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Just Like Jackie

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Just Like Jackie
Written by Lindsey Stoddard
Harper Collins Children's Books, 244 p. Fiction.

Robinson loves baseball and working on cars. She is named after Jackie Robinson, the famous baseball player. She doesn't like bullies and unfortunately she has an issue controlling her anger. She loses it when Alex Carter starts making fun of her name. The worst part is after she punches Alex in the nose they have to call her grandpa and that gets him off his schedule and makes him forget more.

Robinson meets together with Ms. Gloria, the school counselor, and a group of students to work through hard things they are going through. A family tree assignment ends up being tricky for everyone in the group for various reasons, but it does provide an opportunity for Robinson to ask her grandpa more details about her mom, who died just after she was born.

Robinson doesn't know the name for it, but her grandpa suffers from Alzheimer's disease. She does her best to keep him on schedule and fix all the little mistakes he makes, but it is getting worse. She is worried about getting taken away from him, so she tries to keep it a secret. She confides in Harold, who works at the car garage with her grandpa, but then Robinson gets called into the principle's office when she hasn't even done anything wrong. She shouldn't have confided in Harold! Now what will she do?

Stoddard has woven a lot of real issues children deal with in today's world. It is easy to feel empathy for Robinson and her classmates who are going through some tough times. This is not a light read, but Stoddard's portrayal of Robinson feels very genuine. For kids who like to dig through realistic fiction about hard things, they will relate and understand Robinson and her journey to save the only family she has ever known.
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