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Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX: The Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America
Can girls play softball? Can girls be school crossing guards? Can girls play basketball or ice hockey or soccer? Can girls become lawyers or doctors or engineers?
Of course they can...
today. But just a few decades ago, opportunities for girls were far more limited, not because they weren't capable of playing or didn't want to become doctors or lawyers, but because they weren't allowed to. Then quietly, in 1972, something momentous happened: Congress passed a law called "Title IX," forever changing the lives of American girls.
Hundreds of determined lawmakers, teachers, parents, and athletes carefully plotted to ensure that the law was passed, protected, and enforced. Time and time again, they were pushed back by Þerce opposition. But as a result of their perseverance, millions of American girls can now play sports. Young women make up half of the nation's medical and law students, and star on the best basketball, soccer, and softball teams in the world. This small law made a huge difference.
From the Sibert Honor-winning author of Six Days in October comes this powerful tale of courage and persistence, the stories of the people who believed that girls could do anything -- and were willing to fight to prove it.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Of course they can...
today. But just a few decades ago, opportunities for girls were far more limited, not because they weren't capable of playing or didn't want to become doctors or lawyers, but because they weren't allowed to. Then quietly, in 1972, something momentous happened: Congress passed a law called "Title IX," forever changing the lives of American girls.
Hundreds of determined lawmakers, teachers, parents, and athletes carefully plotted to ensure that the law was passed, protected, and enforced. Time and time again, they were pushed back by Þerce opposition. But as a result of their perseverance, millions of American girls can now play sports. Young women make up half of the nation's medical and law students, and star on the best basketball, soccer, and softball teams in the world. This small law made a huge difference.
From the Sibert Honor-winning author of Six Days in October comes this powerful tale of courage and persistence, the stories of the people who believed that girls could do anything -- and were willing to fight to prove it.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
160 pages, Hardcover
First published June 21, 2005
12 people are currently reading
535 people want to read
About the author
Karen Blumenthal
30 books150 followersKaren Blumenthal is a critically acclaimed author of narrative nonfiction for young people, who is fascinated by controversial subjects and social change. Her books include Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different; Tommy: The Gun that Changed America; Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History, and Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX. Her books have won a Sibert Honor and a Jane Addams Children's Book award and have been a finalist for YALSA's Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award three times. She lives in Dallas, where Roe v. Wade originated. For more information, go to www.karenblumenthal.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
August 26, 2009
If you look at my shelf you will see I seldom give a book 5 stars. Just Let Me Play appealed to me because I was a teenager when Title IX was written. I was the only girl who worked out with the cross-country team and track team my freshman year in high school in 1971. I can't say that I was on the team-they just let me work out with them. If I had been allowed to compete, I probably would have stuck with it, as it was, I was tolerated by some, and made others extremely uncomfortable.
This book chronicles the history of Title IX, the law that forced schools to offer athletic opportunities for females. Title IX was part of an education bill that provided equal access for women in all aspects of the law. Prior to its enactment, law schools and medical schools had female enrollments that were 10% of the number of males admitted. I had no idea of the scope of the law, how hard people fought and continue to fight for it.
The book is a fascinating read and essential for anyone interested in women's history.
This book chronicles the history of Title IX, the law that forced schools to offer athletic opportunities for females. Title IX was part of an education bill that provided equal access for women in all aspects of the law. Prior to its enactment, law schools and medical schools had female enrollments that were 10% of the number of males admitted. I had no idea of the scope of the law, how hard people fought and continue to fight for it.
The book is a fascinating read and essential for anyone interested in women's history.
August 16, 2015
An America without Title IX is unimaginable to me. It's hard to believe that a mere 43 years ago, girls had so few opportunities. The 19th Amendment is what finally recognized women as actual citizens; Title IX forced schools to begin to treat girls as actual students & student-athletes.
I learned so much from this book and forgot that it was from the kids' section of the library until I looked at the spine. It's fitting that I finished it the day before the USWNT's Victory Tour begins. I will be watching, of course, and, thanks to this book, will probably have more feels than usual.
September 16, 2010
Nonfiction / Sports
Let Me Play is about the circumstances and events of the creation of Title IX, the legislation that brought equality of the sexes into schools and, most prominently, into sports.
Unfortunately, Let Me Play suffers from “textbook” syndrome: the story is choppy and the formatting is distracting.
The biggest problem is that there’s no engaging story. Blumenthal jumps from character to character and rarely does a good job endearing us to those characters. I understand that this is because there was no single character that moved through the entire process of creating Title IX, but the consequence of this choice is that the narrative frequently focuses on the lawmaking process and loses the human involvement. The only parts of the book where I was engaged with the story were when Blumenthal shares an anecdote about a specific individual. For instance, the story of Donna de Varona, the Olympic champion in the 60’s who couldn’t get a scholarship to swim in college, really got my attention. I was outraged on her behalf! Similar stories are sprinkled throughout the text, but not frequently enough. Once the brief flare-up of emotion has worn off, there are pages and pages where characters are relegated to the sidebars. The stakes are never as high as they should be.
This problem is exacerbated by the formatting of the book, which is very messy and distracting. For instance, there are sidebars on nearly every page, drawing away attention from the main narrative and making the reading go very, very slowly. I never know quite what to do with sidebars—do I read them when I first turn the page? Do I save them for last? Do I read them when I finish a paragraph? Whatever way I choose, I end up interrupting my reading and having to find my place again or else I just skip the side information entirely. Again, I understand why Blumenthal chooses to put so much information to the side: it’s difficult to fit any of it into the main narrative. A lot of it really is side information. But it has the effect of turning Let Me Play into a textbook. There are also far too many elements on each page. For example, look at page nine: there’s the chapter title, an introductory quote, a cartoon, a caption, and the first paragraph of the narrative. The reader’s eye darts around and isn’t entirely sure what order to read in. The messy formatting detracts from the flow of the story so that the reader cannot be fully engaged or, sometimes, even fully sure what’s going on.
The problems in Let Me Play exist for very justifiable reasons, but those reasons don’t save the book from its overall lack of punch. I felt, throughout, that I should be feeling very passionate and triumphant and indignant, but I rarely was—none of the material caused a visceral reaction. Let Me Play will become just another book that I stick on my shelf and let gather dust, because it’s not worth picking up again.
Let Me Play is about the circumstances and events of the creation of Title IX, the legislation that brought equality of the sexes into schools and, most prominently, into sports.
Unfortunately, Let Me Play suffers from “textbook” syndrome: the story is choppy and the formatting is distracting.
The biggest problem is that there’s no engaging story. Blumenthal jumps from character to character and rarely does a good job endearing us to those characters. I understand that this is because there was no single character that moved through the entire process of creating Title IX, but the consequence of this choice is that the narrative frequently focuses on the lawmaking process and loses the human involvement. The only parts of the book where I was engaged with the story were when Blumenthal shares an anecdote about a specific individual. For instance, the story of Donna de Varona, the Olympic champion in the 60’s who couldn’t get a scholarship to swim in college, really got my attention. I was outraged on her behalf! Similar stories are sprinkled throughout the text, but not frequently enough. Once the brief flare-up of emotion has worn off, there are pages and pages where characters are relegated to the sidebars. The stakes are never as high as they should be.
