Testing The Ice - A True Story About Jackie Robinson by Sharon Robinson
Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Ages 4-8
Scholastic Press (October 1, 2009)
Cautions: None

Kiwi Magazine Review:
I often cry when I read books but it is pretty rare when I get chills from the impact of a story. I still have chills as I write about Testing The Ice - A True Story About Jackie Robinson by Sharon Robinson. Sharon is Jackie Robinson’s daughter and she weaves an amazing story about her father’s courage, from breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball to bravely testing the ice before his children and their friends played hockey on a frozen lake. For a man who couldn’t swim, testing the ice was a bold act of love. Kadir Nelson’s art should hang from gilded frames in the most impressive art museums, but, despite its elegance and depth, he keeps it accessible and true. This author/illustrator combination is a perfect match.

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Product Description
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.)

Jackie taps on the ice’s surface, when suddenly howling and roaring sounds come out of the lake! It is only then that Sharon realizes why she’s never seen her father in the water — Jackie doesn’t know how to swim! But her horror changes to relief as Jackie bravely taps his way to the middle of the lake — and declare it safe!

In a stunning metaphor for Jackie Robinson’s legendary breaking of the color barrier in Major League Baseball, Sharon Robinson honors her extraordinary father’s memory with her warm graceful storytelling. Two-time Caldecott Honor Book artist Kadir Nelson has created richly rendered paintings that radiate with the beauty and spirit of one of America’s finest heroes.

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