Another great middle-grade novel to add to your classroom library or independent reading list is Skyler Schrempp’s Three Strike Summer. Set in Oklahoma and California during the Dust Bowl, this novel would also complement an American history class. Gloria, the protagonist, must leave her farm in Oklahoma and move to California where there is work for her family picking peaches. The tense world of the adults in her life provides the backdrop for her quest to join the all-boys’ baseball team. She is smart, determined, and a great ball player; she doesn’t accept ‘no skirts allowed’ for an answer. A female protagonist with a poor and grieving family becomes the champion of the story on and off the ball field. Happy Reading!
