Let Me Play

Blumenthal, K. (2005). Let me play: The story of Title IX: The law that changed the future of girls in America. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

This nonfiction book narrates the true stories of women who fought for women's rights in our country, and it tells stories of successful women and their astonishing accomplishments.   These women include Donna de Varona an Olympic swimmer who had a Sports Illustrated cover at the age of 14, Martha Wright Griffith who made sure women were included into the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Ruth Bader Ginsburg who became a Supreme Court Justice, Dorthy Richardson one of the best female soft ball players, and many more.The book focuses on the law Title IX  that was passed in 1972, which said  schools could not treat boys and girls differently. This law gave girls ,for the first time, the opportunity to play sports in school and  have the same educational opportunities as boys. The book and the stories are very inspiring and uplifting to woman. This book falls under the Social Science category of Informational Books, which is explained in our text as books that talk about the instituions and functioning of human society and relationships of individuals as members of society The Structure of the book is Cause and Effect, it tells the effects for women that occurred when Title IX passed. It also discusses the cause and effects of the Woman's Right Movement. Karen Blumenthal's style of this book included comics, ads, time lines, charts, chapters that all were named with sports themes, and quotes that told the story of woman's struggles and successes. What would you do if you were not treated equal? How would you feel if you could not play a sport just because you were a girl? What things still need to change in our country to have equality between men and woman? What would you do if Congress tried to change or abolish Title IX? These are all questions I would ask students if we were reading this book