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Title details for Dust Bowl Girls by Lydia Reeder - Available

Dust Bowl Girls

The Inspiring Story of the Team That Barnstormed Its Way to Basketball Glory

by Lydia Reeder
Virginia Wolf
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
At the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb, the charismatic basketball coach of tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, began dreaming. Like so many others, he wanted a reason to have hope. Traveling from farm to farm, he recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a chance at a better life: a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals. Despite their fears of leaving home and the sacrifices faced by their families, the women followed Babb and his dream. He shaped the Cardinals into a formidable team, and something extraordinary began to happen: with passion for the sport and heartfelt loyalty to one another and their coach, they won every game. For author Lydia Reeder, this is a family story: coach Sam Babb is her great-uncle. When her grandmother handed her a worn, yellowed folder that contained newspaper articles, letters, and photographs of Sam and the Cardinals, she said, You might want to tell their story someday. Now, with extensive research and the gathered memories of the surviving Cardinals, she has."

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 24, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781681681993
      • File size: 243373 KB
      • Duration: 08:27:01

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 1120
    • Text Difficulty: 7-9

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Virginia Wolf's modulated performance lets this exciting sports story almost tell itself. Her approach works since there's action aplenty in this audiobook. Set in the depths of the Depression, the story involves a remarkable and little heralded sports feat. In the early 1930s, coach Sam Babb's Cardinals, from tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, twice won the AAU basketball championship. Wolf's understated style seems fitting for this dramatic true tale of braving the hardships of the era. The story is also a kind of social history of women's sports. This audiobook puts the listener virtually in the players' sneakers as these talented farm girls will their way to victory. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 29, 2016
      Reeder, a former editor at Whole Life Times, tells the inspiring story of Oklahoma Presbyterian College basketball coach Sam Babb’s efforts to create and maintain a championship women’s team, the Cardinals, amidst the hardships of the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. Discussing both Babb’s coaching philosophy and the players’ individual stories, Reeder explores the charm and excitement that the small team of unknowns brought to their hometown of Durant. In equal parts personal homage to Babb (the author’s great-uncle) and surprising underdog story, Reeder recounts the Cardinals’ journey from humble beginnings to becoming the 1932 American Athletic Union national tournament champions. They demonstrated the perseverance necessary to overcome the political and financial difficulties facing women in sports. The descriptions of the political strife and characterizations seem forced and caricatured at times, but when the story turns to basketball season, Reeder relaxes into comfortable and engaging storytelling.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 3, 2017
      In her comfortable, slightly husky voice, actor Wolf offers a warm, earnest narration of this inspiring story about a championship women’s basketball team during the Great Depression. The coach of a tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College sought out poor farm girls who showed athletic prowess in high school and offered them a free college education to play on his basketball team, the Cardinals. With a caring coach, fine teamwork, and high spirit, the young women overcome all the social strictures against female athletes and became the 1932 American Athletic Union national tournament champions. Wolf’s expressive reading will keep listeners invested in this lost piece of Depression-era history. The audiobook will appeal to both adult and YA listeners. An Algonquin hardcover.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1120
  • Text Difficulty:7-9

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