Child of the Dream: A Memoir of 1963 by Sharon Robinson

Child of the Dream: A Memoir of 1963 Reviews

• 
  Brina

  On a normal Sunday I spend hours reading but today is the day before a holiday, hardly what I call normal. This will repeat itself two more times before the month is out. That being said, I did find some time to read. Jackie Robinson is one of my American heroes. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his birth, and Major League Baseball has marked the occasion by honoring Jackie and his achievements all year long. I have also honored Jackie accordingly by reading more about the Civil Rights movement than in years past. I find it appropriate that on the last day of the baseball season that I read a memoir by a member of the Robinson family.
  
  Sharon Robinson is the only daughter of Jackie and Rachel Robinson. She has gracefully run the Jackie Robinson Foundation for a number of years and has authored a number of books for children of all ages so that future generations can learn about her father and his place in history. Child of the Dream is Sharon’s memoir about 1963, the year she turned thirteen. The year was a watershed moment for the civil rights movement, and Sharon has written her memories about her family’s place within the movement with moving prose appropriate for young audiences. Outsiders often hear about the big names of the movement, but Sharon has focused on how teenagers played a large role as well, something that remains relevant in today’s times.
  
  Jackie Robinson was a bigger man off of the baseball diamond than he was on it, and he gave African Americans so much hope. Sharon found it hard at times to be his daughter yet found her own way in society. Another baseball season finished, placing Jackie Robinson further in the past. Thanks to this new memoir for young readers, Sharon Robinson has ensured that future generations will not forget how special her father and family are, both on the baseball diamond and in society as a whole.
  
  *5 stars*
• 
  Jena

  I really wanted to like this book. It's Robinson's memories so I have no standing to say it isnt accurate but it simply did not ring true as the voice or experience of a 13 year old. It sounds like an adult reflecting on and shining up her memories for what she wants to teach some kids about.
  That said - it does a great job of sharing the events of the Civil Rights movement in 1963 as well as some of the larger issues within the movement.
• 
  Barbara

  When I first started reading this book by the only daughter of baseball great Jackie Robinson, I was uncertain about how the story would play out. After all, it starts with Sharon on the verge of turning 13 and concerned with a school dance and her horse Diamond. How would any of that play into the civil rights movement topic promised by the book title. I need not have fretted since the author's personal stories and recollections of growing up in Connecticut and being awakened to the political movements around her quickly swept me up and encouraged me to race through the book's pages. Once again, I was reminded that the personal and political are impossible to separate as young Sharon struggles with being one of the few black students at her school and becoming increasingly certain that her male classmates won't ask her to dance. As is the case for most youngsters, Sharon was only vaguely aware of her father's involvement in the civil rights movement, but during the pivotal year of 1963 when the story takes place and she turns 13, her consciousness is raised, and she feels drawn to take action to make a difference. The entire Robinson family marches in the March on Washington and raises money for the movement through jazz concerts held on their property. It is clear that this was a family interested in its legacy and that her father used his fame to good purposes. Sharon, her older brother Jackie, and younger brother David had the unconditional love of both parents, and her mother especially nurtured a love for art and music. There are moments in this book that will make young readers slightly envious since Sharon met many famous individuals, including Stevie Wonder and Martin Luther King, Jr., but there are also passages that speak to the pressures of being the child of someone famous, especially for her brother Jackie. Amid all the involvement in changing the world and dreaming of a brighter, fairer future, the author describes her worries about her looks, boys, and fitting in. I finished the book quite impressed with Sharon Robinson and her family and honored that she shared this very personal glimpse into her life with me and other readers. She even includes songs and dances that were popular during that time, adding an important note of authenticity by doing so. Readers will also love the photographs that have been included in the book. I won't be the only one that hopes she continues to chronicle later years in her life. After all, it's important to understand how to nurture a social activist.
• 
  Maura

  A front-row view of pivotal moments in the Civil Rights movement written by the daughter of Jackie Robinson for a middle grade audience, Child of the Dream focuses on Sharon Robinson's adolescence in 1963, combining the relatable struggles of junior high (first dance, first kiss) with the remarkable, extraordinary experiences of living in a home that hosted a visit from Martin Luther King, Jr. and other world-changing leaders of the Civil Rights movement, most notably, of course, her dad.
  
