After Sam's father died, he became so wrapped up in the Brooklyn Dodgers that he could describe every game they'd played in the past four years. Nobody was very interested, until Sam met Davy. They came from different races, religions, and generations. But it didn't take long before they had a friendship that went well beyond baseball. ( )

Thank You, Jackie Robinson, written by Barbara Cohen and illustrated by Richard Cuffari, is a touching story about the friendship that develops between a young Jewish boy, named Sam, and an older African-American man, named Davy. Davy, whose father has passed away before the beginning of the novel, is being raised by a single mother who runs a hotel in New Jersey; Davy is a cook in the kitchen. What the two share is something bigger than their racial barrier: a deep love of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

What Cohen has done with her book is cleverly created a parallel between the fictional story of Sam/Davy and the historical world of Jackie Robinson. In the same way that Jackie Robinson broke the “color barrier” for the world of professional baseball, Sam and Davy break down the color barrier in a world where blacks and whites do not mingle together. Although their relationship is atypical for the time period, it is made more believable by several factors: that the void left behind by Sam’s deceased father is filled by Davy, and that members of the Jewish community were often more open-minded about the Civil Rights movement than many of their contemporaries.

Without a doubt, Thank You, Jackie Robinson is a tear-jerker. The death that Sam encounters in the end of the novel is absolutely devastating, and you can see Sam crumble in the aftermath of that event. However, his unwavering faith in Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers provides a semblance of hope and optimism that everything will come out okay in the final innings of life. This is a wonderful book, and though it might seem slightly dated in a “post-racial” world where Barack Obama has been elected president, it will definitely resonate within the lives of baseball fans, children who have experienced loss, and anyone with a passion for social justice.

Citation:
Cohen, Barbara, and Richard Cuffari. Thank You, Jackie Robinson. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1974. Print. ( )

Lexile: 730
Reading Recovery: 24
DRA: 40
Fountas Pinnel Guided Reading: R

Robert 4/9