This problem is exacerbated by the formatting of the book, which is very messy and distracting. For instance, there are sidebars on nearly every page, drawing away attention from the main narrative and making the reading go very, very slowly. I never know quite what to do with sidebars—do I read them when I first turn the page? Do I save them for last? Do I read them when I finish a paragraph? Whatever way I choose, I end up interrupting my reading and having to find my place again or else I just skip the side information entirely. Again, I understand why Blumenthal chooses to put so much information to the side: it’s difficult to fit any of it into the main narrative. A lot of it really is side information. But it has the effect of turning Let Me Play into a textbook. There are also far too many elements on each page. For example, look at page nine: there’s the chapter title, an introductory quote, a cartoon, a caption, and the first paragraph of the narrative. The reader’s eye darts around and isn’t entirely sure what order to read in. The messy formatting detracts from the flow of the story so that the reader cannot be fully engaged or, sometimes, even fully sure what’s going on.
The problems in Let Me Play exist for very justifiable reasons, but those reasons don’t save the book from its overall lack of punch. I felt, throughout, that I should be feeling very passionate and triumphant and indignant, but I rarely was—none of the material caused a visceral reaction. Let Me Play will become just another book that I stick on my shelf and let gather dust, because it’s not worth picking up again.
March 5, 2019
“Let Me Play” offers a thorough but fast-paced history of the origins of Title IX, its sometimes troubled tenure, and especially, its profound positive impact on opportunities for girls and women in education and sports. This book is geared toward middle grade readers who may never have heard of Title IX and almost certainly take for granted its results. It’s full of sidebar narratives, photos, charts, and historic cartoons that make for a pretty packed 120-ish pages. As a Title IX baby and lifelong athlete, I enjoyed learning about how the law came to be and how it’s played out over decades. My favorite parts were the recurring charts showing the steady uptick in girls playing school sports and women entering college and professional programs year by year after Title IX. The ending also included a telling quote from tennis player Jennifer Capriati who, when asked in the early 2000s, had never heard of Title IX. In one way, that seems like a positive development, but in another, it seems dangerous to forget so soon. In her conclusion, Blumenthal makes the point that Title IX is a law that was made, and one that could be unmade. We’d do well to remember what opportunities for girls and women were like before it came along.
January 28, 2010
My first reaction to the book was one of skepticism because the subject matter did not appeal to me, but I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the read. I liked the format and layout as much as the content. The biographical inserts, cartoons, scorecards, and priceless photographs broke up and enhanced what could have been a very boring discussion of a topic I previously had little interest in. A benefit of the format is providing different kinds of information to different readers. Anyone can easily find statistical data, short biographies of female athletes, as well as the major players in the Title IX debate, and social commentary as represented by the cartoons, all interwoven with the story details.
Aside from the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed the content of this book, reading it has given me a new perspective on the possibilities of using YA non-fiction in supporting curriculum, as well as proposing it for independent reading.
Aside from the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed the content of this book, reading it has given me a new perspective on the possibilities of using YA non-fiction in supporting curriculum, as well as proposing it for independent reading.
September 14, 2010
Non-Fiction, American Law
This is the story of Title IX, a controversial American piece of law that required boys and girls to have equal opportunities in the classroom and on the playing field of federally funded schools. From its conception in 1972 and its full realization more than twenty years later, Title IX did its best to survive despite the odds. Many women and men dedicated their time and talents to its creation and fruition. It has also accounts in it of people whose lives were altered by the presence or absence of Title IX. It vastly improved the lives of Americans. Although I normally do not indulge in non-fiction, or anything to do with sports, I enjoyed this book immensely. I appreciate the facts and story that it made me aware of. Although I have never been athletic, and never regretted that, either, while reading this book, I began to wish that I had taken advantage of the opportunities that Title IX has so recently made available to young women in America.
This is the story of Title IX, a controversial American piece of law that required boys and girls to have equal opportunities in the classroom and on the playing field of federally funded schools. From its conception in 1972 and its full realization more than twenty years later, Title IX did its best to survive despite the odds. Many women and men dedicated their time and talents to its creation and fruition. It has also accounts in it of people whose lives were altered by the presence or absence of Title IX. It vastly improved the lives of Americans. Although I normally do not indulge in non-fiction, or anything to do with sports, I enjoyed this book immensely. I appreciate the facts and story that it made me aware of. Although I have never been athletic, and never regretted that, either, while reading this book, I began to wish that I had taken advantage of the opportunities that Title IX has so recently made available to young women in America.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2022
I was in Kindergarten when Title IX rules were approved, 4 years after the law passed. And while I benefited to some degree — playing town basketball, gymnastics, and high school softball and field hockey — I realize now there were limitations, including opportunities to compete at the college level, as programs for women were small and underfunded. Or nonexistent at smaller colleges like mine. It’s unfortunate that the rules of the law are still being changed, challenged, and reinterpreted — currently being reviewed by the Biden Administration for changes that Betsy DeVos made in 2020. The impact on education, particularly related to discrimination and sexual harassment beyond sports, is important for everyone to understand. This is a comprehensive history and analysis of Title IX, a law that is likely to have more interpretation and rulings in the coming years. While long for some MS/HS readers, there are lots of photos, political cartoons, sidebars, and charts, and it’s very thorough.
There is an updated cover not shown here. And the book is an updated version of an earlier edition.
There is an updated cover not shown here. And the book is an updated version of an earlier edition.
April 29, 2024
3.75 stars rounded up. I don’t know how to rate this, because 1) I read it for school, and 2) it’s nonfiction. I enjoyed this book overall. It was informative and gave me a lot of information about the history of Title IX that I probably wouldn’t have came across without this book. One complaint, and maybe I felt this way because I never read nonfiction books, was that I felt like this book was almost a little too informative. I felt overwhelmed by all the information and was getting confused at certain parts. Overall, this book will be helpful for my project and I liked this book.
October 10, 2018
Let Me Play- Book Review
This book is about the amendment known as Title IX. The story begins with the story of a women named Donna Varona, the Olympic swimmer. As she watched her male coworkers receive swimming scholarships to college, she began gathering her friends to make a difference. They thought of ways to get there rights and allow women to be able to do the things that men were allowed to do.
The author is really good at describing this story. The book then goes into the boycott section where Donna and a bunch of her friends fight for their freedom and gain the Title IX amendment. They come up with different ways like protesting to get there way so that that Donna could get on a swim team. Because the schools and the laws didn’t allow that it took a lot of work. Overall, this book was really good and I hope you guys will decide to read it.
This book is about the amendment known as Title IX. The story begins with the story of a women named Donna Varona, the Olympic swimmer. As she watched her male coworkers receive swimming scholarships to college, she began gathering her friends to make a difference. They thought of ways to get there rights and allow women to be able to do the things that men were allowed to do.
The author is really good at describing this story. The book then goes into the boycott section where Donna and a bunch of her friends fight for their freedom and gain the Title IX amendment. They come up with different ways like protesting to get there way so that that Donna could get on a swim team. Because the schools and the laws didn’t allow that it took a lot of work. Overall, this book was really good and I hope you guys will decide to read it.
