Testing The Ice:  A True Story About Jackie Robinson

By:  Sharon Robinson

Illustrated by:  Kadir Nelson

Jackie Robinson made history by breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.  He is a national hero whose bravery helped pave the way for equal rights to African-Americans.  One would think he could do anything, but Jackie held a secret from the world.  He could not swim.

The story is authored by Robinson’s daughter, Sharon.  She shares her memory of moving out of New York City to the countryside in Connecticut.  She meets many new friends and enjoys her life there.  The illustrations really bring the story to life. The perspective brings a feeling as if I’m right there at that moment in time!  Kadir Nelson did a great job telling the story through his drawings.

The book goes into how Jackie entered Major League Baseball by telling the story to Sharon and her new friends.  It is such an incredible story of courage.  I can’t even begin to imagine all that he had to deal with in a time when segregation existed.

No one knew Jackie Robinson could not swim.  While all the kids played in the lake by their house, Jackie always stayed close to shore.  When winter arrives, all the kids want to ice skate on the frozen lake.  Jackie sets out to ‘test the ice’ and in this moment, Sharon realizes he can’t swim.  She realizes his bravery and correlates his actions on the ice to his courage to be the first African-American in Major League Baseball.  It is a beautiful, interwoven story for all brave hearts to hear.  It helps the reader realize how one must step into unfamiliar territory and move past one’s fears to achieve great things!  I highly recommend this book.

Reviewed by Shelley Olin

Pete’s a Pizza

By:  William Steig

Oh boy!  What I remember most about being a kid is my Dad rolling me up in a blanket so tight and carrying me to the oven (it was a sofa) to bake me!  I loved it.  I did everything I could to make my Dad warn, “Am I going to have to turn you into a burrito again?”  “Yes, yes, I’d giggle” and run away just slow enough to make sure he’d catch me.  You can just imagine my surprise when I found a book with a Dad that turns his son, Pete, into a pizza!

Pete’s a Pizza, by William Steig, is the story of a boy who is down and out because his baseball game got rained out.  His father, like mine, decides to cheer him up by rolling him out, spreading sauce on him, adding pepperoni, and my favorite part, seeing if pizzas are ticklish!  (They are.)  He finally brings him to the oven (it’s a sofa,) but Pete runs away just as the sun comes out.

I love Pete’s a Pizza, not only because it reminds me of my Dad, but because it’s funny.  I love how the title sounds like “Pizza, Pizza,” but it’s really that Pete IS a pizza.  I like that it teaches a bit about the use of parentheses.  (They’re the little smiley marks around sentences.)  The sentences in parentheses are like little secrets to clue us into things, like the fact that Pete’s father wasn’t really going to put him in an oven.  (It was a sofa.)  See what I mean?  Gee, who knew learning about punctuation could be so much fun?  Read Pete’s a Pizza, and see for yourself.  At least, you can get a few ideas about how to make your little brother or sister into a pizza!

Review by Kelly Hocking (Miss Kelly)

The news and Internet has been flooded with conversation about the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama.  I have found it interesting that so many people are arguing with one another over a prize that is intended to celebrate peace and problem solving.  As I was looking in the biographies, I remembered a book that I recently ordered for our library called, Alfred Nobel:  The Man Behnind the Peace Prize by Kathy-Jo Wargin and Illustrated by Zachary Pullen.  I pulled out the book and read it to remind myself how this prize came to be and what Alfred Nobel intended it to be.

Alfred Nobel was an inventor.  He and his brother used nitroglycerin to create gun powder, blasting caps, and dynamite.  These devices had wonderful potential for doing good in the world, but people used these inventions in times of war and many people died because of them.  How in the world is this connected with peace, you ask?  Well, in this book, the author paints a picture of Alfred Nobel’s life and thoughts and how he came to create an award that celebrates peace.  You’ll need to read the book to find out how that happens.

The illustrations in this book are stunning.  I especially love the cover which shows a close-up of Alfred Nobel’s face with the reflection of a dove in his eye.  I also enjoyed reading through the list of Nobel Peace Prize winners found in the back of the book.  It includes winners from 1901-2008.  It seems like I only pay attention to the winners when they are faces and names that I recognize, but I enjoyed reading through the names and pausing to consider and honor each name and his/her accomplishments.

I hope that you will wonder more about the Nobel Peace Prize now that our president has received it.  I encourage you to stop by the media center and check out this book today.  How will you create peace in our world?

Reviewed By Mr. Plemmons

How would it feel to know that you were responsible for the death of someone you loved? In Gone from these Woods, Daniel Sartain must wrestle with this responsibility when he has a terrible hunting accident with his uncle in the Northeast Georgia woods. Donny Bailey Seagraves writes from the perspective of this 10-year old boy and captures the raw emotion that someone involved in a tragedy of this nature might face. Seagraves writes in such a way that you really feel as if you are wrestling with the same emotions and questions that Daniel faces. Her research is apparent in her writing. As I read this novel, I couldn’t help but think about the conversations that a novel such as this might bring about between a parent and a child reading the book together. Issues of gun safety, animal rights, hunting, suicide, depression, alcoholism, parent/child relationships, and more are all possibilities for discussion between a parent and child. I highly recommend this debut novel by Seagraves and hope that she will write many more.  It will be arriving soon in our media center, and Donny Bailey Seagraves will visit with our 3rd-5th graders on November 3rd!

Reviewed by Mr. Plemmons