About this item
"It was Opening Day, 1947. And every kid in Brooklyn knew this was our year. The Dodgers were going to go all the way!"It is the summer of 1947 and a highly charged baseball season is underway in New York. Jackie Robinson is the new first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers-and the first black player in Major League Baseball. A young boy shares the excitement of Robinson's rookie season with his deaf father.Each day he listens eagerly to the Brooklyn Dodgers games on the radio. When his father arrives home from work, the boy uses sign language to tell him about the Dodgers. His father begins to keep a scrapbook, clipping photos and articles about Jackie. Finally one day the father delivers some big news: they are going to Ebbets Field to watch Jackie play in person!Author Myron Uhlberg offers a nostalgic look back at 1947, and pays tribute to Jackie Robinson, the legendary athlete and hero who brought a father and son-and an entire New York community-together for one magical summer. Illustrator Colin Bootman's realistic, full-color illustrations capture the details of the period and the excitement of an entire city as Robinson helps the Dodgers win the long-awaited pennant.
About the Author
Myron Uhlberg is the award-wining and critically acclaimed author of several children's books, including "Dad, Jackie, and Me," which won the American Library Association Schneider Award, the 2006 Storytelling World Award, the IBBY Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities, and International Reading Association Teacher's Choice Award. His children's book, A Storm Called "Katrina," received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, and Booklist. His latest children's book, "The Sound Of All Things," was named Best Children's Books of the Year (starred) -- Bank Street College of Education, 2017.His adult memoir, Hands of my Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Book, an Amazon Best Book of the Month, and a finalist for the MS Books For a Better Life, for Inspirational Memoir. And has been optioned for a theatrical motion picture. Myron was featured in the Ken Burns documentary film, Jackie Robinson. He has appeared on NPR's Talk of the Nation with Neil Conan. And he was a Writer-in-Residence at Gallaudet University. He is the first-born son of two deaf parents. His first language was ASL (American Sign Language) . Myron attended Brandeis University in 1951 (when the school had not as yet had a graduating class) on a football scholarship, and was coached by Benny Friedman, two-time college All American, enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Myron started on the Brandeis football team for four years, and was subsequently inducted into the Brandeis Hall of Fame.After graduation in 1955, he served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He then spent the next 40 years in the men's fashion clothing business. In his spare time, he ran twenty marathons, including the Boston and New York marathons, four times each.His first book was published when he was sixty-six years old; a geriatric wonder. All who knew him asked, "What took so long? "
