Shelby Steinbach

To Weezie Kerr Mackie,

Where I live now, is not my first home.  My first home is a long way from here, and I was removed from that home.  Like Ella, I found an outlet in softball.  Unlike Ella, I had already been playing the beautiful game since kindergarten.  In Throwing Like a Girl, Ella wants to learn how to throw like a real girl, like Rocky, while all I wanted to do was throw again.  I severely missed my friends and the rest of my family, and softball was the only thing that seemed even remotely familiar.

As I began your book, I realized to Ella in so many ways, I thought that maybe it was possible that someone had documented all of my trials and tribulations and related them to a single girl, Ella.  Because Ella's personality and life were so close to my own, I could simply not put the book down.  I was done reading in a matter of hours, and after that, I wanted to read it again.

Ella's first experiences with her new school were much like my own, I went silently through the motions and tried my best to remain unnoticed.  I tried not to look like a fool while in the presence of slightly superior upperclassmen, both male and female.  But some classes, like Ella's health class, one just can't avoid being noticed.  Luckily, for me, it was not a bad encounter, yet I could have hoped for better.

Eventually, I learned how to cope, and how I could find friends.  I now have two best friends and many more good friends.  The softball team contains a great deal of my friends, as well as many diversely grouped people that one may come in contact with at my current school.  Like Ella, I finally found where I belonged.

This book changed my life because even in fiction, I realized that I was not the only one who went through embarrassing and somewhat tragic events in a very short amount of time.  Ella helped me to accept what lies ahead, and to rely on softball, the sport I love, to get me through the tough times, mostly because we are one in the same.

Sincerely,
Shelby Steinbach