In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Title: In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Author: Bette Bao Lord

Historical Fiction #2 

What can I say; I absolutely adored In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. The story follows the main character, Shirley Temple Wong, who has recently left China to join her father in America. Much of the book focuses on blending her family’s traditional Chinese customs with American customs and how the two differ. Shirley’s mom, in particular, must learn how to cook and grocery shop like other American moms. I found myself both laughing and sympathizing with Shirley as she struggles to adapt to the American way of life. 

Readers can’t help but relate to Shirley. She is an outcast, she is different, and like most children, is left out and made fun of on occasion. However, this all changes when she befriends the school bully. Suddenly, Shirley feels like she belongs and she had true friends who stick up for her. Most importantly, the reader learns that Shirley doesn’t have to compromise herself or her heritage to fit in. I loved that she was able to retain so much of her culture and that the reader was able to experience this blending of cultures on a positive note as many stories of this nature don’t end up going as well. 

Though I wasn’t particularly interested in the baseball aspect to this book, some students would be very interested and intrigued by this sub plot. Readers learn a great deal about baseball during the time period, who the important teams and players were, and most importantly, a little black history in baseball and the ever-so-famous Jackie Robinson. I like how the story was able to effortlessly blend Chinese history and baseball history into one amazing story. I would definitely recommend this book for third grade and up.