February 25, 2019
11 June 2005 LET ME PLAY: THE STORY OF TITLE IX, THE LAW THAT CHANGED THE FUTURE OF GIRLS IN AMERICA by Karen Blumenthal, Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, June 2005, ISBN: 0-689-85957-0
"Female admissions to colleges and graduate programs picked up speed, driven by female ambition, the law, and a growing acceptance that it was simply wrong to reject someone just for being a girl. Between 1971 and 1976 the number of women attending college jumped 40 percent. By the fall of 1976 one in every four law students was a woman, up from fewer than one in ten in 1971; likewise, a quarter of first-year medical students were female, up from about one in seven just five years before."
Last weekend at Book Expo in New York City, I had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with Patricia Macias. At publishing conventions, Patricia is known as the wife of author Ben Saenz. But back home in El Paso, she is more frequently referred to as "Your Honor."
As I wandered the exhibition halls at Book Expo, I frequently got the chance to catch up with old friends in the publishing industry. Many of the women I've known for years who are employed by the large publishing houses now have titles like "President & Publisher" or "Vice President and Associate Publisher." They not only have the positions; they have the power that accompanies those titles.
I also had the opportunity at Book Expo to chat briefly with my favorite member of the United States Senate. I feel so fortunate to be represented by Barbara Boxer who, like me, grew up in New York and moved westward. When we first elected Barbara to the US Senate in 1992, having her join Diane Feinstein there in representing California, it was the first time in US history that two women Senators were representing the same state at the same time.
Myra Bradwell would have though that it was long past time.
"In 1869, Mrs. Bradwell passed the Illinois bar exam with high honors and turned in her application to practice law. Though she easily qualified, she was turned down because she was a married woman. She filed a lawsuit, but the Illinois Supreme Court turned her down too, saying that her sex was 'a sufficient reason for not granting this license.'
"In one of the nation's first sex discrimination cases she appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But America's top court had a different view than she did. 'Man is, or should be, woman's protector and defender,' the Court wrote in 1873. 'The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life.' It concluded: 'The paramount destiny and mission of woman [is] to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator.' "
It does not require looking back a hundred and something years to the life of Myra Bradwell (who, we learn, persevered to become America's first female lawyer) in order to recall when things were really unfair for women in America. I grew up a youngster not all THAT long ago, in a world where women didn't have the same opportunities as men to go to college, didn't have the same opportunities as men to work in many fields, to attain the highest positions in business, government, or education, to get paid the same money for the same work, and sure as heck didn't have the same athletic opportunities as their male counterparts.
As recalled in LET ME PLAY by Karen Blumenthal, it was in 1964 (when I turned nine, the same year the Beatles first came to America), that a Southern segregationist in Congress unintentionally played an important role in promoting women's rights when he "proposed adding the word 'sex' to the section [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964], so that it would forbid job discrimination against women as well as blacks." Congressman Howard W. Smith of Virginia was figuring that adding such an amendment would cause the male-dominated Congress to quickly sink the entire Act including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the historic Civil Rights legislation would create. That Smith's plan backfired and the legislation passed meant for the first time in our history that it was illegal to pay a woman differently than a man employed in the same position as she.
"State universities in Virginia had turned away 21,000 women in the early 1960s; during the same time not a single man was turned away."
While the author takes us back to the 1800s and forward to the 1960s in setting the stage, the overwhelming focus of her fascinating and important book about women in America is on the fight for passage of and subsequent fights over enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as well as the far-reaching changes in our country that resulted from that landmark legislation.
Blumenthal's well-documented story of Title IX is interspersed with illuminating profiles and photos of notable twentieth century female athletes who got badly cheated by being born in the backward days of the earlier 1900s, along with great profiles of the federal legislative heroes responsible for Title IX passage, and a terrific assortment of strips from Doonsbury, Tank McNamara, Peanuts and other daily comics and political cartoons that shed light on the legislation and the issues behind it.
"At the University of Georgia the budget for women's sports grew to $120,000 in 1978 from $1,000 in 1973, but the men received $2.5 million. Among the differences: The men on the golf team got all the golf balls they needed. Women golfers got one for each competitive round they played."
If the words of the "stupid white men" on the Supreme Court in the 1870s seem like something from the Dark Ages, readers will discover that the ignorance of those words is easily matched by what Ronald Reagan and his minions did to try and destroy Title IX in the 1980s. I can't imagine any woman who's aware of what Reagan and Bush One carried out in those years not gagging over the current President's recent words that "We are blessed to live in a Nation, and a world, that have been shaped by the will, the leadership, and the vision of Ronald Reagan." I'd say there's a serious lack of vision when you've got your head in the place that Reagan obviously had his when it came to women's rights.
But now the question is, is the battle finally won?
When we consider what portion of Congress and Senate seats are currently filled by the majority gender in America, when we look at what portion of the CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations are female, or when we look at the gender of the Presidents of the nation's most distinguished universities, we must conclude that there is a long way to go.
A report released by the AAUW back when this week's high school graduates were in kindergarten found that "boys' expectations were built up while girls' were whittled back." That's THIS generation, not mine or a previous generation.
And lest anyone suggest the glass half-filled attitude, I'd hasten to suggest that they consider trading places and then claim that things are moving along quickly enough.
Edith Green, a major figure in the story, was fond of the saying: "The trouble with every generation is that they haven't read the minutes of the last meeting." Thanks to Karen Blumenthal, we now have an accurate set of minutes available from a pivotal episode in recent American history.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
"Female admissions to colleges and graduate programs picked up speed, driven by female ambition, the law, and a growing acceptance that it was simply wrong to reject someone just for being a girl. Between 1971 and 1976 the number of women attending college jumped 40 percent. By the fall of 1976 one in every four law students was a woman, up from fewer than one in ten in 1971; likewise, a quarter of first-year medical students were female, up from about one in seven just five years before."
Last weekend at Book Expo in New York City, I had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with Patricia Macias. At publishing conventions, Patricia is known as the wife of author Ben Saenz. But back home in El Paso, she is more frequently referred to as "Your Honor."
As I wandered the exhibition halls at Book Expo, I frequently got the chance to catch up with old friends in the publishing industry. Many of the women I've known for years who are employed by the large publishing houses now have titles like "President & Publisher" or "Vice President and Associate Publisher." They not only have the positions; they have the power that accompanies those titles.
I also had the opportunity at Book Expo to chat briefly with my favorite member of the United States Senate. I feel so fortunate to be represented by Barbara Boxer who, like me, grew up in New York and moved westward. When we first elected Barbara to the US Senate in 1992, having her join Diane Feinstein there in representing California, it was the first time in US history that two women Senators were representing the same state at the same time.
Myra Bradwell would have though that it was long past time.
"In 1869, Mrs. Bradwell passed the Illinois bar exam with high honors and turned in her application to practice law. Though she easily qualified, she was turned down because she was a married woman. She filed a lawsuit, but the Illinois Supreme Court turned her down too, saying that her sex was 'a sufficient reason for not granting this license.'
