No Girls Allowed: Inspired by the True Story of a Girl Who Fought for her Right to Play
Natalie Corbett Sampson
Nimbus Publishing

In 1977, Tina Marie Forbes tried to join a hockey team in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and was turned away because she was a girl. Now, over forty years later, Maritime-based author Natalie Corbett Sampson has honoured Tina’s story in her novel No Girls Allowed, a sweet story based on the inspiring fight Tina led to give girls like herself the right to play hockey. 

No Girls Allowed follows Tina’s move to Nova Scotia from Ontario, establishing her love for hockey through an endearing narrative. Tina’s excitement grows as she gets closer and closer to being able to sign up to play on a real hockey team. When registration day finally arrives, Tina goes with her father and brother to fill out the forms that will make her dream come true. To Tina’s horror, they accept her brother onto the team, but she is told that she can’t join because there is no place for a girl on a boys’ team. What follows is the story of her fight to play hockey, beginning with a legal battle backed by the Human Rights Commission. She wins because, after all, isn’t it discrimination and an obstruction of her rights to deny her access to a sport based on the fact that she’s a girl?

This book tells an empowering story for young women, athletes or otherwise. It is a story about fighting for one’s rights, a message of enduring importance as women continue to strive for equality.

—Emma Martel