It Takes More Than Balls: The Savvy Girls' Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Baseball

Freelance writer Silva, and Koney, who directs youth programs for Seattle's YMCA, teamed up to write a book about baseball, which they both love, even though they've “never played the game.” Before they even describe the basic mechanics of the game, they launch into a chatty chapter on baseball history. They follow this with a digression on the role of managers before arriving at the heart of their book, a discussion of various game positions and how they're played. They continue with chapters on pitchers, theories of the lineup and instructions on how to score a game, all interspersed with sidebars from females, identified by first name and age, making enthusiastic comments about what a great game baseball is. Surprisingly, basic information—how the diamond is organized, the responsibilities of each position, game mechanics—is never laid out consistently. In the end, apart from the subtitle and the sidebars, there's little here for “savvy girls.” (Apr.)