"In one of the nation's first sex discrimination cases she appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But America's top court had a different view than she did. 'Man is, or should be, woman's protector and defender,' the Court wrote in 1873. 'The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life.' It concluded: 'The paramount destiny and mission of woman [is] to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator.' "
It does not require looking back a hundred and something years to the life of Myra Bradwell (who, we learn, persevered to become America's first female lawyer) in order to recall when things were really unfair for women in America. I grew up a youngster not all THAT long ago, in a world where women didn't have the same opportunities as men to go to college, didn't have the same opportunities as men to work in many fields, to attain the highest positions in business, government, or education, to get paid the same money for the same work, and sure as heck didn't have the same athletic opportunities as their male counterparts.
As recalled in LET ME PLAY by Karen Blumenthal, it was in 1964 (when I turned nine, the same year the Beatles first came to America), that a Southern segregationist in Congress unintentionally played an important role in promoting women's rights when he "proposed adding the word 'sex' to the section [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964], so that it would forbid job discrimination against women as well as blacks." Congressman Howard W. Smith of Virginia was figuring that adding such an amendment would cause the male-dominated Congress to quickly sink the entire Act including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the historic Civil Rights legislation would create. That Smith's plan backfired and the legislation passed meant for the first time in our history that it was illegal to pay a woman differently than a man employed in the same position as she.
"State universities in Virginia had turned away 21,000 women in the early 1960s; during the same time not a single man was turned away."
While the author takes us back to the 1800s and forward to the 1960s in setting the stage, the overwhelming focus of her fascinating and important book about women in America is on the fight for passage of and subsequent fights over enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as well as the far-reaching changes in our country that resulted from that landmark legislation.
Blumenthal's well-documented story of Title IX is interspersed with illuminating profiles and photos of notable twentieth century female athletes who got badly cheated by being born in the backward days of the earlier 1900s, along with great profiles of the federal legislative heroes responsible for Title IX passage, and a terrific assortment of strips from Doonsbury, Tank McNamara, Peanuts and other daily comics and political cartoons that shed light on the legislation and the issues behind it.
"At the University of Georgia the budget for women's sports grew to $120,000 in 1978 from $1,000 in 1973, but the men received $2.5 million. Among the differences: The men on the golf team got all the golf balls they needed. Women golfers got one for each competitive round they played."
If the words of the "stupid white men" on the Supreme Court in the 1870s seem like something from the Dark Ages, readers will discover that the ignorance of those words is easily matched by what Ronald Reagan and his minions did to try and destroy Title IX in the 1980s. I can't imagine any woman who's aware of what Reagan and Bush One carried out in those years not gagging over the current President's recent words that "We are blessed to live in a Nation, and a world, that have been shaped by the will, the leadership, and the vision of Ronald Reagan." I'd say there's a serious lack of vision when you've got your head in the place that Reagan obviously had his when it came to women's rights.
But now the question is, is the battle finally won?
When we consider what portion of Congress and Senate seats are currently filled by the majority gender in America, when we look at what portion of the CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations are female, or when we look at the gender of the Presidents of the nation's most distinguished universities, we must conclude that there is a long way to go.
A report released by the AAUW back when this week's high school graduates were in kindergarten found that "boys' expectations were built up while girls' were whittled back." That's THIS generation, not mine or a previous generation.
And lest anyone suggest the glass half-filled attitude, I'd hasten to suggest that they consider trading places and then claim that things are moving along quickly enough.
Edith Green, a major figure in the story, was fond of the saying: "The trouble with every generation is that they haven't read the minutes of the last meeting." Thanks to Karen Blumenthal, we now have an accurate set of minutes available from a pivotal episode in recent American history.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
April 1, 2023
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
This updated edition of the 2005 book is fairly similar. It still has the story of Donna de Varona at the beginning; this made a big impression on my. To win an Olympic gold medal and be unable to get a college scholarship because there were no women's swim teams? My young readers are appalled. The chapters are titled with a mixture of sports game references, but the deeper implications of what Title IX meant for education is not neglected. My favorite part of the book is the charts that show how the enrollment in athletic and academic programs changed as the years went on after Title IX was enacted. Now, I think, there are MORE women than men who go into law fields!
The other thing I enjoyed were the short biographies of a wide range of women who fought for the passage of this legislation. Sidebars featuring well known feminist figures like Patsy Mink and Sally Ride are there, along with more obscure figures such as Myra Bradwell, America's first female Lawyer, and Representative Martha Wright Griffiths. There are also side bars with definitions of things like "libbers and bra burners" and explanations of key historic occurences like the Equal Pay Act and female cadets at U.S. military academies. The inclusion of political cartoons and comic strips like Tank McNamara give a humorous look at events of the 1960s and 70s through the lens of primary sources.
New chapters, including "Expanding the Field", which addresses issues of transgender players, "Crossing Boundaries", which delves into Title IX's role in dealing with sexual harassment, and "Extra Innings", which gives powerful examples of the effects of Title IX on women in athletics since the first edition was published all update the first book and show the continuing success of this important legislation.
If your middle grade and high school libraries don't have this book, buy two copies if funds allow. It will be well used for history projects, and should be required reading for any girls who are very fond of sports. I do wish that the original photographic cover had been kept. First and Second Wave Feminism often comes underr attack for its lack of intersectionality, but I love that the faces of girls from the 1970s when they were the same age as the tween readersappear on the cover.
This updated edition of the 2005 book is fairly similar. It still has the story of Donna de Varona at the beginning; this made a big impression on my. To win an Olympic gold medal and be unable to get a college scholarship because there were no women's swim teams? My young readers are appalled. The chapters are titled with a mixture of sports game references, but the deeper implications of what Title IX meant for education is not neglected. My favorite part of the book is the charts that show how the enrollment in athletic and academic programs changed as the years went on after Title IX was enacted. Now, I think, there are MORE women than men who go into law fields!
The other thing I enjoyed were the short biographies of a wide range of women who fought for the passage of this legislation. Sidebars featuring well known feminist figures like Patsy Mink and Sally Ride are there, along with more obscure figures such as Myra Bradwell, America's first female Lawyer, and Representative Martha Wright Griffiths. There are also side bars with definitions of things like "libbers and bra burners" and explanations of key historic occurences like the Equal Pay Act and female cadets at U.S. military academies. The inclusion of political cartoons and comic strips like Tank McNamara give a humorous look at events of the 1960s and 70s through the lens of primary sources.
New chapters, including "Expanding the Field", which addresses issues of transgender players, "Crossing Boundaries", which delves into Title IX's role in dealing with sexual harassment, and "Extra Innings", which gives powerful examples of the effects of Title IX on women in athletics since the first edition was published all update the first book and show the continuing success of this important legislation.
If your middle grade and high school libraries don't have this book, buy two copies if funds allow. It will be well used for history projects, and should be required reading for any girls who are very fond of sports. I do wish that the original photographic cover had been kept. First and Second Wave Feminism often comes underr attack for its lack of intersectionality, but I love that the faces of girls from the 1970s when they were the same age as the tween readersappear on the cover.
