Three Strike Summer, Skyler Schrempp
Three Strike Summer, Skyler Schrempp
2 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Three Strike Summer

Author: Skyler Schrempp

Narrator: Skyler Schrempp

Unabridged: 7 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/30/2022


Synopsis

NAMED A 2023 ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN’S RECORDING!

Four starred reviews!

“Told in a voice that is so real it reeks of filched peaches, this book is a home run.” —Amy Sarig King, Printz Award–winning author of Dig and The Year We Fell from Space

Sandlot meets Esperanza Rising in this “vividly rendered, emotionally vulnerable” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) middle grade historical novel about a strong-willed girl who finds her voice in a tale of moxie, peaches, and determination to thrive despite the odds.

When the skies dried up, Gloria thought it was temporary. When the dust storms rolled in, she thought they would pass. But now the bank man’s come to take the family farm, and Pa’s decided to up and move to California in search of work. They’ll pick fruit, he says, until they can save up enough money to buy land of their own again.

There are only three rules at the Santa Ana Holdsten Peach Orchard:
No stealing product.
No drunkenness or gambling.
And absolutely no organizing.

Well, Gloria Mae Willard isn’t about to organize any peaches, no ma’am. She’s got more on her mind than that. Like the secret, all-boys baseball team she’s desperate to play for, if only they’d give her a chance. Or the way that wages keep going down. The way their company lodgings are dirty and smelly, and everyone seems intent on leaving her out of everything.

But Gloria has never been the type to wait around for permission. If the boys won’t let her play, she’ll find a way to make them. If the people around her are keeping secrets, then she’ll keep a few of her own. And if the boss men at the Santa Ana Holdsten Peach Orchard say she can’t organize peaches, then by golly she’ll organize a whole ball game.

About Skyler Schrempp

Skyler Schrempp writes books and makes theatre in her hometown, Chicago. She lives in an old drafty house with her husband, Kyle, her daughter, Elowen, and a black cat named Masha. She got her undergrad at Hampshire College and has an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. When she’s not writing you can find her making jam from the berries that grow in her backyard or building a fire in her fireplace (depending on the season). You can visit her at SkylerSchrempp.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Betsy on November 09, 2022

The gutsy girl is a conundrum in children’s books. She seems so easy to conjure up. Writing a bit of historical fiction? Surely all you have to do is just give your heroine some feisty comebacks and historically accurate inequities and the audience will be on her/your side, right? It’s not so simple......more

Goodreads review by Kellye on August 03, 2022

A brave, plucky ballplayer fights for herself and others in this searing Depression-Era novel. Here are just three things I loved about this powerful and important story: Gloria Mae Willard Fierce, outspoken, brave, and overflowing with grief and righteous indignation, this girl stole my heart. Gloria......more

Goodreads review by Lizanne on August 30, 2022

Skyler Schrempp has done a wonderful job of taking a dire, emotional time in our history -the Dust Bowl and the Depression- and presenting it in a way the middle grade students can understand. Readers experience the trauma of migration and poverty through the eyes of a peer. Gloria Mae Willard is a......more

Goodreads review by Skyler on September 09, 2022

Well, writing this review because I can. Hope you all enjoy. Speak up and play ball!......more

Goodreads review by Karen on September 11, 2022

Gloria Mae Willard is a spirited girl who just wants to play baseball with the boys. But everything gets in her way, especially when her 1930s family loses their farm and becomes migrant workers picking peaches. In the hands of this talented writer, you will be transported into Gloria's world with h......more