Halfbacks Don't Wear Pearls

by Mary Blakeslee

The novel begins when Jane and the girls from her eleventh grade class challenge the boys to a game of football after a male student made a sexist comment. During the football practices, Jane begins to question the resistance she feels from family and friends as she comes to enjoy the game more and more. After the girls successfully beat the male team, Jane and her best friend, Patti, decide that they want to join the school football team. They quickly realize that in order to earn enough respect from the coach, they will have to resort to drastic measures for the privilege of playing on the team. With the help of a few football players, they concoct a scheme that will prove their competence on the field; however, it may cost Jane more than her cheerleading pom-poms.

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Elleves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why was the message "sometimes men are better than women" and it just ended there? Had the potential to be an inspiring book and turned out weirdly misogynistic.