June 14, 2013
As posted on Outside of a Dog:
I am not a sporty adult, and I never played school sports (unless marching band counts, which it totally should), but growing up, I tried to take advantage of sporting opportunities that were available to me. I played elementary age soccer, the only girl on an all-boy team. When I got older, I was a short-stop for my town’s softball league. As I got older, and school (and band) took precedence, sports were phased out of my life, though I remain a fan. Every two years I go all out cheering for athletes competing in the Olympic Games, winter and summer, and last year it was especially sweet watching the London 2012 Games, having read Karen Blumenthal’s Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX: The Law that Changed the Future of Girls in America, and realizing all that had to happen so that women like Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings could have their day in the sun.
Let me get one thing out of the way right off the bat: this is a book about politics, not sports. Anyone going in to this book expecting to read inspiring stories of female athletes will be largely disappointed. What you get instead is a historical portrait of the grueling political process that eventually made Title IX possible. Blumenthal gives great attention to leaders in the fight for equal rights, including Edith Green and Patsy Mink, and does through some ink in the direction of leading athletes like Billie Jean King. Hard facts are well sourced and though the text has the tendency to get dry at times, the tone remains light, held up by numerous archival photographs and editorial cartoons. Let Me Play is an engaging work of non-fiction, offering a view of the political victory that helped change not only women’s involvement in sports, but education and the workplace as well.
I recommend that you know what you’re getting into before you get into it, because if politics bore you, this might not be the book for you. But if you’re interested in glimpsing a part of American history that laid the framework for the lives of millions of girls and women, this little book will do the trick.
I am not a sporty adult, and I never played school sports (unless marching band counts, which it totally should), but growing up, I tried to take advantage of sporting opportunities that were available to me. I played elementary age soccer, the only girl on an all-boy team. When I got older, I was a short-stop for my town’s softball league. As I got older, and school (and band) took precedence, sports were phased out of my life, though I remain a fan. Every two years I go all out cheering for athletes competing in the Olympic Games, winter and summer, and last year it was especially sweet watching the London 2012 Games, having read Karen Blumenthal’s Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX: The Law that Changed the Future of Girls in America, and realizing all that had to happen so that women like Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings could have their day in the sun.
Let me get one thing out of the way right off the bat: this is a book about politics, not sports. Anyone going in to this book expecting to read inspiring stories of female athletes will be largely disappointed. What you get instead is a historical portrait of the grueling political process that eventually made Title IX possible. Blumenthal gives great attention to leaders in the fight for equal rights, including Edith Green and Patsy Mink, and does through some ink in the direction of leading athletes like Billie Jean King. Hard facts are well sourced and though the text has the tendency to get dry at times, the tone remains light, held up by numerous archival photographs and editorial cartoons. Let Me Play is an engaging work of non-fiction, offering a view of the political victory that helped change not only women’s involvement in sports, but education and the workplace as well.
I recommend that you know what you’re getting into before you get into it, because if politics bore you, this might not be the book for you. But if you’re interested in glimpsing a part of American history that laid the framework for the lives of millions of girls and women, this little book will do the trick.
August 16, 2010
When I got this book, I didn't realize it was intended for young adult readers. Typically, reading non-fiction geared toward teenagers is hard on the senses because of the, well, teen-speak that the authors at least think teenagers use. This book had a touch of that, but it was not excessive, and it had a lot of information on Title IX. Though Title IX was related to gender equality in all areas of education, it's best known for its requirements regarding sports programs at educational institutions.
One highlight were a cute photo of three Congresswomen in the late 1960s posing outside the House pool (yeah, as in swimming) with a sign on the door saying "Members Only." The women had been shut out of the pool because "Members Only" apparently wasn't referring to members of Congress, but MALE members of Congress. The female members were turned away because the male ones apparently didn't want to don swimsuits during their workouts (ew!), and therefore the pool was single-sex. Eventually, the three, who included Patsy Minsk of Hawaii and Edith Green of Oregon, were allowed to use the pool in the early morning hours, when the other Representatives didn't want it. I wonder what hours Nancy Pelosi is required to use the pool...?
Another important factoid that jumped out at me was that Billie Jean King had to work two jobs in college, even though she was one of the top-ranked tennis players in the nation even then, because scholarships for athletes didn't exist. BILLIE JEAN KING! Compare that to Venus and Serena Williams, who, if they're wise with their money, will never have to work again once they retire from tennis. (OK, so the Williams sisters probably don't make near what male athletes in the big 3 make, but they are doing better financially than BJK was around the same time in her life.)
Like any good women's historical account, the book serves to show both far we have to go AND how far we've come. A quick, easy and informative read.
One highlight were a cute photo of three Congresswomen in the late 1960s posing outside the House pool (yeah, as in swimming) with a sign on the door saying "Members Only." The women had been shut out of the pool because "Members Only" apparently wasn't referring to members of Congress, but MALE members of Congress. The female members were turned away because the male ones apparently didn't want to don swimsuits during their workouts (ew!), and therefore the pool was single-sex. Eventually, the three, who included Patsy Minsk of Hawaii and Edith Green of Oregon, were allowed to use the pool in the early morning hours, when the other Representatives didn't want it. I wonder what hours Nancy Pelosi is required to use the pool...?
Another important factoid that jumped out at me was that Billie Jean King had to work two jobs in college, even though she was one of the top-ranked tennis players in the nation even then, because scholarships for athletes didn't exist. BILLIE JEAN KING! Compare that to Venus and Serena Williams, who, if they're wise with their money, will never have to work again once they retire from tennis. (OK, so the Williams sisters probably don't make near what male athletes in the big 3 make, but they are doing better financially than BJK was around the same time in her life.)
Like any good women's historical account, the book serves to show both far we have to go AND how far we've come. A quick, easy and informative read.
September 15, 2010
Let Me Play by Karen Blumenthal Narrative Non-fiction
Let Me Play is a non-fiction narrative about the history of Title XI and the struggles women have and are still going through to receive equal rights both on and off the field/court. When I first picked up this book at the bookstore I looked at the cover and flipped through the pages, looking at some of the pictures and short anecdotes. Being a sports fan, I was excited to learn about the history of Title XI and read about my favorite women athletes. When I began reading I was engaged in the history, but as the book crept on, so did I. The steady pattern of struggle, triumph, and struggle wore on me as a reader, and the last 40 pages were gruelingly read. I became so disillusioned with the book that the short anecdotes about my favorite women athletes lost their luster. Though I was relieved when the book discussed the 1996 triumphant gold-medal victories of the basketball, softball, and hockey teams, and then the World Cup victory, Let Me Play had already "facted" me to boredom death that I could not muster reading anything else after the epilogue. I can proudly say that I am an advocate for woman's equal rights, especially in sports. I am also satisfied that I know the history and the pain many have gone through to fight for and uphold woman's rights, but Karen Blumenthal just about suffocated my interest in woman's sports history. Even with pictures, comics, and interesting charts dotting the pages and taking up space, the book dragged and dragged with too much information and not enough thrill. Since Title XI is enveloped in politics, my hat goes off to her for trying to make politics thrilling as she wrote for teens. The try was noble, but the result was less than enjoyable.
