Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson

When Jackie Robinson retires from baseball and moves his family to Connecticut, the beautiful lake on their property is the centre of everyone's fun. The neighbourhood children join the Robinson kids for swimming and boating. But oddly, Jackie never goes near the water. In a dramatic episode that first winter, Jackie is called upon to test the ice on the lake, to make sure it's safe for ice-skating. But why, Sharon wonders, is he always so afraid to go near the water? In a stunning metaphor for Jackie Robinson's legendary breaking of the colour barrier in Major League Baseball, Ms. Robinson honours her extraordinary father's memory with her warm, graceful storytelling. Two-time Caldecott Honor Book artist Kadir Nelson has created richly rendered paintings that radiate with the beauty and spirit of one of America's finest heroes.