When Jackie and Hank Met

Fishman profiles two groundbreaking ballplayers—Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg—highlighting the difficulties both men faced on the way to becoming the household names they are today. A theme of distance runs through the story (“Hank and his brothers lived with their parents in a New York City apartment more than 2,000 miles away from Pasadena” where Robinson grew up), but Fishman finds many similarities in the lives of both men, from their early days of playing baseball on the street to the discrimination they endured for being black or Jewish and even their military service during WWII. When the gap between the two players finally closes, and they meet at a 1947 game between the Dodgers and the Pirates, a friendship is born. Elliott makes effective use of parallel imagery in “split-screen” acrylic paintings and sepia-toned side-by-side illustrations to underscore the commonalities between these storied players. Ages 7–10. Agent: Anna Olswanger, Liza Dawson Associates. (Feb.)