots of training, she became a major league pitcher. On April 2, 1932 she carved her name into history by becoming known as the "Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth." This book depicts that the support of family and the determination of a girl, dreams are possible. This book does a fantastic job to portray the history of Jackie Mitchell in her major-league debut, but also gives information pertaining to her minor-league career and also baseball's formal ban of women from major and minor league. The illustrations make the reader feel that they are sitting in all different areas of a baseball field from right behind home plate to the outfield. I would definitely recommend this book when studying about influential females in history.

Read Aloud Honor Book

April 2, 1931 was an important day in baseball history. On this day the Chattanooga Lookouts played the New York Yankees in an exhibition game. Thousands packed the stadium to see Lookouts' pitcher, seventeen-year-old Jackie Mitchell, pitch against the Yankees using her "lefty pitch with a low dip." Jackie made baseball history because she was the first professional female pitcher. This slice-of-life biography explains how Jackie grew up playing ball with her father and how at age eight she learned to pitch from Dazzy Vance, a star pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The mixed media colored illustrations show movement and emotion. The full-page close-ups captures the intensity of players when the umpire yells "strike three." Jackie, surrounded by male players, looks undaunted and determined. Just the cover of the book alone excited eight to twelve year olds. Children listened intently to the story and talked about the book with excitement. They thought it was great to have a female pitcher and yelled "strike three!"

A homerun of a bibliography for emerging readers!

Covering the amazing achievements of one of the finest pitchers - woman or man - of all times, Jackie Mitchell, this picture-book biography is sure to fly off the shelves and engage even emerging readers, with it's intense, bright illustrations and cliff-hanging text. The story centers around Jackie's determination and hard work to become a great pitcher, fighting sexist discrimination and bad press. It's a tale of what someone can do with their dream, and would be an inspiration to all young people, ballplayers or not. The illustrations perfectly complement the text, and serve to make the story more intense and easy to relate to. This would be a great read-aloud for any classroom or library story time, and might be used to inspire older children to write stories of times they persevered with their dreams. Book has an author's note that lets kids know what happened to Jackie later on and a brief bibliography in the end papers.

Girls Can Play Ball

Amazing story of a seventeen year old girl with incredible talent who struck out Babe Ruth. Her reward - she was banned from playing major and minor league baseball. Large realistic beautiful paintings dress the pages. Text is an easy read. Jackie's photo is included at the back of the book. This all happened in 1931 and girls did not play professional baseball. Seventy four years later, girls still do not play professional baseball. Buy this for your sons and daughters who love sports.