Let Me Play is a non-fiction narrative about the history of Title XI and the struggles women have and are still going through to receive equal rights both on and off the field/court. When I first picked up this book at the bookstore I looked at the cover and flipped through the pages, looking at some of the pictures and short anecdotes. Being a sports fan, I was excited to learn about the history of Title XI and read about my favorite women athletes. When I began reading I was engaged in the history, but as the book crept on, so did I. The steady pattern of struggle, triumph, and struggle wore on me as a reader, and the last 40 pages were gruelingly read. I became so disillusioned with the book that the short anecdotes about my favorite women athletes lost their luster. Though I was relieved when the book discussed the 1996 triumphant gold-medal victories of the basketball, softball, and hockey teams, and then the World Cup victory, Let Me Play had already "facted" me to boredom death that I could not muster reading anything else after the epilogue. I can proudly say that I am an advocate for woman's equal rights, especially in sports. I am also satisfied that I know the history and the pain many have gone through to fight for and uphold woman's rights, but Karen Blumenthal just about suffocated my interest in woman's sports history. Even with pictures, comics, and interesting charts dotting the pages and taking up space, the book dragged and dragged with too much information and not enough thrill. Since Title XI is enveloped in politics, my hat goes off to her for trying to make politics thrilling as she wrote for teens. The try was noble, but the result was less than enjoyable.
December 9, 2010
Themes: feminism, gender equality, following one’s dreams
Unlike the other nonfiction book I read for this class (Jennifer Armstrong’s Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World), this book was a lot harder to wade through and get to the end. It follows the development of the legislation that eventually became Title IX through several decades of the twentieth century, ending near the present day. I felt like the topic of the book could have been really interesting, but Blumenthal didn’t portray it in an interesting manner, for me. The body of the narration itself focused mostly on the legislation and laws surrounding the issue—a dry enough topic in the first place, but then there were no characters or people that I as a reader could really identify or connect with, so it felt like I was just reading about abstract laws that I didn’t really understand or really care about. In the margins and sidebars next to the narration, however, there were lots of side stories about individual female athletes and other stories of what was going on at the same time as all the legislation. These side stories were fascinating, and for me, they were what made the book worth reading. I think Blumenthal should have included more of those in the body of the narration so the reader could feel a connection to the Title IX story, instead of just relegating them to the sidebars. All in all, a very informative, information-packed book, but not one that I would just sit down and read. I’d recommend it to students needing to do research on a project, or maybe an ambitious reader with a vested interest in the topic. Or, recommend that readers just go through and read all the side bars, since they’re the most interesting part.
Unlike the other nonfiction book I read for this class (Jennifer Armstrong’s Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World), this book was a lot harder to wade through and get to the end. It follows the development of the legislation that eventually became Title IX through several decades of the twentieth century, ending near the present day. I felt like the topic of the book could have been really interesting, but Blumenthal didn’t portray it in an interesting manner, for me. The body of the narration itself focused mostly on the legislation and laws surrounding the issue—a dry enough topic in the first place, but then there were no characters or people that I as a reader could really identify or connect with, so it felt like I was just reading about abstract laws that I didn’t really understand or really care about. In the margins and sidebars next to the narration, however, there were lots of side stories about individual female athletes and other stories of what was going on at the same time as all the legislation. These side stories were fascinating, and for me, they were what made the book worth reading. I think Blumenthal should have included more of those in the body of the narration so the reader could feel a connection to the Title IX story, instead of just relegating them to the sidebars. All in all, a very informative, information-packed book, but not one that I would just sit down and read. I’d recommend it to students needing to do research on a project, or maybe an ambitious reader with a vested interest in the topic. Or, recommend that readers just go through and read all the side bars, since they’re the most interesting part.
December 9, 2010
et Me Play shocked me. After coming from such a positive experience with reading non-fiction (see "Book Profile (1)"), I hoped that this story of Title IX would similarly engage my mind. Too many words, too much dry litigation, and some all-too-obvious feministic didacticism characterized Let Me Play. I will admit to the importance of the influential Title IX law, but I will also contend that this book is far too dry for a Young Adult audience. Though Blumenthal attempts to draw the reader through the work with "Player Profiles" and "Scorecards" and highlighted quotes, it is clear to me that these features only add to the already over-abundant supply of text. The reader can recognize that Title IX was as much a team effort as was the winning U.S.Women's 1991 World Cup championship team. However, this overwhelming aspect of the text proved more stressful than helpful to me as a reader who wants to retain information. Furthermore, I mentioned earlier a "feministic didacticism" that can be seen in Blumenthal's approach to conservative lawmakers such as Ronald Reagan, the President, whom she prefers to refer to as "Mr. Reagan" as opposed to the respectful title "President" which she applies so effortlessly to Presidents Ford and Carter (83-89). All political implications aside, Blumenthal often leaves subtlety behind in explaining how congress, law-making, and other governmental decisions are made (90). While this is important in helping readers understand what is going on, this book seems more like a five-star reference for a research paper than as a pleasure read during Silent Sustained Reading.
October 29, 2010
When I was a 4 year old my mom signed me up for a city league soccer team. I don't remember any of the practices or even what our team's name was. What I do remember was going with my dad to the sports equipment store and picking out a pink soccer ball. Kicking that little beauty around was my joy. But kicking it around with other girls? No way. My mom tells me stories of me just sitting on that soccer ball on the sidelines not interested in playing at all. What I would soon find out was that swimming was my true love and I would go on to swim competitively from age 8 until my Junior year of High School, be a swim coach myself and life guard. Being involved in sports as a girl was a big part of my growing up years. Team sports taught me about having confidence in my abilities and in setting goals. While before reading this book I didn't know what Title IX was, I am sorry to say that I found myself wanting to sit on my pink soccer ball instead of read each page.
Karen Blumenthal's book is very visually appealing. The cover has girls ready to hit the field and even the title alludes to a battle to allow girls to get in the game. The very first chapter was a teaser for me as I began to read an inspiring story about a young, girl swimmer that achieved amazing accomplishments. The account was engaging, the story really moved. But what I thought would be a book full of great stories of girl athletes, turned into a text book that was hidden by pictures and extra text in gray bubbles.
Karen Blumenthal's book is very visually appealing. The cover has girls ready to hit the field and even the title alludes to a battle to allow girls to get in the game. The very first chapter was a teaser for me as I began to read an inspiring story about a young, girl swimmer that achieved amazing accomplishments. The account was engaging, the story really moved. But what I thought would be a book full of great stories of girl athletes, turned into a text book that was hidden by pictures and extra text in gray bubbles.
