Who Was Jackie Robinson?

Who Was . . . ? Board Books Series

by Lisbeth Kaiser, Who HQ, Stanley Chow (Illustrator)

The latest addition to the Who HQ program: board book biographies of relevant and important figures, created specifically for the preschool audience!

The #1 New York Times Bestselling Who Was? series expands into the board book space, bringing age-appropriate biographies of influential figures to readers ages 2-4.

The chronology and themes of Jackie Robinson's meaningful life are presented in a masterfully succinct text, with just a few sentences per page. The fresh, stylized illustrations are sure to captivate young readers and adults alike. With a read-aloud biographical summary in the back, this age-appropriate introduction honors and shares the life and work of one of the most influential professional baseball players of our time.

WHO WAS? BOARD BOOKS bring inspiring biographies to the youngest readers in an accessible and memorable way.

Genres: Sports, Biography, History, Childrens

26 pages, Board Book

Published March 30, 2021

About the author

Lisbeth Kaiser is a writer and bestselling children’s book author whose words have appeared on websites, commercials, billboards, and even toothbrushes. Two of her books in the Little People, Big Dreams series, Maya Angelou and Emmeline Pankhurst, were selected for the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Book List, recognizing the best feminist books for young readers. She most recently launched Who Was? Board Books, a new set of biographies for preschoolers from the #1 New York Times Bestselling Who Was? series.

Lisbeth studied English and economics at Tufts University. Before writing books, Lisbeth was the Copy Director at SpotCo, where she wrote ad campaigns for Broadway shows, and then became an editor at Google. She still writes as a freelance copywriter for many of her friends in theater and in tech, and in all kinds of other cool businesses. Lisbeth lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau]

Great first book on Jackie Robinson. As far as I am concerned we need to teach our children about the people who put everything on the line to make things better for everyone. Jackie Robinson is exactly the type of person that I think can have a powerful and positive impact on generations to come.

[Barbara]

I've long been an admirer of Jackie Robinson, and this board book featuring the baseball star does justice to his story. Intended as an introduction to the man and his accomplishments, including breaking the color barrier in baseball, the biography describes his early years and encounters with racism and segregation as a young boy and as an adult traveling with his all-Black baseball team in the South. Becoming a player for the Brooklyn Dodgers wasn't easy since he faced bigotry from fans and players while remaining stoic and simply letting his bat and glove speak for him. After his successful baseball career, he became an activist working for social change and a businessman. Back matter includes a photograph of Jackie in his baseball uniform and additional information about this man, whose play resulted in his induction into the Hall of Fame for Major League Baseball. Youngsters may draw inspiration from Jackie's story and realize that change comes in many different ways and from different sources.

[JCarry]

I saw this at my local library, these people try to say they're teaching history to children. But what they're showing them is to literally see White people as evil unless you're an ally of whatever they establish.
I wish I could show proof by showing the images, but look at the first page, where they make a White man look as angry and aggressive as possible. You could say 'that's how it was back then'.. Ok well how about the fact that in this book they make the 'w' in white lower case, and the 'B' in black upper case when describing race. That shows their intention. So you can't say that they're just teaching history. Besides, plenty of history is inappropriate to teach children.
Unless you hate your children, you should never get this book.

[Jenn Adams]

I like the idea of expanding the Who Was series to board books, but I'll have to reserve my full judgement until I see the final products. Felt like there was too much detail for the ostensible target age group.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Gavin McCormick]

Who Was Jackie Robinson? does a great job telling the life story of Jackie. It presents a lot of information in a way that is easy for children to understand. It is a great book for "dormant" readers as it involves sports. Published March 30th, 2021. No awards. Biography.