Rachele Alpine
YOU THROW LIKE A GIRL
(Middle Grade novel)
Simon & Schuster's Aladin Mix
In bookstores now!
Simultaneously releasing in both paperback and hardcover
Gabby is ready to have the Best. Summer. Ever. Her softball team is rumored to win the championship and she can’t wait for her dad to see her strike out anyone who tries to stop the team from making that happen, after all, he’s the one who taught her everything she knows about playing ball.
Except, when her dad is deployed overseas and her mom decides to move the family to stay with Gabby’s grandma while he is away, her summer quickly turns into the Worst. Summer. Ever.
That’s because when Gabby arrives to her mom’s hometown, she is devastated to find out that because all the girls are more interested in competing in the annual Miss Popcorn Pageant, there’s no girls’ softball league this year. And after one, terrible, horrible miscommunication, Gabby accidentally signs up for the pageant and her mom, a past beauty queen herself, is ecstatic. For a girl who would rather rock a pitching glove over princess gowns, this is very very bad.
But this doesn’t mean Gabby is giving up on her softball dreams. No girls’ team? No problem. She decides to disguise herself and sign up for the boys’ team instead. Her pitching can rival any boy or girl, and she is determined to keep her promise to her dad.
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Praise for You Throw Like a Girl:
~Selected as a Junior Library Guild book
Booklist Review (January 1, 2017):
Despite having to spend the summer with her grandma, Gabby is sure she will join her softball team in this
year’s championship game, just like her dad did when he was a kid. Her plans get derailed when all her
teammates decide to participate in the Miss Popcorn Pageant instead of softball. What can a girl do? If she
puts her hair up and wears her dad’s lucky cap, she can sort of pass for a boy—so “Johnny” is born! When
she accidentally signs up for Miss Popcorn, too, she gets on the bad side of local queen bee Jessa, who
threatens to expose her secret unless she backs out of the competition. With a little help from her best
friend on the team, Owen, she comes up with a plan that will surprise everyone. This breezy tween read
features a likable main character and a gender-swap plot that goes beyond the usual clichés, and the
message of self-confidence and acceptance is perennially a good one with ample appeal.