May 15, 2012
Imagine the local soccer field, filled with kids playing on a Saturday morning, but not one of the children playing is a girl. Imagine the many high school teams: swimming, basketball, baseball, tennis, track, but not one of the teams has female players. Finally, picture a large university graduate school commencement ceremony, where only a few of the graduates are women. While this is nearly impossible to imagine now, that was the reality only 40 years ago, before the enactment of Title IX. Karen Blumenthal’s Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX, provides a very thorough and detailed account of the history of Title IX, starting with the suffragettes, proceeding through the law’s enactment 1972, and on to the contentious implementation of Title IX in the mid-1970s. Blumenthal won a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for Let Me Play, which provides extensive facts, figures, and profiles of the people (primarily women) who fought so hard for women’s equality in sports and education. School Library Journal gave Let Me Play a starred review, calling the book “Interesting” with “easy-to-follow chapters.” Indeed, the layout is visually appealing, with plenty of photos, comic strips from the time periods, and insets with pertinent side stories. The extensive back matter includes a time line, an author’s note, pages of source notes, a list of further resources, and an index. The significance of Title IX to young women cannot be understated, and is given serious treatment in this comprehensive book.
March 8, 2008
I LOVED this book!! All women should own a copy!!
This book tells the story of how women gained their right to vote and be treated as equals in the United States of America. Although it spends some time discussing the movements made in the early 1900’s, the main focus of the book is the developments that took place in the 1960’s and beyond with a focus on Title IX. This book does a wonderful job explaining what Title IX is, how it effects women and men, and showing what great lengths both women and men went through to get the legislation passed and administered correctly. It also tells numerous stories of women who have made great strides in athletics and the professional world. It is a great read for both women and men.
My main concern with this book is that it does not read like a novel. It is a nonfiction book that lays out the facts about Title IX and provides mini stories about successful women throughout the novel. Because of its layout, I fear that most young teens would not complete the entire book. However, as a woman, I found this book to be extremely well done. I thought that it did a great job explaining what Title IX is and its value to the lives of women. After reading this story, I feel strongly that all women should read this story because it is an issue that we should know about and take a firm stance on.
This book tells the story of how women gained their right to vote and be treated as equals in the United States of America. Although it spends some time discussing the movements made in the early 1900’s, the main focus of the book is the developments that took place in the 1960’s and beyond with a focus on Title IX. This book does a wonderful job explaining what Title IX is, how it effects women and men, and showing what great lengths both women and men went through to get the legislation passed and administered correctly. It also tells numerous stories of women who have made great strides in athletics and the professional world. It is a great read for both women and men.
My main concern with this book is that it does not read like a novel. It is a nonfiction book that lays out the facts about Title IX and provides mini stories about successful women throughout the novel. Because of its layout, I fear that most young teens would not complete the entire book. However, as a woman, I found this book to be extremely well done. I thought that it did a great job explaining what Title IX is and its value to the lives of women. After reading this story, I feel strongly that all women should read this story because it is an issue that we should know about and take a firm stance on.
July 22, 2012
Suffice it to say, this book is not what I expected. I've been curious about the evolution of Title IX, an amendment that has sufficiently changed women's lives in America far more than most of them realize.
Though most of us think of Title IX as a means of gender parity in sports, it's since become clear that there are many unexpected benefits for women in this law. Earlier this year, for instance, the Associated Press did a long report on how Title IX is actually forcing changes in how colleges deal with sexual assault. When I interviewed a woman who worked with young women running for office, she attributed Title IX as one of the reasons women are more adjusted to the competitive nature of politics.
The basic underlying information in this book is good, but at 130 pages with sidebars, photos, large text, and simplistic language, this telling of Title IX amounted to little more than a children's book. It didn't dive at all into some of the law's ongoing challenges or its critiques.
Title IX has been a serious and significant part of American history. I just wish it had been treated that way in this book.
Though most of us think of Title IX as a means of gender parity in sports, it's since become clear that there are many unexpected benefits for women in this law. Earlier this year, for instance, the Associated Press did a long report on how Title IX is actually forcing changes in how colleges deal with sexual assault. When I interviewed a woman who worked with young women running for office, she attributed Title IX as one of the reasons women are more adjusted to the competitive nature of politics.
The basic underlying information in this book is good, but at 130 pages with sidebars, photos, large text, and simplistic language, this telling of Title IX amounted to little more than a children's book. It didn't dive at all into some of the law's ongoing challenges or its critiques.
Title IX has been a serious and significant part of American history. I just wish it had been treated that way in this book.
September 16, 2010
This is the story of the development of and struggle for Title IX. It goes from the very beginning of the women's rights movement through to modern times, when women are winning gold medals and accomplishing much in the world on the same level as men. It tells stories along the way of the smaller things that had to be done to get the law to where it is today and how attitudes had to change over the years towards women. It's a very detailed and interesting book, with plenty of stories about individual people that I found interesting. The story could be boring at times because it's history and it's talking about fighting for laws to be passed, which isn't the most interesting of subject matter. However, I feel that the author did a fairly good job of making the book at least interesting to read, if not entirely fun.
This is important subject matter that I think people should know about, and high school would be a good time to teach it. So, although this book felt a lot like a textbook to me, it's not quite as daunting as one because it's smaller and it has some vital historical information in it, which I see great value in.
This is important subject matter that I think people should know about, and high school would be a good time to teach it. So, although this book felt a lot like a textbook to me, it's not quite as daunting as one because it's smaller and it has some vital historical information in it, which I see great value in.
September 16, 2010
Let Me Play is written by a woman and is written with a feminine bias as it relates the tale of the women’s suffrage movement, especially in regards to athletics. With the obvious bias towards women and the manipulation of the historical facts, the book targets a female audience. With the simple vocabulary and emphasis on fighting against authority, the audience is further limited to female teenagers, and teenage female athletes become the prime audience with all the many pages devoted to athletics. Let Me Play is limited by its targeted audience, and it fails to entirely hit its target. If a teenage female athlete is interested in the historical context of the laws that allow her to play sports in high school and college, this could be a great book for her, especially if she is interested in reading detailed descriptions of the democratic process. However, I would guess that not very many individuals would fall under such a category. This book was not exactly a painful read for me, but it was not pleasurable either. I suppose I simply do not fit the requirements for the targeted audience.
September 17, 2010
REQUIRED
This book traces the evolution that occurred in American society, politics, and minds from the early 1900s when women weren't allowed to vote, let alone play sports, to today when they have the same opportunity for education, employment, and sports as men.
This book had too much politics for me, and seemed to drag a little bit. But I loved the pictures and comics. In fact, at the beginning of the book I was so excited to read about real-life stories of women overcoming tremendous odds that I kept talking about the book. There are so many amazing profiles given in this book. I love the facts, figures, and interviews. The author is very knowledgeable and does an excellent job of explaining a huge social and political force as Title IX.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a young adult non-fiction narrative. Particularly if you are interested in politics or sports. It really opened my eyes to the sacrifices many people have made for the opportunities that I enjoy today.
This book traces the evolution that occurred in American society, politics, and minds from the early 1900s when women weren't allowed to vote, let alone play sports, to today when they have the same opportunity for education, employment, and sports as men.
