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Summary
Summary
From Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator Brian Pinkney and award-winning author Marybeth Lorbiecki comes a carefully crafted picture book how Jackie Robinson broke through professional baseball's color barrier.
A young white batboy treats Jackie Robinson differently than the other, white, members of the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers--and so does everyone else. But eventually Jackie's patience and talent wear down the racist attitudes of those around them and earn their respect. A backmatter section provides additional information on Jackie's life.
Author Notes
Marybeth Lorbiecki is the acclaimed author of numerous picture books, including the poignant and controversial Just One Flick of a Finger, illustrated by David Diaz, and Sister Anne's Hands. She resides in Hudson, Wisconsin.
Brian Pinkney has illustrated numerous acclaimed books for children, including Martin Rising ; In Your Hands ; On the Ball ; The Faithful Friend ; Duke Ellington ; and In the Time of the Drums . His many awards include two Caldecott Honors, a Coretta Scott King Illustration Award, four Coretta Scott King Illustration Honors, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. Brian lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and frequent collaborator, Andrea Davis Pinkney. Visit him at BrianPinkney.net.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Narrated by the Brooklyn Dodgers' white batboy, Joey, Lorbiecki's (Sister Anne's Hands) heartwarming tale set in 1947 tells two parallel stories. The first is Jackie Robinson's difficult but ultimately triumphant first season in the major leagues, and the other is Joey's challenging, but also triumphant, battle against his own racism. With understated simplicity, Joey recounts the numerous indignities Robinson endures: taunts from opposing teams, pitchers aiming at him, hate mail, separate hotels and some insults inflicted by the batboy himself (e.g., Joey cleans the shoes of every player except Robinson because, the boy thinks to himself, "Pops says it ain't right,/ a white boy serving a black man"). Robinson confronts Joey: "There's people out there who don't/ treat me as a man 'cause my skin is black/.... They don't know what a man is." Joey chronicles Robinson's gradual progression from outsider to "one of the guys" as his teammates start defending and working with him. Foreground figures appear outlined in thick brushstrokes in Pinkney's full-bleed spreads, while background structures and people appear in paler lines and impressionistic dabs of color. The final scenes depict Robinson offering Joey his hand to shake, "one Dodger to another," and Pops wearing an "I'm for Jackie" button, saying, "That man's earned his place in history." These moments give added emotional weight to this straightforward but often moving re-imagining of how an American hero's struggle and achievement helped transform a nation. Ages 5-8. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Primary) The focus in this quietly effective story is not on Jackie Robinson's bat but on his (fictional) white batboy, Joey. With a prejudice inherited from his father (""Pops says it ain't right, a white boy serving a black man""), Joey chooses to care for the other players, neglecting to polish Robinson's shoes and generally ignoring him. The first-person narration traces Joey's gradual change of heart as Robinson makes his mark on the field; Joey eventually comes to respect the man for his dignity, too. Pinkney trades in his characteristic vibrant scratchboard for a less successful muted watercolor palette in which the backgrounds of the field and the fans are unfinished washes of color while the foregrounds impressionistically feature a naive Joey and stoic Jackie. An afterword documents the real story of the dramatic 1947 Dodgers' season in which the gifted and gracious Robinson made history as America's first black Major League baseball player. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 1-3. In March of 2005, Myron Uhlberg paired with illustrator Colin Bootman to recount the Jackie Robinson story from the perspective of Uhlberg's father, a deaf man who drew personal inspiration from Robinson's stoic endurance of prejudice during the landmark 1947 season ( Dad, Jackie, and Me0 ). Now, Lorbiecki and Pinkney tell the fictional story of the Dodgers' new batboy, Joey, whose father doesn't believe a young white kid should be shining the shoes of a black man. Joey tries to reflect his father's views, but he is quickly won over by Robinson's skill on the field and his gentlemanly behavior in the locker room. Lorbiecki tells the story directly, with little moralizing, and Pinkney's evocative watercolors are nicely integrated with the text and vividly capture young Joey's growing respect for Robinson. Unfortunately, the illustration of Robinson hitting his first home run shows Jackie jammed by the pitch--a pop-up would surely have been the result of that swing. Still, Pinkney's signature style is much in evidence here and will certainly please his many fans, young and old. Children may also enjoy Carin Ford's biography of Robinson, reviewed on p.68. --Bill Ott Copyright 2006 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-A fictionalized account of Robinson's first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, as seen through the eyes of Joey, a batboy. He has attended games with his father since he was a toddler, and he's been a fan of "dem bums" for years. He meets the star player in the locker room on Robinson's first day as a Dodger, and though the man is friendly, Joey remembers that Pops says, "it ain't right, a white boy serving a black man." He gives the first baseman the cold shoulder and refuses to clean his shoes as he does for the other players. As Joey watches Robinson endure the prejudice of fans and players on other teams, he comes to admire him both as a ballplayer and a man. Eventually, both the boy and Pops admit that he "earned his place in history." An afterword gives more information on Robinson's career and legacy. Pinkney's watercolor illustrations, awash in bright hues and expressive details, enliven the characters with sinewy, curvaceous lines. The slight story is saddled with a simplistic ending, but it merits praise as a thoughtful lesson in tolerance; teachers, in particular, will appreciate it as a jumpstart for discussion.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Joey is the batboy for the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, and he is unsure of how to deal with Jackie Robinson. His father says that a white boy shouldn't have to serve a black man. So he doesn't shine Jackie's shoes, and he ignores his requests. As the season progresses, Joey notes the changing reactions of Jackie's teammates, players on the other teams and the fans around the league, both black and white. He comes to admire and cheer Jackie's patience and talent and to respect him as a man. Telling the story from Joey's point of view and the use of the immediate present tense places the focus on Robinson's impact on peoples' hearts and minds. Pinkney's watercolor illustrations also focus on the characters, with backgrounds softly sketched. An afterword and author's note give additional information about Robinson's character and life after baseball. A gentle message about the insidious nature of racism. (Picture book. 6-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
