The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson

From Goodreads,
"Based on the true story of a boy in Brooklyn who became neighbors and friends with his hero, Jackie Robinson.

Steven Satlow is an eight-year-old boy living in Brooklyn, New York, which means he only cares about one thing-the Dodgers. Steve and his father spend hours reading the sports pages and listening to games on the radio. Aside from an occasional run-in with his teacher, life is pretty simple for Steve.

But then Steve hears a rumor that an African American family is moving to his all-Jewish neighborhood. It's 1948 and some of his neighbors are against it. His hero, Jackie Robinson, broke the color barrier in baseball the year before.

Then it happens--Steve's new neighbor is none other than Jackie Robinson! Steve is beyond excited about living two doors down from the Robinson family. He can't wait to meet Jackie. This is going to be the best baseball season yet! How many kids ever get to become friends with their hero?"

Goodreads - The Hero Two Doors Down

I bought this book to put into my classroom library in hopes that some boy, or maybe some girl, in love with baseball would find the courage to pick it up and read it.  I took it home over the summer to read and it kept getting shuffled around and pushed aside.  The next thing I knew school was closing in and I was frantically trying to get my room finished and get ready for a new set of kiddos to enter my room for a year of fun filled learning.  The second week of school I was knocked down by severe sinus pressure and I eventually gave in and went to the doctor.  He told me to take at least a day off, but he recommended taking the rest of the week.  I don't think he realized he was talking to a stubborn teacher who knew she had a job to do and knew that her students expected her to be at school.  I ended up taking a day and left notes for all my kids so they knew that I loved them.  My goal was to get as much rest as possible on my sick day.  I woke up at 6:30 and wanted to get ready to go teach my little chickens.  I couldn't go back to bed, so I started reading The Hero Two Doors Down and couldn't stop.  An hour and a half later I was finally tired enough to go back to sleep.  I ended up finishing the book that same day while I was wondering how my kids were behaving and what they should be doing in class at that particular time.

This book is about a Stephen, a young Dodgers baseball fan who is in the third grade.  He is in love with Jackie Robinson and his parents try to help him understand discrimination that is happening in the world at that time.  Soon Stephen finds out that a negro family is moving in two doors down.  He isn't interested until he finds out that a Dodgers baseball player will be living in the upstairs of the house.  Stephen continues to hope that it will be Jackie Robinson, and to his luck it is.  This book is a tale of friendship between a boy and his hero, Jackie Robinson.

I really enjoyed this book because it is based on a true story and because Sharon Robinson made it so real.  I felt like the characters were very dimensional (which technically they are since they are based on real people).  I could tell that Jackie was a loving husband and father as well as being calm and collected while being a MLB player.  And Stephen or Steve as he goes by in the book, is a typical nine year old who is causing trouble at school, spending as much time bonding with his father, and falling in love with the game of baseball.  Sharon, the author and Jackie's daughter, wasn't born when everything happened on Tilden Avenue.  She wasn't around when Steve met Jackie for the first time or when Jackie gave Steve a Christmas tree at Christmas without realizing that they celebrated Hanukkah.  However, she did an amazing job at capturing each person's character.  I also enjoyed the fact that their families still keep in touch and that she often visits Steve at his ranch in Florida.

I really wish that there had been more pictures included in this book.  I think that more students would find the book more appealing if there were more pictures of the actual people involved in the story instead of just a few black and white photographs.  Photos of key moments such as the Christmas tree incident would have made the book more realistic to students because they would be able to visually look at evidence from that day.

This book was wonderful and luckily one of my 4th grade boys took an interest and read it.  I spoke to the student and asked him what he thought.  He said the book was really good and that if he could give it more than 5 stars he would.  I give this book 5 stars as well.  I'm glad that Sharon Robinson decided to write and publish this book based on the friendship that formed between a boy and his hero.  This book really showed how inspiring Jackie was on and off the field.