Jackie and Me: A Very Special Friendship

Gr 2–4—In this slight memoir, Grossinger draws a parallel between her feelings of not belonging and Jackie Robinson's experience as an African American baseball player in the 1950s. When the star athlete and his family stayed at the hotel in the Catskill Mountains owned by her cousins, the Grossingers, Robinson took a personal interest in young Tania by playing a game of Ping-Pong and listening to her concerns about feeling "on the outside looking in," and the two became lifelong friends. Illustrations show that living in the Grossinger's "castle" was difficult for the shy, awkward youngster even though famous celebrities visited often. The stylized, almost impressionistic collage artwork makes the 13-year-old look very different from one page to the next. While youngsters will learn a bit of trivia about Jackie's uniform number 42 that is worn each year on April 15th, the day he first played with the Dodgers as the first black player in the National League, more-informative books are available for learning about his significance to the game of baseball, such as Sharon Robinson's Jackie Robinson: American Hero (Scholastic, 2013).—Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA