cover image Dust Bowl Girls: The Inspiring Story of the Team that Barnstormed its Way to Basketball Glory

Dust Bowl Girls: The Inspiring Story of the Team that Barnstormed its Way to Basketball Glory

Lydia Reeder, read by Virginia Wolf. HighBridge Audio, unabridged, 7 CDs, 8.5 hrs., $34.99 ISBN 978-1-6816-8198-6

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. (Jan.)