Grasp In The Year Of The Boar And Jackie Robinson Curated By Bette Bao Lord Depicted In Electronic Format

wonderful story and beautifully written, Though obviously a children's book, In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson does not use heavyhanded tactics to get points across.
Bette Bao Lord describes Chinese customs and Shirley's reactions to American ways with subtlety and gravitas, The ending was perfect and poignant, and it moved me to tears,

Every ChineseAmerican should read this book to get a sense of where they and their ancestors came from, Every American should read this book to better understand the immigrant perspective, Shirley's path from frightened newcomer to proud American is as exciting as it is confusing as she learns to navigate and acclimate to a strange new world while also holding on to what makes her Chinese.


I am sure that myyearold would enjoy the illustrations by Marc Simont, and I am also fairly confident that she would appreciate Shirley's story.
There are a few incidents of childhood bullying that I might have to edit if I were to read this book aloud to her now, but in any case, I am really looking forward to sharing In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson with her, and with her younger brother when he's older.
All American children should read this lovely book about the journey of Shirley Temple Wong to her American home, At first she cannot speak English to the other children in the school, and she is unhappy and deeply lost, She finds solace in listening to baseball on the radio, when Jackie Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Baseball not only helps Shirley get a grip on America soil, but also serves as a great metaphor, In China, rules and hierarchies and traditions are set in stone, In America, anyone can become anything, Anyone can be great like Jackie Robinson,
And yet, Shirley will always love the traditions of China, In one beautiful scene, she enjoys mooncakes with her family, Though it isnt easy, Shirley finds the balance between the old and the new, as all immigrants have to do, As the issue of immigration in America increasingly takes center stage, The Year of the Boar is a timely book as well as a good one.
After a rocky start, her classroom opens up to embrace Shirley and her heritage, All our classrooms should strive to do as much,
A lovely little story of a Chinese girl who moves to America in thes and discovers her love for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
One of my favorites growing up, and it still has a place of honor on my bookshelf, ltMy second reading. This

time I read it with myyear old daughter, She very much enjoyed it but I thinkis a more appropriate age for this one, Not due the content but in order to better understand Lord's descriptions and analogies, Great book. One of my favorite middle grade readers, Just lovely. Read aloud with the kids, This book was so fun, so well told, a really great family read aloud, In this semiautobiographical story of a Chinese girl who immigrates with her family to New York City ineach chapter covers one month of the year.
It shows how difficult immigration is, from not speaking the language, to learning new culture, to the joy of being American while still working to retain family and heritage.
We love the baseball elements, and it was so fun to see Shirley grow over the course of the year through the lens of baseball.
I first read this in elementary school and I think it was one of those many books that I'm rediscovering that subconsciously influenced my love from New York City.
And it very consciously contributed to my love for baseball although not the Dodgers, sorry,forever though. .

There were a few comments I noticed as I reread it this summer that made me a bit uncomfortableI can't remember them exactly but I think they had to do with American exceptionalism or race.
Overall, however, I think it deals really sensitively with what it's like to be an immigrant, with Shirley Temple Wong's love for her new country but also her love for her old and her fear of losing her old identity even as she becomes more and more American.


The characters are wonderful, with quirky, realistic details, all written in a Ramonaesque tone that immediately draws the reader into the mind of a kid.
There are some great relationships and compelling character growth for several characters, All in all a book that was a delight to reread and one I will definitely be sharing with my kids, This was an enjoyable read about a year in the life of Shirley, a Chinese girl who moves to the United States with her family.
The ups and downs of her adjustment to the culture are both sad and humorous at times, and I found her growing baseball enthusiasm to be relatable.
The writing covers twelve months in a short book, so some scenes and actions seem like they could have been fleshed out more, I also didn't care for the bullying scene that seemed to imply that accepting violence from a bully is a great way to become their friend.
But overall it was a nice look at the time period, the immigrant experience, and the inspiration that Jackie Robinson brought to people from so many walks of life.
This is one of my favorite books to share with my fourth grade students, There are so many mini lessons that can be taught that I have to pick and choose carefully in order to keep from spending too much time on it! It helps my students relate to my nonEnglish speakers and the ones who are just beginning to grasp the language.
I use it to teach idioms, similes, and metaphors, We discuss dealing with bullies while also discussing the rich vocabulary within the text, Plus, my students laugh out loud every year! Truly a fun learning experience that I would recommend for anyth orth grade classroom.
Shirley Temple Wong sails from China to America with a heart full of dreams, Her new home is Brooklyn, New York, America is indeed a land full of wonders, but Shirley doesn't know any English, so it's hard to make friends, Then a miraclebaseballhappens. It is, and Jackie Robinson, star of the Brooklyn Dodgers, is everyone's hero, Jackie Robinson is proving that a black man, the grandson of a slave, can make a difference in America and for Shirley as well, on the ball field and off, America becomes the land of opportunity.
I'd been meaning to reread In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson for a while last read inth grade, so it's been a minute but never quite got around to it.
But I needed a book to fill my last task for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge and this was available on audio at the library :

