A Season of Daring Greatly

by Ellen White

Overview

Eighteen-year-old Jill Cafferty just made history. Her high school’s star pitcher, she is now the first woman drafted by a major league baseball team. Only days after her high school graduation, she’ll join the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Class A Short Season team . . . but not everyone is happy to have her there.

On top of the pressure heaped on every pitcher, Jill must deal with defying conventions and living up to impossible expectations, all while living away from home for the first time. She’ll go head-to-head against those who are determined to keep baseball an all-male sport. Despite the reassurance of coaches and managers alike, a few of her teammates are giving her trouble. The media presence following her at each game is inescapable. And to top it all off, Jill is struggling with the responsibilities of being a national hero and a role model for young women everywhere. How can she be a role model when she’s not even sure she made the right choice for herself? Didn’t baseball used to be fun?

This literary and engrossing story of a young woman trying to mark out a place for herself in a male-dominated world will captivate fans of Friday Night Lights, The Art of Fielding, John Corey Whaley, and Laurie Halse Anderson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062463210
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/14/2017
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	930L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

Editorial Reviews

12/05/2016
Like the TV series Pitch, White’s novel traces the dramatic ups and downs of a female professional baseball player trying to prove her worth. Jill Cafferty’s plans to attend Stanford are put on hold after she gets drafted to pitch for one of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league teams. Already a media darling, Jill gains even more fame after accepting the offer. Living away from home with a host family, she often feels lonely and homesick despite having been taken under the wing of a fellow player. And there are a number of people, including some of Jill’s new teammates, who would like nothing more than to see her fail. Beyond giving an insider’s view of baseball players’ daily routines and lives, White (the President’s Daughter series) offers a credible portrait of a young woman breaking traditional gender boundaries while being scrutinized by the entire nation. Although some of the storyline is predictable, well-defined characters will draw readers in, and the open-ended conclusion will leave them contemplating how far Jill’s talent might take her. Ages 13–up. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

The pleasure of reading this novel comes from the steady, realistic portrayal of Jill’s experience as a rookie and as a young woman breaking into a man’s sports. An ensemble of well-drawn, interesting characters revolves around Jill...Readers will hope for sequels tot this unusual and engaging novel.

Booklist

White imbues Jill with a fully credible mix of steely resolve, stealthy sense of humor, carefully repressed rage against her naysayers…players in the pipeline wonder when women will get their chance; now these readers can ponder whether the first pro experience will be a lot like this.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

White’s third-person limited narrative, told from Jill’s perspective, pulls the reader into her story. ...there’s plenty of action, and fans of the game will enjoy following Jill through early missteps toward a surer sense of herself and her skills.

Horn Book Magazine

Recent high school graduate Jill Cafferty is an excellent baseball pitcher—and not just for her age or gender. Like most athletes, she dreams of going pro and, in her case, her dream becomes reality when she gets drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates’s Class A Short Season team. Deferring college, Jill makes the leap to professional baseball. She is tough and knows that being the first female professional baseball player may cause unwanted attention and bullying from her teammates. She needs to find a way to balance her safety while trying to fit in—not to mention performing above expectations during games. This proves to be difficult when the media wants to talk to her about everything other than her pitching. A Season Of Daring Greatly follows Jill’s journey through her first pro season. The third-person narrative gives readers insight into Jill’s thoughts and feelings about the triumphs and struggles of being a young, professional baseball player. Jill’s desire to do her job without being stereotyped or bullied will resonate with readers in this unique and engaging novel. Recommend this to readers looking for stories about overcoming obstacles, like gender bias, as well as anyone who has an interest in baseball. Reviewer: Marissa Lieberman; Ages 12 to 18.

VOYA, February 2017 (Vol. 39, No. 6) - Marissa Lieberman

01/01/2017
Gr 8 Up—Jill Cafferty, 17, is about to make history for becoming the first woman to be drafted into Major League Baseball, playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates with a $2 million contract. But rather than give interviews, she's more interested in pitching a shutout game. While the media and fans swarm, Jill navigates the tricky waters of displaying her expertise in a male-dominated sport, being away from home for the first time, and starting her professional career before she even goes to college. The friends she makes along the way give Jill's story more dimensions, expanding the narrative about her workout routines and sports activity. White writes confidently and with great detail about the mechanics of the game. The descriptions of life as a traveling baseball player are eye-opening and shine a realistic light on the so-called glamor of professional sports. Jill is a strong, centered, and witty character, and it's refreshing to read her smart comebacks to blatant sexism and her even-tempered reactions whenever disgruntled teammates or fans unfairly provoke her. VERDICT While this novel sometimes feels more like a script for a TV show, without a fully realized plot, it is still a good candidate for collections needing more positive depictions of characters who advocate against gender bias.—Michael Marie Jacobs, Darlington School, GA

School Library Journal

2016-12-06
High school senior Jill Cafferty is a very talented pitcher who is about to become the first woman to be drafted by a major league baseball team. Her high-achieving family supports her, along with good friends and her late father's military buddies. When she is drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, she is assigned to a minor league team where she will learn how to be a professional player while getting used to "feeling the weight of historical responsibility." She walks a fine line between fitting in and asserting her own personality, the media always at her heels, and experiences some ugly incidents that shock and hurt her. Playing the game "was the easy part." While several of the secondary characters are described as African-American or Latino, neither Jill nor anyone else is described as white, implying a white default. Jill speaks fairly fluent Spanish and interacts with a Japanese player by learning some basic baseball terms in his language. She is unfailingly polite in her dealings with fans, media, coaches, trainers, and front-office personnel, but the third-person narration allows readers to hear her silent inner voice, often ironic or humorous, prior to her spoken voice in nearly every encounter, keeping her from being too perfect to be believable. Go girl. (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews