Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America

by Sharon Robinson

Book Overview

A warm, intimate portrait of Jackie Robinson, America's sports icon, told from the unique perspective of a unique insider: his only daughter.

Sharon Robinson shares memories of her famous father in this warm loving biography of the man who broke the color barrier in baseball. Jackie Robinson was an outstanding athlete, a devoted family man and a dedicated civil rights activist. The author explores the fascinating circumstances surrounding Jackie...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439425921
• ISBN13: 9780439425926
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.4" x 10.7"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

jackie robinson had three kids

I like the part when he got married

A Daughter Remembers Her Father

This is a wonderful book written by a daughter about her father. The father happens to be Jackie Robinson, an important man in baseball and in African-American history. She remains down to Earth and describes the life the family led and how her father affected the family and history. Jackie Robinson was a giant among men and knew what he was doing. It is a credit to Robinson that he was able to make himself above reproach and acceptable to the white public. It had to be very stressful to him and his family to try to be perfect but somehow he was able to make it. A very moving story, simply told by a loving daughter.

Great story about a great man!

I can't say enough good things about this book. I have the soft-cover edition, over-sized - abt 9" x 10", double-spaced, with scads of pictures. Sharon did a wonderful job of writing and selecting the pictures to include. I learned things about her dad that I hadn't known before, and found my love and respect for him as an outstanding ball player and dignified man, a true gentleman, greatly increased. I stand in awe of him. What an example he has set for human beings of any and all races & colors! If I had sons, I'd want them to use Jackie Robinson as their model to follow in this life. His daughter Sharon deserves much credit for writing about his life, his sorrows, trials, & accomplishments in the face of ridicule and worse from ignorant people, for sharing all this with his now-adoring public. He proved that if you do what is right in spite of great opposition and threats, you'll come out ok in the end. I'm sure that his faith had a lot to do with his demeanor and positive attitude towards his trials. I strongly recommend this book to all who enjoy reading true stories about those who have successfully overcome almost unsurmountable obstacles. Thrilling! from Susan, an 87-year-old white life-long baseball "nut".

Kept Promises and Social Change

Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America In this wonderful biography,Sharon Robinson shares her father with us as a daughter who held her father in high regard not only for his achievements in breaking the color barrier in baseball, but also for his hard won victories in politics, busines, civil rights and as a family man. Through love letters to his wife Rachel, photos from the family's archive and Sharon's deft writing hand, readers get to spend time with Jackie Robinson and come to understand how he navigated his way through the treachery of racism to become an integral part of creating another important chapter in the social contract with America. As the Vice President of Educational Programming for Major League Baseball and an author, Sharon Robinson continues to preserve her father's legacy--well.