Rereading as an adult, the narrative does feel heavyhanded at times, but almostextra years of life experience brings out a lot of details I missed.
Such as Shirley being just thrown into a fifth grade class despite the fact that she knows almost no English, how diverse her classroom is hello, Brooklyn in thes, and how some of the language the American kids use hints at larger issues of discrimination such as telling Shirley to go back to the laundry or calling her Chop Suey.
But Shirley's story feels so universal, being the new kid and wanting to belong so very, very badly, I'm glad it held up after so many years, It's a nice little book about immigrant life, although it lightens up many of the tough subjects maybe a little too much, Nonetheless, the issues are includedlosing native language, mixing the old culture with the new, not communicating in the same ways and drifting away from parents' expectations of how the kid should be.
It's a great read for kids, My students even clapped when we finished, Aww. We've been listening to this in the car on the way to school in the mornings, I loved this story. For Shirley Temple Wong love the name it was a big shock to go from a fairly welltodo Chinese household to Brooklyn and find herself less welltodo and alone.
I loved the mixture of confidence and uncertainty with which she approaches her new life, I also liked the progression from how new and inexperienced she felt to finding a friend and becoming a true American baseball fan, Wonderful story. First Middle Grade March read, I loved this! I love that it starts with Shirley in China, Its such a vivid picture of the closeness of her clan there and the wholly different culture with its own values, names, and rhythms.
To Shirley, the year is the Year of the Boar,

Shirleys father has gone to the US already and Shirley and her mother travel to meet him, They take a boat across the Pacific and the description of the waves is amazing: “The sea was not calm, nor deep green like jade.
It writhed like a fierce, black dragon with chili peppers up its snout”, They arrive in California and travel by train to Brooklyn where Shirleys father has work as an engineer and has an apartment ready for them.
Shirley starts fifth grade in the local school and we follow her from late February through Christmas, all in the year,

Bette Bao Lord did an amazing job of bringing me into Shirleys perspective, When she starts at school and speaks hardly any English, I could feel her isolation and her confusion at the clash of cultures, The storytelling is so vivid as Shirley begins to make friends, understand the new cultural norms, embrace baseball, care for those who live in the other apartments in her building, and more.
The writing is just what I love about middle grade, It is simple and easy to read, but the words are chosen carefully to bring the story to life, The details are delightful. Shirley is such a lovable character,

I thought the title of the book was strange at first its a mouthful, But now, I think it is a perfect way to show the two cultures that Shirley embodies in the book, her beloved Chinese culture and the American culture that she learns to celebrate as she cheers on Jackie Robinson and learns what he represents to her as an immigrant: in America, you can be free to be what you want to be.
The book embraces the goodness of freedom while also honoring Shirleys Chinese heritage, I think the balance is really lovely, A sweet short story about a little girl emigrating from China to postwar Brooklyn, This is a great look at the difficulties every immigrant has in their new surroundings, as well as the difficult balance between becoming someone new and trying not to lose who you were.
Very well written, great for middle grades or earlier if read to younger kids, In Betty Bao Lord's autobiographical In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, we meet Shirley Temple Wong who has just emigrated from China to Brooklyn, New York.
It isandyear Shirley has come to the United States at a time when there is opportunity for all Americans, And no American represented the American Dream more than Jackie Robinson, star second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers,

Before Shirley discovered baseball however, she was an outcast amongst her peers because she struggled with both English and American customs, It wasn't until her classmate Mabel introduced her to America's national pastime followed by a class discussion on baseball, did Shirley begin to feel comfortable as an immigrant to our great land.
Then, she had to balance being Chinese and respecting her homeland with being American and playing baseball and rollerskating and all the other games that kids played in thes.


As she came of age, Shirley gained more responsibilities, She babysat one year old triplets in her building and then opened a savings account at a nearby bank, Then, she pet sat her piano teacher's bird and assisted her father maintain the building while her teacher went to Puerto Rico to visit family.
Yet baseball was the one entity that propelled Shirley to become an American, She could not miss a single Dodgers' game and felt that by listening to the radio she was spurring her heroes closer to the pennant.


As a baseball lover, I could relate well to Shirley as a girl who loved baseball more than anything else, I thought the book was charming and wholesome as we learn about the immigrant experience through a child's eyes, We see a melting pot of cultures in a public school setting and also in the Wongs apartment building, All of these immigrants are encouraged to live their dreams by barrier shattering ball player Jackie Robinson,

This book is appropriate for middle grade elementary school students, This is also a fitting book for those ages in school as it would help generate class discussions on immigration, the American dream, civics, and breaking down prejudices.
A refreshing book for kids and adults, I recommend it to all baseball fans and non baseball fans alike, This is the third time I've done this book with my students, Great plot, and lots of good themes to discuss: courage, fittingin, cultural differences, immigration, friendship, loyalty, etc, It also allows for some great projects including Chinese New Year, Chinese horoscope, researching Jackie Robinson and his groundbreaking presence on the Brooklyn Dodgers, and even introducing Shirley Temple! The book takes place in, so we also did a compare/contrast with the America that immigrants came to then versus the America they come to today.
We just finished it in class today and the kids loved it, .