Author: Alexander, Kwame

Interest age: from c 12 years

Published on 25 September 2025 by Andersen Press Ltd in the United Kingdom as part of ‘the Door of No Return’ series.

Paperback | 384 pages
129 x 198 x 27 | 304g

Kwame Alexander weaves a spellbinding story of struggle, determination and the unflappable faith of an American family.

Twelve-year-old Charley is set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional baseball, even if that’s a lofty dream for a Black girl in the American South in the 1920s. Even so, her grandfather Kofi’s thrilling stories about courageous ancestors and epic journeys make it impossible not to dream big. She knows he has so much more to tell, but according to her parents, she isn’t old enough to know about certain things, like what happened to Booker Preston that one night in Great Bridge, and why she can never play on the brand-new baseball field on the other side of town.

When Charley challenges a neighbourhood bully to a game at the church picnic, she knows she can win, even with her ragtag team. Then a dispute on the field leads to Charley making a fateful decision, one that will bring consequences she never could have imagined.