Powerfully illustrates that this groundbreaking American icon’s commitment to equality did not begin or end with...
A pre–MLB biography of Jackie Robinson that focuses on his passion for justice and early encounters with injustice.
Beginning with Jack (not yet called Jackie) Robinson’s childhood, Bardhan-Quallen outlines some of the discrimination Jack faced: once-a-week segregated swimming times, being the only—and unwanted—black family on their street, and being denied sports opportunities despite excelling, all due to racism. These early life experiences, along with Jack’s mother’s lessons “to stand up for what was right, even when that was difficult to do,” are presented as the foundation that helped Jack cultivate the courage and bravery needed to endure the trials to come. When Jack enrolled in the Army, he chafed against the prevalent racism. After segregation was outlawed in the military, not everyone listened, and when Jack refused to move to the back of a post bus, he was verbally abused and arrested. Though innocent, Jack was court-martialed. He won but decided to leave the Army and “took a job in Kansas City, and then another in Montreal. And in 1947, Jack went to work in Brooklyn, New York.” Christie’s naïve paintings give Robinson’s story emotive heft while painting him as an Everyman, working with the text to immerse readers in Robinson’s life before baseball.
Powerfully illustrates that this groundbreaking American icon’s commitment to equality did not begin or end with baseball—his courage was a lifelong trait. (timeline, author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-228784-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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