Jackie Robinson and the Story of All Black Baseball

September 1, 1989
Gr 2-4- -A more indicative title for this book might be The Story of All-Black Baseball and Jackie Robinson, as only two of the six chapters deal with the life of Jackie Robinson, the first black to play major league baseball. The writing style is consistent with the other books in this series: choppy and unimaginative. Unremarkable color illustrations and standard black-and-white photographs are sprinkled liberally throughout the book. David Adler's Jackie Robinson: He Was the First (Holiday, 1989) is a more interesting biography aimed at the same reading level. That book also includes a table of contents, a list of important dates, an index, and biographical information about the author and illustrator-features not included in O'Connor's book. The front inside cover of O'Connor's book does have an area where the reader is encouraged to write his or her name and the date after he has finished reading the book. -Tom S. Hurlburt, Minneapolis Public Library