The All-American

March 27, 2023
Finkbeiner (The Nature of Small Birds) tracks the quotidian lives of two sisters living in early 1950s suburban Detroit in this earnest but flawed outing. Bertha and Flossie Harding come from a seemingly quintessential American family: their older brother, Chip, lives nearby with his young wife; their English-born mother, Louisa, is now a proud, churchgoing American citizen; and their father, William, is a novelist. The girls also lead relatively humdrum lives: 16-year-old Bertha loves baseball and dreams of joining the local girls’ team, while bookworm Flossie’s being bullied at school. But when a neighbor accuses William of being a Communist, the girls’ social lives fall apart. The ostracization and nastiness from neighbors and former friends grow so extreme that the Hardings flee to the small town of Bear Run, Mich., to live with William’s brother. While there, the family attempts to shake off the accusations as Bertha pursues her baseball dreams and Flossie tries to make friends—but as things begin to look up, an accident unseats the girls’ lives and leaves the family unsure if they’ll recover. Finkbeiner probes some fascinating themes of the era, from McCarthyism to regressive gender roles, but a somewhat meandering plot progression and subpar character development can make things feel underbaked. This promising entry never quite hits its stride.

May 1, 2023

It's 1952, and 16-year-old Bertha "Bert" Harding is barely passing home economics, but she's dominating the sandlot in baseball. Her younger sister Flossie spends most days with her nose stuck in a book, unless she's asking endless questions about the world. Their middle-class world is turned upside down, however, when a neighbor turns in their famous author father to the House Un-American Activities Committee. Even an allegation of communism is enough for the Hardings to be denied service at the market and for a book-banning campaign against William's works to begin at the local library. The family leaves Detroit for remote Northern Michigan, where Bertha wonders if her American dream of joining a women's baseball league is still possible. VERDICT Finkbeiner (The Nature of Small Birds) excels at illuminating history and the human condition through the voices of young people. Fans of the 1992 movie A League of Their Own will enjoy this, as will readers of women's fiction such as Heirlooms by Sandra Byrd and The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2023
Teen Bertha "Bert" Harding and her family are as American as apple pie, but she would take a high score at home plate over homemaking any day. Bert dreams of playing in the 1952 season of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League while her younger sister, Flossie, is a spunky bookworm. But the Hardings' world is upended when their father is named as a Communist sympathizer, and they become a target for violence and social ostracism. As they struggle to understand the fear fueling the attacks against their family, they learn that hope can be found even during hardship. Finkbeiner's latest, following Stories That Bind Us (2020), is a home run coming-of-age novel set in suburban Detroit during Cold War paranoia. The plot includes the touchstones of any classic sandlot tale, but Finkbeiner skillfully turns the charisma of a well-told sports saga into an introspective exploration of life's adversities and regrets, and beauty, which persists even in difficult circumstances. Bert is an easy heroine to cheer for, while Flossie's growing awareness of the world through literature makes the novel truly special.

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