No stopping us now : a novel

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Title:

No stopping us now : a novel

Author:

Bledsoe, Lucy Jane author.

ISBN:

9781953103208

Physical Description:

248 pages ; 21 cm.

Subject Term:

Teenage girls -- Fiction.

Women basketball players -- Fiction.

Women athletes -- Fiction.

High school athletes -- Fiction.

Sex discrimination against women -- Fiction.

Nineteen seventies -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Portland (Or.) -- Fiction.

Genre:

Historical fiction.

Summary:

"Louisa loves to play basketball, but in 1974, her Portland, Oregon high school only offers a team for boys. An encounter with feminist Gloria Steinem teaches her about Title IX--the law that bans discrimination based on gender--so she asks her principal to start a girls team. Little does she know that she'll soon be viciously targeted by male coaches at her school, lied to by the school board, and fall in love--a couple of times--as she fights for a fair chance to be an athlete. Based on the author's true story, it is a compelling examination of the courage it takes to stand up for what's right." --

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Oakdale Library	TEEN FICTION BLE	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	TEEN FICTION BLE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Finalist, Golden Poppy Award for Best Young Adult Fiction!

"A timeless and triumphant story of courage in the face of opposition." --Foreword Reviews (starred review)

It's 1974. Title IX has passed two years ago, but Louisa's high school still refuses to fund an all girls' basketball team. After hearing Gloria Steinem speak, Louisa learns an important lesson: "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." Now what can she do but stand up and fight back?

When Louisa asks her principal to start a girls team, she's soon viciously targeted by male coaches at her school, lied to by the school board, and dismissed as "out of line" as she fights for a fair chance to be an athlete. No Stopping Us Now is a story about finding one's own voice through the joys of sports, love, and the power of sisterhood. Based on the author's true story, it is a compelling examination of the courage it takes to stand up for what's right.

Young adult, LGBTQ historical fiction perfect for the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

Author Notes

Lucy Jane Bledsoe is the author of eight books of fiction, for both adults and young people. Lava Falls, stories about kickass survivor girls who take on the religious right and uranium mining lobbyists, won of the 2019 Devil's Kitchen Fiction Award. Ms. Magazine called her novel The Evolution of Love, about how those who develop the muscles of compassion and inclusion will win the evolutionary lottery (in the long run), "fabulous feminist fiction." The New York Times said her novel A Thin Bright Line "triumphs as an intimate and humane evocation of day-to-day life under inhumane circumstances." Bledsoe's fiction has won a California Arts Council Fellowship in Literature, an American Library Association Stonewall Award, the Arts & Letters Fiction Prize, a Pushcart nomination, a Yaddo Fellowship, and two National Science Foundation Artists & Writers Fellowships. She's been a writer in residence in Antarctica and Cuba. Bledsoe loves basketball, mountains, cats, and books. She currently lives in Berkeley, CA.

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up--A teenage girl demands a fair shot when she challenges her Portland, OR, school to come into compliance with Title IX. Set in 1974, two years after Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, 17-year-old Louisa, who is white, isn't satisfied with just playing basketball in the city rec league. Inspired by sharing the stage with Gloria Steinem and meeting other feminists, Louisa petitions her school to add a girls' basketball program, firing up people on both sides of the debate. Opposition abounds and as she fights for this opportunity, the story gets taken from her, twisted and censored. It's almost enough to make her give up. The rocky road to progress comes with lessons about speaking truth to power and focuses on the importance of sisterhood. Louisa is also dealing with the growing distance with her best friend, her grandfather's dementia, and her potential attraction to a Black teammate, Barb. This autobiographical novel, with richly developed bold, courageous characters, and raw emotion, deftly captures the period of transition, not just for Louisa but for women's rights in the 1970s. Tired of being benched, and finding power in activism, community, and herself, Louisa finds the strength to demand equality and to live the life she wants, while making an important contribution to the history of sports for girls and women. VERDICT An inspiring look at the early days of Title IX and a solid addition to historical fiction collections.--Amanda MacGregor

Kirkus Review

A teenager faces stiff opposition in her campaign to bring girls' basketball to her school in this novel closely based on Bledsoe's experiences. It's 1974, and the best 17-year-old Louisa and four female classmates can do to satisfy their strong desire to play is early morning access to their Portland, Oregon, school's gym for inexpert scrimmages. Until, that is, Louisa meets Gloria Steinem at a local public event, learns about the recently passed Title IX, and touches off a storm with a letter to her state newspaper protesting the lack of a girls' sports program in the public schools. Change does come, but it comes hard, with bullying and even a teacher's physical intimidation to go with a falsified school board meeting transcript, oblique threats to her college plans, foot-dragging pleas for patience from her principal, and new coaches who are incompetent or outright hostile. But support, sometimes from unexpected quarters, not only keeps Louisa motivated, but turns her and a wave of new recruits into a team solid enough to compete for the state championship. Filling in her triumphant tale with expert hoops coaching as well as a period pop-music soundtrack and a flurry of subplots, Bledsoe states in her author's note that most everything--excepting dialogue and some names--is true. The cast is largely White. The cause is just, the action absorbing, the sexist flack still all too familiar. (Fictionalized memoir. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Kirkus Review

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