Susie Wilde (Children's Literature)
Shana Corey is quickly developing a reputation for choosing unusual women for her picture biography portraits. This time she chooses a fictional heroine. Katie Casey, the star of the seldom sung verses of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," becomes Corey's focus character in Players in Pigtails . At the story's start, we are told that Katie is "not the kind of girl everyone thought she should be." Crumpled clothing, dancing failures and homemaking disasters aside, "Katie was good at baseball." Family and friends don't approve however, until Phillip Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, sends out scouts to recruit girls from all over the country who love baseball, and Katie is among them. When the sixteen "swanlike players" of All-American Girls Professional Baseball League walk on the field, they are jeered--until they begin to play! The ending of the book is a bit abrupt and it is difficult sometimes to tell if Corey's real interest is Katie, the period, or the AAGPBL, but the author's note is thorough on all counts. Illustrator Rebecca Gibbon definitely captures Katie's exuberance as well as the styles of the time. 2003, Scholastic, $16.95. Ages 5 to 9.

Andrea Sears Andrews (Children's Literature)
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) existed from 1943-1954. It was established when men's baseball ceased due to the number of players fighting in World War II. The AAGPBL consisted of young women around the United States with a life-long passion for the game and a talent to match. The author was inspired to write about this unique time in sports' history after seeing the movie "A League of Their Own" and discovering that the famous song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was actually written about a baseball-loving girl. The main character of this book is that girl, Katie Casey. Katie feels awkward at all of the "expected" feminine activities and most comfortable at an unexpected one-- baseball. When the opportunity to play on a professional girl's team materializes, Katie jumps at the chance. The reader travels with her throughout her journey to realize a dream and learns all about the AAGPBL. It is a perfect mix of fact and fiction, making it a delightful historical fiction piece for children. The illustrations are bright and lively, just like the main character, and depict the 1940's style of "women on the move." 2003, Scholastic Press, $16.95. Ages 5 to 10.

