Basketball Belles by Sue Macy

I am still looking for great picture books that are biography or fictionalized biographies of some sort.  I think so much can be done with great picture book biographies and the new ones being published let our kids in on some stories from history that weren't available when I was a child.  Biographies from my childhood all focused on presidents, inventors, etc.  Very famous people from history.  But lately, there have been biographies published about people who made contributions to the world in many different ways. Some went on to become famous and others did not. The fact that we now have these to share with our students is exciting.  Knowing how people throughout history made a difference is so important.

Last week, while visiting the Dublin Library, I noticed BASKETBALL BELLES:  HOW TWO TEAMS AND ONE SCRAPPY PLAYER PUT WOMEN'S HOOPS ON THE MAP by Sue Macy. This book was on the shelf of new children's books and I picked it up.  It is a great story of the first ever girls college basketball game.  The story is told through the eyes of Agnes Morley, a guard on Stanford's team that day.

This book is a great read. There is not a lot of text and it focuses almost exclusively on the actual game in 1896.  Readers quickly understand how big of a deal it was for women to play basketball and to realize how far we've come since then.  There are no men at the game because many believed it was not proper for women to perspire in front of men.  Even the janitors who had to come in during the game to fix a hoop were extremely uncomfortable.  In spite of all of this, the game was a huge success and this story tells about this important moment in women's sports.

The author's note at the end of the book includes more information about Agnes Morley as well as other information on women's basketball. Following the note, there is an interesting "Timeline of Women's Basketball". I was amazed as I studied it at how recently women's basketball has really been played officially.

This is a great book. Whether you are looking for books about women in history, great nonfiction read alouds or just great stories to share with kids, this is definitely a must have.