Alta Weiss was born to play baseball, simple as that. From the age of two, when she hurls a corncob at a pesky tomcat, folks in her small Ohio town know one thing for sure: She may be a girl, but she's got some arm.

When she's seventeen, Alta hears about a semipro team, the Independents. Here's her big chance! But one look at Alta's long skirts tells Coach all he needs to know—girls can't play baseball!

Faster than you can say "strike out!," Alta's convinced him to give her a chance. And so with crowd buzzing and the big game up to her, Alta steps up to the pitcher's mound, determined to prove everybody wrong.

Inspired by the life of pioneering female baseball star Alta Weiss, and dramatized by Terry Widener's bold illustrations, Girl Wonder tells the unforgettable story of a true American original.

From the dust jacket