Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson [Hardcover]

Sharon Robinson (Author), Kadir Nelson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2009 | Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: Testing the Ice

Sharon Robinson, the daughter of baseball legend Jackie Robinson, has crafted a hearwarming, true story about growing up with her father.

When Jackie Robinson retires from baseball and moves his family to Connecticut, the beautiful lake on their property is the center of everyone's fun. The neighborhood children join the Robinson kids for swimming and boating. But oddly, Jackie never goes near the water.
In a dramatic episode that first winter, the children beg to go ice skating on the lake. Jackie says they can go--but only after he tests the ice to make sure it's safe. The children prod and push to get Jackie outside, until hesitantly, he finally goes. Like a blind man with a stick, (contd.)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 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 END

About the Author

Sharon Robinson is an educational consultant for Major League Baseball and vice chairman of the Jackie Robinson Foundation. She founded Major League Baseball\u2019s Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life, a national character education program designed to teach children the values and traits they need to deal with barriers and challengers in their lives. She is the author of many widely praised nonfiction and fiction novels including Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America as well as two middle-grade novels, Safe at Home and Slam Dunk, with cover art by Kadir Nelson. Ms. Robinson divides her time between New York City and Florida.

Kadir Nelson used Jackie Robinson\u2019s personal family photographs as inspiration for his artwork in Testing the Ice: A True Story about Jackie Robinson. His many award-winning books include two Caldecott Honor books, Henry\u2019s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad, written by Ellen Levine, and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, written by Carole Boston Weatherford. His own book, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children\u2019s Book and received the Coretta Scott King Author Award.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545052513
• ISBN-13: 978-0545052511
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 in Books > Children's Books > Travel & Cultures > Multicultural Stories > African-American
  • #78 in Books > Children's Books > Sports & Games > Sports > Baseball

More About the Author

Sharon Robinson is an author and educational consultant for Major League Baseball (MLB). She has written four books about her father, including most recently Jackie's Gift: A true Story of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Jackie Robinson with illustrator E.B. Lewis (Viking, 2010), Testing the Ice: A true story of Jackie Robinson with illustrator, Kadir Nelson (Scholastic, 2009). She has also written two middle-grade novels. In her work with MLB, Ms Robinson directs the national character education program: Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life. The program is in it's 15th year and has reached over 19 million children. Prior to joining Major League Baseball, Sharon had a twenty-year career as a nurse-midwife. She taught in such prestigious universities as: Columbia, Howard, Georgetown, and Yale. Ms. Robinson holds a BS from Howard University and MS from Columbia University as well as several honorary doctorates. Sharon Robinson lives in New York City and Apollo Beach, Florida. Learn more about Sharon and her books at www.sharonrobinsonink.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very touching, December 19, 2009

By 

Kirsten G. Cutler (Santa Rosa, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson (Hardcover)

This is a very touching tribute by a loving daughter to her famous father's exhibition of bravery: his display of courage in two separate situations when he was the first black man to integrate a major baseball team, and when he tested the ice on a lake before letting his children and their friends go skating even though he did not know how to swim. Juxtaposing the two stories of bravery makes the concept of the courage involved in integrating a sports club easier for young children to understand. This inspirational picture book showcases vibrant and singular illustrations created with pencil, watercolor and oil paint.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of Jackie, in words and drawings, December 3, 2009

By 

E. Costello "arbitrator & reader" (Santa Monica CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson (Hardcover)

This book is an exploration of how Jackie Robinson overcame one of his personal fears in order to be a good parent to his daughter and her friends. It adds a very human dimension to the Jackie Robinson "story" that many baseball fans do not know, and further enhances the legend of this extraordinary man. It is written and illustrated for children, and my two grandkids (6 and 8) loved it from the first page. Unlike many children's books, there appears to have been close collaboration between the author and the illustrator, and the illustration themselves frequently take up an entire page. I recommend it without reservation, and have reread it (by request) to my grandchildren several times already.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a book, unlike others on baseball and segregation, that captures a bit of Jackie's true spirit!, December 3, 2009

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson (Hardcover)

On one Saturday morning Sharon and her friends were playing a game of Monopoly with her dad and they got him to talk about how he got into Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson was in the Negro leagues and getting into the Majors just wasn't in the cards because it was during the time of segregation. When the black teams were on the road, they couldn't even find a hotel that would allow them in. Jackie, a member of the Monarchs, was a darn good player. One day Branch Rickey decided to have a very serious talk with him about breaking into the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was warned he would have to put up with a lot and was asked "do you have the guts for this." Yes!

Things weren't easy and he had to put up with a lot more than any man should ever have to, but he was determined. He worked hard, put up with a lot of cruel things, but he made it. Later he moved his little family to Stamford, Connecticut where he could raise his children on a lovely six-acre property on a pond. Jackie Robinson was not a man who would back down from a challenge, but going near water was out of his league. He couldn't swim and would only look at his family from the short if they went in. One day they begged him to check the ice. They wanted to go skating and the ice had to be tested. It was a difficult decision, but he decided to go out and test it. He walked and tapped the ice. "Tap, tap, tap." Looked good when all of a sudden "BOOOOOM!" Was their dad going to go under the ice and drown?

I liked the fact that this story was told from the perspective of one of Jackie Robinson's children. All of his children and the neighboring children realized his was famous, but mostly he was famous in their eyes just for being whom he was. The tale was written when Sharon was an adult and is naturally more beautiful than had she written it as a child, but that everlasting affection for her father was very evident. The paintings were gorgeous and I especially loved the one where Nelson captured the rapt look on several children's faces when they were listening to Jackie. In the back of the book there is a brief author's note on baseball and segregation. This is a book, unlike others on baseball and segregation, that captures a bit of Jackie's true spirit!