This book had too much politics for me, and seemed to drag a little bit. But I loved the pictures and comics. In fact, at the beginning of the book I was so excited to read about real-life stories of women overcoming tremendous odds that I kept talking about the book. There are so many amazing profiles given in this book. I love the facts, figures, and interviews. The author is very knowledgeable and does an excellent job of explaining a huge social and political force as Title IX.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a young adult non-fiction narrative. Particularly if you are interested in politics or sports. It really opened my eyes to the sacrifices many people have made for the opportunities that I enjoy today.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2018
Every girl and every boy who cares about a girl should read this book. I think it is really easy for kids today to not realize how short a time it has been since girls did not have equal opportunities as boys. It's not kids' faults--it's actually wonderful that things have progressed so much that they are blissfully unaware. However, I would wager than many of their mothers were born when some of this legislation was not in place, which means their mothers were born into a world where girls and boys were most definitely not treated equally. I am gratefully for my own mom who gently suggested I take a Women's Studies course my freshman year of college. That class taught me about all of the women and men who fought for my rights as a female and, because of them, I was able to study whatever I wanted, get a great job, and make as much money as men doing the same work. And, if I had any athletic talent, I could play sports like boys. This book is a great summary of all of this history--it should be required reading!
Read
April 30, 2015Let Me Play, is a story filled with the history of title IX. Blumenthal does an amazing job going into the detail of not only women who defied the odds to become professional athletes but went into the legal matters of the act as well. She uses quotes as well at the start of every chapter. Blumenthal inserts stories from female athletes, Females in government, and feminists, all to make her book have a stronger impact on its readers. The chapters of her book are organized into different sports terms, making the connection between not only sports but the political debate behind Title IX. Both books have the connection of both African-Americans and women being discriminated against and being treated like second class citizens. This book can be used in the classroom to teach students about equal rights and discrimination. It is a great book to put in the hands of young women so they can learn about the hardships others had to go through to give them a chance to gain the equal rights they have today.
March 18, 2016
Genre: non-ficion, bureaucratic nonsense
Summary: This is the story of how Title IX got passed through the legistlature and it's impact. Sound interesting? Well, this book killed the subject.
Response: This was a typical non-fiction experience. It was dense at times and hard to get through, not necessarily because of the subject matter but because of the layout. I definitely learned a lot of stuff that I didn't know before, but I dreaded reading it because it was so dry and choppy. Every two seconds the flow of the narrative is interrupted by an unnecessary tidbit of information or exaggerated quote from the text that had no connection to the reader. It took a great deal of my patience and attention span to finish the book, something that teenagers lack a great deal of. I can't imagine any child, no matter how interested they were in sports, the judicial process or women's rights would be able to appreciate the book that fully in the current condition it is in.
Summary: This is the story of how Title IX got passed through the legistlature and it's impact. Sound interesting? Well, this book killed the subject.
Response: This was a typical non-fiction experience. It was dense at times and hard to get through, not necessarily because of the subject matter but because of the layout. I definitely learned a lot of stuff that I didn't know before, but I dreaded reading it because it was so dry and choppy. Every two seconds the flow of the narrative is interrupted by an unnecessary tidbit of information or exaggerated quote from the text that had no connection to the reader. It took a great deal of my patience and attention span to finish the book, something that teenagers lack a great deal of. I can't imagine any child, no matter how interested they were in sports, the judicial process or women's rights would be able to appreciate the book that fully in the current condition it is in.
December 3, 2010
Let Me Play:The Story of Title IX: The Law that Changed the Future of Girls in America - - - Non-Fiction/Feminism/History/Civil Rights
Blumenthal weaves together stories of girls and women all over the country during the 1970s who endured discrimination and fought for equality. Today our world is completely different because of what the pioneers of women's rights did for this nation. Girls don't just have equal rights when it comes to school sports, but also employment opportunities, scholarships, and academics. The political debates were heated, the journey was long, but thanks to an army of men and women who wouldn't give up, we enjoy the freedom of choice.
The book should have been shorter. It covers the political aspect so intensely that it drags. The personal stories about average girls and women who faced opposition concerning their desire to play sports were the most engaging. It was an interesting read, just not my cup of tea.
Blumenthal weaves together stories of girls and women all over the country during the 1970s who endured discrimination and fought for equality. Today our world is completely different because of what the pioneers of women's rights did for this nation. Girls don't just have equal rights when it comes to school sports, but also employment opportunities, scholarships, and academics. The political debates were heated, the journey was long, but thanks to an army of men and women who wouldn't give up, we enjoy the freedom of choice.
The book should have been shorter. It covers the political aspect so intensely that it drags. The personal stories about average girls and women who faced opposition concerning their desire to play sports were the most engaging. It was an interesting read, just not my cup of tea.
December 9, 2010
Genre: Non-Fiction
Let Me Play is a young adult non-fiction narrative that traces the development of the legislation that paved the way for women’s equal rights in school, voting, jobs, sports, etc. It starts at the beginning of the women’s rights movement and ends in modern times, when women are winning Olympic gold medals and holding high government positions. Blumenthal has clearly done her homework, as the book is extremely detailed and filled with random facts, but I found the format very confusing and ineffective. Every few pages there were profiles of people who played significant roles in helping Title IX come to pass. While these may have been interesting, I found them quite distracting and irrelevant to the chapters they appear in. The story was rather boring at times, but I think the author does a good job of informing us while also keeping something as boring as ‘a law’ interesting.
Let Me Play is a young adult non-fiction narrative that traces the development of the legislation that paved the way for women’s equal rights in school, voting, jobs, sports, etc. It starts at the beginning of the women’s rights movement and ends in modern times, when women are winning Olympic gold medals and holding high government positions. Blumenthal has clearly done her homework, as the book is extremely detailed and filled with random facts, but I found the format very confusing and ineffective. Every few pages there were profiles of people who played significant roles in helping Title IX come to pass. While these may have been interesting, I found them quite distracting and irrelevant to the chapters they appear in. The story was rather boring at times, but I think the author does a good job of informing us while also keeping something as boring as ‘a law’ interesting.
December 9, 2010
Blumenthal, I thought, did an excellent job. Despite my prejudices, I really enjoyed the book. Like I anticipated, I learned a lot from what I read. However, unlike my anticipations, the bad feelings and emotion I was expecting did not come across. She stated the facts, but still kept it interesting. I feel like this book had more a personal touch than Shipwreck at the Bottom of the Sea and so it was much easier for me to “get into.” I loved the stories she told of the individual girls, like Donna de Varona’s story. I’m sure there were details she had to add, but unlike in Shipwreck, Blumenthal had the ability to interview those who were affected by the passing of the law. She, herself, was affected by it and even includes her own story which makes the overarching story of Title IX that much more personal and applicable. This is a story about teens, for teens. It directly affects their lives, their education, their extracurricular activities. Blumenthal makes that clear.
November 7, 2012
I read the book "Let Me Play" by Karen Blumenthal. This book really grabbed my attention and was very interesting to me because it talked about women and their struggles in various different areas, but for the most part sports. The book has various different stories about women struggling to be equal in the sports world, but my favorite story was of Donna de Verona. She was an Olympic swimmer who watched other male swimmers earn swimming scholarships to various colleges, but was left in the dust when no colleges offered her any scholarships just because she was a female. Other than the stories, the book also explained the many people and processes those people went through to help pass the Title IX act of 1972. Even though this book was non-fiction i still thought it was very interesting and very helpful, but what really helped me be interested was my overall love of sports. I suggest anyone interested in sports (especially girls) to read this book.
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