Testing the Ice: A True Story about Jackie Robinson

Gr 1-3 An affectionate tribute to Robinson's father's courage and character. In 1955, the family leaves New York City for a lakeside home in an idyllic, woodsy setting in Connecticut. Sharon and her brothers quickly make friends with the neighborhood kids and spend much of their time playing in and around the lake, though she notices that her dad never joins them in the water. Her new friends are awestruck by him and his stories of his breakthrough into the Major Leagues. When he bravely tests the ice so that the children can play on the frozen lake, Sharon realizes that he can't swim. Robinson neatly sums up the significance of her father's achievements while depicting him as a loving family man. Nelson's large paintings, done in pencil, watercolor, and oils, dramatically convey Robinson's public persona, the intensely competitive athlete, and contrasts that with the relaxed, yet commanding father Sharon and her brothers knew. This book is for a younger audience than the author's "Jackie's Nine: Jackie Robinson's Values to Live By" (2001) and "Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America" (2004, both Scholastic), but it adds another facet to children's understanding of the man and should resonate with a wide range of readers.

"Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA" Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

The daughter of the baseball legend recalls the moment when she fully understood the courage it took for her father to break baseballs color barrier. Jackie Robinson never learned to swim and refuses to join his kids in the lake that fronts their Connecticut estate. But when winter comes and everyone wants to go skating, Robinson overcomes his fear to test the ice for his children. We waited for what seemed like forever, recalls the author ("Slam Dunk!"), describing how the ice moans and heaves as her father taps it with a broomstick to determine its thickness. That was Jackie Robinson. And that was my dad. Big, heavy, out there alone on the lake, testing the ice to be sure it would be safe for us. Nelson ("Henrys Freedom Box"), a Caldecott Honor artist, contributes sumptuous, cinematic paintings that immerse readers in every scene, whether its an eye-to-eye meeting with Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey or an idyllic summer afternoon at the family home. Readers will close the book understanding that there are many ways to be heroand Robinson had all the bases covered.

Ages 7-10. "(Oct.)" Copyright 2009 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.