February Book Club: Jackie Robinson

February is traditionally the month when school children study about Black History. I thought it would work well to do two books about Jackie Robinson this month. The first book is titled, "Dad, Jackie, and Me" and was written by author Myron Uhlberg. This is a picture book and is one of the nominees for this year's Virginia Readers Choice book award. The book details the story of a young boy and his deaf father and their shared enthusiasm for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1947 season when Jackie Robinson became the first African-American baseball player in the major leagues. It is also about discrimination and tolerance--both from the standpoint of Jackie Robinson and the deaf father. The beautiful illustrations by artist Colin Bootman are a perfect match for Uhlberg's poignant text.

The second book we are reading for Febrary has an almost identical title: "Jackie and Me." It is written by Dan Gutman and is one of the books in his well-known Baseball Card Adventure series. The premise of these books is that the main character, 13-year-old Joe Stoshack, has the ability to travel back in time by using baseball cards. In this book, Joe travels back to the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season in order to experience first-hand what it was like for Jackie Robinson. Not only does he travel back in time, he actually stays with the Robinson's at their apartment and becomes a bat boy for the team. He is also transformed into an African-American and gets to experience for himself what discrimination was like back in the 1940s. The author has done an excellent job of researching the details of Jackie Robinson's life and career and using those details to create an exciting and suspenseful book.

For our activity this month we will be watching several film clips about Jackie Robinson from Ken Burns' documentary, Baseball. See you on Thursday, February 4, at 7 pm.

January Book Club: "The Homework Machine" by Dan Gutman

Our January book club meeting will take place on Thursday, January 8, at 7 pm. We will be discussing the book, The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman. This book has an intriguing way of telling the story. It is told in the alternating voices of four 11-year-olds as they make statements to the police. The children are all fifth graders in the same class at the Grand Canyon elementary school. They are about as different from each as any four kids could be, but they do have one thing in common--they have all been involved in a scheme to use a machine, invented by one of the group, to do their homework. Their plan takes many twists and turns and gets more complicated than any of them could have imagined. The book appeals equally well to boys and girls and is both funny and thought provoking. It is one of the ten books nominated this year for the Virginia Readers Choice Award.

Satch and Me

Our book selection for March is Satch and Me by Dan Gutman. This book is one of several books in the Baseball Card Adventure series. So if you like this book, there are many more just waiting for you to read! Mr. Gutman is a prolific writer of children's books. Another fun book series written by him is the My Weird School series (Mrs. Yonkers is Bonkers, Mr. Macky is Wacky, etc.). Many of Gutman's books feature a sports theme (The Million Dollar Shot) but he has also written mysteries, biographies, non-fiction, and books for adults. All of his books are fast-paced and fun to read. Dan Gutman is definitely a good author to get to know!