  What made this book extraordinarily special to read was that Sharon grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, my hometown. And although I attended Dolan Middle School 20 years after Robinson was a student at Dolan Junior High School, I was fascinated by all of the local history that I was never taught, especially that the Robinson family hosted huge jazz concerts on their property to raise money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and NAACP before and after the famous March on Washington. It was also fascinating to learn more about Jackie Robinson the father and Sharon's extraordinary mother and the difficulties that Jackie Jr., especially, faced while growing up in the shadow of his father's athletic and leadership accomplishments.
  
  The combination of the everyday and the extraordinary made this a fascinating read. The only discordant note was some of the dialogue about civil rights news -- the extensive name dropping and exposition as dialogue often felt unnatural and unlikely conversation between parent and child. This contrasted sharply with the poignant and realistic dialogue with her peers, especially older brother Jackie Jr., whose attention she so desperately craved and whose self-destructive streak was such an understandable source of family stress.
  
  As a huge baseball fan, I wished for a bit more about baseball, but it was interesting to learn how far Jackie's life had drifted from baseball in retirement and how committed he was to the national Civil Rights movement. All in all, a fascinating and wonderful read for middle grade readers and adults alike.
• 
  Michelle Glatt

  I found this memoir to be unevenly written. The sharing of home and school life and the family's experiences hosting fundraisers and the March on Washington was engaging and illuminating. But there were many times where family and friend conversations seemed unrealistic and forced so the author could info-dump to explain the climate, attitudes, and events of the Civil Rights Movement. I feel like the editor could have done a better job of shaping this into a more cohesive-feeling work.
• 
  Maureen E

  Jackie Robinson's daughter turned 13 in 1963, a tumultuous year both personally and politically. This had a great mix of teenage angst and awakening activism, as Sharon tries to navigate the mostly-wealthy and mostly-White Connecticut town she lives in. Jackie Robinson himself was majorly involved in the Civil Rights Movement, which I didn't know before! Overall, this is more focused on Sharon's experiences of her own life, but does provide a good look at the way social mobility and wealth doesn't necessarily do away with racial prejudice.
• 
  Pumkin pie

  This book was very fun and informational. My father and I had a lot of fun reading it together every night.
• 
  Hailey Bruce

  The content in this book is important. This is a perspective we don’t often get to read - privilege within an oppressed community, a young girl trying to figure out what her place is and how to leverage the means she has to serve what she believes in. For that reason, this is a worthwhile book.
  
  The writing, however, is mediocre. The pacing was strange - at times VERY fast and at times too slow - and the dialogue felt contrived. Memoir is a tricky genre and I wish the author had tried to write this more reflectively and less like a novel. I would rather have read snippets that were in scene and the author’s reflections looking back on this year of her life than read it as if it was happening now. I know she doesn’t remember the details of every conversation and no one talks the way they do in this book so it was hard for me to get into it.
• 
  Saloni

  Thank you to Scholastic for providing me a copy of this book at BEA 2019 and thank you to Sharon Robinson for signing my copy!
  
  This book is a memoir of Sharon Robinson's childhood as her father, the famous Jackie Robinson, fought in the Civil Rights movement. While Sharon tells the story well, this book is written largely for elementary/middle-schoolers. It touches on some of the darker themes such as the bombing of churches and the hosing of protesting, but it doesn't have the necessary impact that I feel a book during the Civil Rights Movement, particularly Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, should have. I think this book serves as a good foundation to interest kids in history, but it definitely needs to be supplemented as an educational tool.
• 
  Mariangel

  Sharon Robinson tell us about the year she turned 13 (1963), the year of her first dance, first camp, first kiss; the year she started understanding the civil rights movement and became involved, with her family, in fundraising for Martin Luther King and attending the March on Washington. The book is very well written and allows us to put ourselves in her shoes growing during those years.
• 
  Jeannie