Sharon Levin (Children's Literature)
Spring leads our thoughts to baseball, and this picture book about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) is more about the formation and history of the AAGPBL than David Adler's Mama Played Baseball. The main character is Katie Casey, named after the baseball-crazy girl who is the main character in the song "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." I didn't know that song was about a girl, and that's why I love children's books; I learn so much. By following Katie we learn about what was happening in our country and what it was like to be a baseball-playing gal among family, friends and countrymen who said, "What good is baseball to a girl?" The book is well done and includes two pages of copious author's notes about the AAGPBL. Now here is my one issue. On one page the text reads, "All over the country, girls were playing ball. And they were playing just as good as boys." Women from various states are shown playing ball--in Texas, California, Louisiana, and so forth. The woman from Louisiana is African-American and this page is technically correct--there were African-American women playing ball around the country, in casual play. There were even African-American women playing professional baseball in the 1940s, but not in the AAGPBL, ever! The book does not say directly they played in the AAGPLB, however, it gives the impression that the AAGPBL was integrated, and the author's notes do not address the issue that in its 11 years of existence, the AAGPBL did not allow African-American women to try out, let alone compete. In fact, at least three African-American women played professional baseball alongside men in the 1940s, a fact that I learned from the wonderful book, A Strong Right Arm, the Story of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson. I addressed my concerns to the publisher and received a very prompt and respectful reply from the author saying they will make the correction in the author's notes. I still recommend this book--it tells a great story about a very interesting time in women's sports and makes for fun reading and interesting discussion. 2003, Scholastic, $16.95. Ages 5 to 10.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2003 (Vol. 71, No. 5))
This upbeat but uneven book draws from the history of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and the famous song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Carey (Milly and the Macy's Parade, 2002, etc.) takes Katie Casey, who in the famous song "was baseball mad," and imagines that she was recruited for the women's league, founded in 1943 when many professional male players joined the military. A scout recruits Katie, who is inept at stereotypical female pastimes like cooking but great at baseball, for the Kenosha Comets. On opening day, she hits a grand-slam to win the game. The inclusion of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," a song about a girl on a date rooting for "the boys," and the title word "pigtails," a term more associated with young children than professional athletes, both seem at odds with the book's role described in the author's note as a "tribute" to the "women" of the AAGPBL. But even more jarring is the style of illustration, which portrays all the players as slim and perky, unlike many of the real, often muscular, players. Accuracy is further undermined by the picture of a dark-skinned player being scouted, giving the impression that the AAGPBL had African-American players, which it did not. A more accurate and engaging picture book on the same subject is Dirt on Their Skirts: The Story of the Young Women Who Won the World Championship (2000), by Doreen Rappaport and Lyndall Callan, with illustrations by E.B. Lewis, that shows sturdy players and include photographs of them on the endpapers. 2003, Scholastic, $16.95. Category: Picture book. Ages 5 to 9. © 2003 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Vicki Arkoff (Midwest Book Review, "Vicki's Bookshelf" column, August 2003)
Author Shana Corey began researching the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League after she saw the movie "A League of Their Own" about professional female baseball players. "I couldn't believe I'd never read about the league and its players before, so I wrote this book to share their story with kids." Two specific facts inspired the picture book story, "Players in Pigtails": First was the fact that "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" was written about a girl, and second, that in the 1940s girls all across America were crazy for baseball! Like Corey's holiday picture book "Milly and the Macy's Parade," "Players in Pigtails" is about a young girl who follows her dreams. In this case, she longs to become a player in the first-ever All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The spirited text and illustrations celebrate this brave sisterhood of players skirts, and the league they called their own. "Players in Pigtails" bats a homerun for fans of baseball, women's history and gutsy girls. 2003, Scholastic Press, 40 pages, $16.95.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July 2003 (Vol. 56, No. 11))
If you can only imagine “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” as sung by a gravelly Harry Caray or a chorus of beer-soaked male spectators, then you probably haven’t heard all the verses. The “voice” belongs to fictional Katie Casey (no relation, we presume, to the venerable Mudville slugger), who drags her beau to the ballpark. Corey warps the 1908 “baseball mad” maid ahead to 1943, where she becomes an archetypal player on the Kenosha Comets of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. While this contortion is an unnecessary stretch, the story of Katie’s long step up to the plate is lots of fun, as World War II and a visionary Philip Wrigley offer aspiring women players a chance of a lifetime. Corey has an eye for the details that will satisfy the picture-book set--from naysayers behind the scenes and hecklers in the stands, to prissy, impractical uniforms and mandatory charm-school manners on the field. Gibbon sets her lanky players against airy white space and swathes of summery pastels, coyly contrasting their tomboyish grace with the more demure stylishness of their stay-at-home sisters. A lengthy author’s note supplies information about the league, and lyrics to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and the “Victory Song” of the AAGPBL grace the endpapers. A more enticing title than Adler’s Mama Played Baseball (BCCB 4/03), Pigtails is a solid hit. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2003, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2003, Scholastic, 34p, $16.95. Ages 6-9 yrs.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2003)
Corey focuses on a fictional girl--nontraditional, ball-playing Katie Casey--to tell the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, founded when WWII interrupted America's favorite pastime. The writing is spirited, the story is satisfying, and the illustrations--just old-fashioned enough to indicate the time period--are lively. However, the story seems driven by its (extensive) author's note, rather than the other way around. Category: Picture Books. 2003, Scholastic, 40pp, $16.95. Ages 4 to 9. Rating: 4: Recommended, with minor flaws.

Janie Barron (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 16, No. 3))
When the author discovered that the famous song, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was written about a girl, she decided to write this fictional account about Katie Casey, ballplayer. Around the 1940s, American girls were crazy for one of the country's favorite games--baseball. This spirited text and pictures tell the story of Katie and other girls who had the courage "to step up to the plate" and play baseball during WW II. Fiction. Grades 3-5. 2003, Scholastic, Unpaged., $16.95. Ages 8 to 11.