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In Times Past
an eBook on CD
by Carol Hurst and Rebecca Otis

Integrating US History with Literature in Grades 3-8.

Enliven your US History curriculum!

Teach US History using great kids books.

More Info

Thank You, Jackie Robinson

by Cohen, Barbara. (Lothrop, 1986 ISBN 0 688 07909 1) Novel. Grades 4+.
This book was reviewed by Carol Otis Hurst in Teaching K-8 Magazine.

Review

Sam Green is nuts about baseball. His mother runs an inn in New Jersey and Sam's best friend is Davy, the African American cook at the inn. They especially admire Jackie Robinson, the first black man in major league baseball. Together Davy and Sam set out to see a game at each ball park within a day's drive of their home. They can't go any farther than that since, in these days of segregation, Davy is not allowed in any restaurant or hotel. When Davy has a heart attack, Sam musters up his courage and gets past many obstacles to get Jackie Robinson's autograph on a baseball for Davy, somehow convinced that the ball with make him better.

This is an emotional book: Davy's illness, Sam's determination to get that autograph and Davy's death will leave most readers teary-eyed. Lovers of baseball should find alliance in the book and baseball cards, autographs and other memorabilia can be a logical outgrowth.

There's so much to talk about after this one that it's hard to know where to begin. Certainly the Jim Crow laws that kept Davy and Sam from being able to eat in restaurants or stay in hotels during the trips to ballparks are something every young person should know about. It's quite possible to find and interview people who lived in that time and experienced some of these horrors and that might be your next step.

Jackie Robinson's breakthrough into the major leagues should raise the question of what happened to all the talented Black ballplayers before then and that can lead to an investigation of the Negro Leagues as well as Jackie Robinson's entire career. Why was he the chosen one to break the color barrier? There are several fairly recent books for young people about them.

Related Areas of Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site