  Sharon Robinson tells of her coming awareness of the civil rights movement in the 1960’s when she is thirteen. After his retirement from baseball her famous father, Jackie Robinson, is active in the civil rights movement, but has sheltered his children from the harsher realities. They live very comfortably outside of New York City in mostly white suburban Stamford, Connecticut. Although her parents have their children join Jack and Jill of America, an organization which is dedicated to leadership development in young African Americans, the children feel isolated as there are few African Americans in town. When she hears the speech by George Wallace, declaring “segregation now, segregation, tomorrow, segregation forever”, she begins to wonder where her place is in this struggle. Her parents realize that they need to expose their children to more. During 1963 the Robinsons host fundraises at their home to help support the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and attend the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Shortly after this triumphal summer of activism, the four young girls were killed when a bomb blew up at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Sharon and her family were overcome with sadness but found strength to carry on.
  THOUGHTS: This is well rounded story in that Sharon blends her activism with other teenage concerns such as the first dances, boys, riding her horse and getting along with her brothers. The importance of this book shows that even though she has lived a privileged life, she wants and needs to be connected with the people who are still struggling for equal rights.
  
• 
  Tia Patrick

  Please read this little gem! It is perfect for you and your children. It’s completely timely and really opens up dialogue in an appropriate but impactful way. There’s so many things I could say.
  
  First, it’s written by Jackie Robinson’s daughter and her unique experience of having a father that broke the color barrier in baseball and essentially changed the face of sports forever. But it also was unique in the sense that she was privileged and in the north. She was wrestling with how to be a part of the civil rights movement and not even realizing her own involvement in integrating her neighborhood and school.
  
  Second, it really reminded me that athletes have always had an important role in social change. And how powerful the collective voice of black and brown people are.
  
  Third, it educated this public school white girl in areas that had never been taught to me: the Children’s March, the domestic terrorist that bombed places of worship and black-owned businesses, the wounded egos of the white evangelical church leaders, the measures used to silence the peaceful voices of protestors. It reminded me as a Christian that the white western church has always had a problem being on the right side of history.
  
  It was educational but reminded me of how even these distant traumas can impact whole ethnicities and especially shape the minds of young people. It also reminded me that America has seen dark days and that our present dark days will hopefully propel us forward
• 
  Almira

  Sharon Robinson, daughter of "42" Jackie Robinson - the first African American to break the race barrier in Major League Baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers), is looking forward to turning 13, yet on the eve of her 13th birthday George Wallace (running for a return to the governor's mansion of Alabama) delivers his infamous "Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever." speech.
  
  Sharon, her older brother Jackie Jr, her younger brother David and their parents live in Stamford CT, she attends public school where she has, more or less, been accepted by the white majority of students, along with her one best friend, also black.
  
  With George Wallace's words, Sharon becomes aware of her privilege in where she lives , but that most "blacks" of that time are not so fortunate. The upcoming marches in the South are discussed openly in her family.
  
  I was of an age - year older than Sharon - that I should have remembered the "Children's March of Birmingham", however, I didn't.
  What an appalling time in the history of our country, and the absolute terrible treatment of children by the police of Alabama.
  Then the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.
  Sharon and her family did attend the historic "People's March" in Washington DC where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his "I have a Dream" speech.
  
  Although the audience intended for this book is tweens, I would suggest that adults consider this one,
  
  
  
• 
  Candice Crutchfield

  The author took an interesting approach but didn’t disappoint. Robinson opens a window into life with the famed Jackie Robinson as her father, discusses her time as one of the few Black students in a nearly all-white school, and juxtaposes her experiences in Connecticut with what’s happening in southern cities like Birmingham and Montgomery, AL. Echoing other reviews, the author’s writing style often comes across as an older woman reflecting on her teenage years as opposed to a 13 year old speaking freely and directly to readers. With that being said, this is still a great coming of age story, written from the much needed perspective of a Black girl who happens to enter her teen years during a historic moment such as the March on Washington. Though i myself am likely not the intended audience, I believe it to be a great read for teens/middle school students who hope to engage with the rich history that is the 1960s modern civil rights movement. Among other things, Robinson’s words serve as a reminder that the march continues and we are not far removed from our parents and grandparent’s experiences. We must continue to engage with first hand experiences like Robinson’s and many others.
• 
  Amber Harper

