Smarty Marty Steps Up Her Game: 11/27/17

Smarty Marty Steps Up Her Game by Amy Gutierrez is the sequel to Smarty Marty's Got Game (2013). Smarty Marty loves baseball and loves to watch her brother play. She knows the game well enough that when the regular announcer can't call the day's little league game, she's invited to fill in.

Knowing the game is different from calling the game. It takes being able to keep up with the action, being accurate in your description, and not being partial to any of the players. Of course Marty is up to the task but she makes a couple goofs early on — rooting for her brother on the mic, and anticipating the wrong play.

Her two small blunders in an otherwise flawless call gets the bullies on her back. When she resists, they start to go after her brother. She's torn between wanting to do the next game (which she's been invited to do) and protecting her brother.

Smarty Marty Steps Up Her Game realistically shows in a very short book the sort of harassment girls and women get for being good at something dominated by boys and men. Had a boy made the same mistakes, he wouldn't have gotten bullied for it by a boy who goes by the off-putting nickname "Smash." Fortunately for Marty, she has adults on her side that recognize her skills and don't tolerate bullying from anyone.

Author Amy Gutierrez, or Amy G for short, is the reporter for the Giants here in the Bay Area. Like Smarty Marty, not everyone is happy with having a woman report on them and there was a petition on change.org to remove her from the air. It didn't succeed.

Four stars

Comments (0)