Bibliographic data
Uhlberg, Myron. Dad, Jackie, and Me. Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, 2005.
Brief plot summary
Jackie Robinson is the first Negro player in major league baseball. A boy is surprised by his deaf father with tickets to watch the Dodgers. The boy is worried that Jackie Robinson wouldn’t know how to talk to his dad because Jackie probably does not know sign language. The boy’s dad didn’t understand baseball so well. He asked his son to help him learn more about the game. The story tells of a few details on how Jackie Robinson was discriminated against in baseball by other players.
Critical analysis
This book was inspired by the author’s own experiences as a boy. Myron Uhlberg has two deaf parents and takes his knowledge of living with parents with disabilities and uses it to write children’s stories. In doing so, it gives children in the same situations something to read and look up to because they feel that they are not alone in their situation.
This book tells of Jackie Robinson’s story as well as the boy and his deaf father’s story. Jackie Robinson, the great baseball player, was discriminated against because he was African American. This book tells of how other players abused him even during the game. The author details an example of this by explaining that other players would hurt him during the game.
The author tells readers more about his father towards the back of the book. He states that his deaf father went to a special school where sports were not encouraged so he was terrible at baseball, but still enjoyed it. He also sates that most people considered deaf children severely handicapped.
His father told him to watch out other players singled Robinson out for unfair treatment. Seeing Robinson get discriminated against but still excel at playing baseball made his dad realize that he too gets discriminated against because he’s deaf, but excels at life just like the average person does as well. This heartwarming story connects discrimination and disabilities. It allows readers to understand that they are similar and just the same as everyone else.
Review excerpt
Booklist
It takes the young Uhlberg, narrator of the story, a while to overcome his embarrassment at his father's attempts to cheer for Robinson ("AH-GEE, AH-GEE," the deaf man yells from the Ebbetts Fields grandstand, attempting to say Jackie), but eventually Dad's devotion wins the day in a moving finale.
School Library Journal
Surprisingly, the narrator's deaf father is interested too; he has recognized his own struggle for respect and acceptance mirrored in Robinson's triumph. The two begin attending games and keep a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the first baseman. Though baseball and Robinson are at the heart of this story, its strength lies in its depiction of the bond between father and son. It is evident that their relationship is characterized by respect and tenderness, though, at the ballpark, the boy is at first embarrassed when his father's awkward cheer causes other fans to stare.
Connections
Read more about Jackie Robinson.Discuss Satchell Paige as well.
Winner of the Scneider Family Book Award
Uhlberg, Myron. Dad, Jackie, and Me. Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, 2005.
Brief plot summary
Jackie Robinson is the first Negro player in major league baseball. A boy is surprised by his deaf father with tickets to watch the Dodgers. The boy is worried that Jackie Robinson wouldn’t know how to talk to his dad because Jackie probably does not know sign language. The boy’s dad didn’t understand baseball so well. He asked his son to help him learn more about the game. The story tells of a few details on how Jackie Robinson was discriminated against in baseball by other players.
Critical analysis
This book was inspired by the author’s own experiences as a boy. Myron Uhlberg has two deaf parents and takes his knowledge of living with parents with disabilities and uses it to write children’s stories. In doing so, it gives children in the same situations something to read and look up to because they feel that they are not alone in their situation.
This book tells of Jackie Robinson’s story as well as the boy and his deaf father’s story. Jackie Robinson, the great baseball player, was discriminated against because he was African American. This book tells of how other players abused him even during the game. The author details an example of this by explaining that other players would hurt him during the game.
The author tells readers more about his father towards the back of the book. He states that his deaf father went to a special school where sports were not encouraged so he was terrible at baseball, but still enjoyed it. He also sates that most people considered deaf children severely handicapped.
His father told him to watch out other players singled Robinson out for unfair treatment. Seeing Robinson get discriminated against but still excel at playing baseball made his dad realize that he too gets discriminated against because he’s deaf, but excels at life just like the average person does as well. This heartwarming story connects discrimination and disabilities. It allows readers to understand that they are similar and just the same as everyone else.
Review excerpt
Booklist
It takes the young Uhlberg, narrator of the story, a while to overcome his embarrassment at his father's attempts to cheer for Robinson ("AH-GEE, AH-GEE," the deaf man yells from the Ebbetts Fields grandstand, attempting to say Jackie), but eventually Dad's devotion wins the day in a moving finale.
School Library Journal
Surprisingly, the narrator's deaf father is interested too; he has recognized his own struggle for respect and acceptance mirrored in Robinson's triumph. The two begin attending games and keep a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the first baseman. Though baseball and Robinson are at the heart of this story, its strength lies in its depiction of the bond between father and son. It is evident that their relationship is characterized by respect and tenderness, though, at the ballpark, the boy is at first embarrassed when his father's awkward cheer causes other fans to stare.
Connections
Read more about Jackie Robinson.Discuss Satchell Paige as well.
Winner of the Scneider Family Book Award
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