  Sweet memoir from Jackie Robinson’s daughter during the summer she turned 13 - which just so happened to be a pretty memorable summer in the years of the civil rights movement. This memoir shows how Sharon found her place in the fight for freedom.
  I loved seeing the Robinsons’ faith on display in the story and seeing all the connections between famous civil rights leaders and moments in 1963 that were so impactful. The author’s style is sweet and simple, written in present tense, which made me as the reader feel transported back to the summer of 1963, too. In ways I think some of the story seems oversimplified for its young audience, but it makes the book suitable for younger middle grades readers. I’d like to see something a bit more complex for 13-year-olds, but I’m sure even my junior high students could learn much from Robinson’s story.
• 
  Danielle

  "It takes courage to be a pioneer and stand up against injustice. Doesn't matter where it happens, on the baseball field, marching in the street, or entering a school that doesn't want you there."
  
  This is a quick little read of Sharon Robinson, the daughter of Jackie Robinson, baseball pioneer. Sharon recounts her life in 1963 navigating going to school in a predominantly white neighborhood. Sharon remembers the challenges of her father's health and her older brother's rebellious streak. There are stories of going to church and making new friends and getting involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Sharon's parents hosted jazz concerts at their home and raised money for the Civil Rights Movement. Somehow I never knew this part of history and I found myself both shocked and pleasantly surprised with how involved Jackie Robinson was involved with the movement and how close he was with Martin Luther King, Jr. This was an interesting read from a perspective I haven't heard before. I'm excited to add this to my classroom library collection.
  
  TW: racism, racial slurs, panic attack, violence, police brutality, slavery
• 
  Jamie

  1963 was a huge year in civil rights history and in the life of then 13 year old Sharon Robinson, only daughter of color barrier breaking baseball player Jackie Robinson. In 1963, kids in Birmingham protested segregation and were fire hosed, attacked by dogs, and out in jail. Sharon, living a sheltered suburban mostly white life in Connecticut, wanted to march with them. 1963 was also the year of the March on Washington, which Sharon attended with her family. They hosted 2 jazz parties on their property, raising loads of money for the NAACP and SCLC. 1963 was also the year 3 little girls were killed in a church bombing and that JFK was assassinated. Sharon kissed a boy in 1963, went to 2 dances and summer camp and also got to meet MLK. A pivotal year for sure. For readers who liked Stamped, read this to step into one special girl’s experience with the civil rights movement. I never knew Jackie Robinson was such an outspoken activist. He raised a strong one in Sharon, that’s for sure.
• 
  Rebecca

  I really want to like this book. But this memoir reads like a slow paced novel, not a memoir.
• 
  Mary Peyton

  3.75
• 
  Carmel

  Sweet memoir, felt as though it was written by an adult reminiscing on her childhood. It was great to learn about her dad’s ties to MLK and the Civil Rights Movement, but that seemed to be only a child’s perspective.
  
  This would be a good novel for a historical unit (probably better as a historical story than memoir, even, since the memories often felt rather contrived).
  
  Great to pair with Ghost Boys or the movie “42.”
• 
  Cynthia Sillitoe

  3.5. Lots of interesting stuff, but tries a little too hard.
• 
  Kelly Austin

  Great historical fiction, told through the eyes of then thirteen-year-old Sharon Robinson. Sharon tells the story of the civil rights movement and how it impacted her as a child.
• 
  Joelle Klein

  As the daughter of Jackie Robinson, Sharon Robinson grew up with immense privilege. She has her own horse, a giant house, weekends in Montauk, shopping trips to Bloomingdales, etc. I thought this book was going to be about her experience with racism and social justice but, in the book, she doesn't face any harassment or discrimination, although I know her family did when they moved to a predominantly white suburb in Connecticut. Part of the book talks about her Dad's involvement with Dr. King and the movement and also her interest in it but even when her family marches in Washington, they have an escort. I am positive there are better books for young people about the civil rights movement out there.