THREE STRIKE SUMMER by Skyler Schrempp

 

Gloria loves playing baseball. She practices day and night with hopes of being allowed to pitch on the boys' team. Just when she is being recognized by the boys for her excellent skills, a bank man shows up at her house and she learns that her family must leave. Everything they own is loaded in the back of their truck along with her and her sister, and they head for California.

Her summer dreams of playing baseball seem to be over as they arrive at a peach orchard where she and her family will be harvesting the peach crop. The pay is unfair, the living conditions appalling, and the rules designed so no one will ever get ahead. The only bright spot is the baseball team Gloria hears about and their rivalry with the apricot orchard players nearby.

Between picking peaches and listening to the adults complain about poor wages and treatment, Gloria must try to find a way to convince Terrence, the boy in charge of the baseball team, that she deserves to take his place as pitcher. When she demonstrates her skills, most of the players think she might be the answer to defeating their rivals once and for all.

Author Skyler Schrempp weaves a fascinating tale set in the dust bowl era. Her description of life as a migrant worker and the depressing conditions will make the history of the era come alive. Her characters are honest and believable and will have readers rooting for them from the first chapter on.