Stealing Home: Jackie Robinson - Against the Odds    by Robert Burleigh & Mike Wimmer Order:  USA  Can Simon & Schuster, 2007 (2007) Hardcover      Reviewed by Hilary Daninhirsch Jackie Robinson's legacy is lovingly retold in this spectacularly illustrated picture book. The story tells how Jackie Robinson broke new ground in baseball by breaking the color barrier.  This book is really two stories in one, and can be read accordingly based on the age of the child. There is a shorter story of Robinson's baseball playing days, which is really one long, visual sentence: 'Arms outstretched to keep his delicate balance, number 42 dances his odd, pigeon-toed dance off third base and down the dirt-scumbled and chalk-lined path leading to home plate ninety feet away, as the packed, white-shirted crowd wakes to a visible electricity' Then on each page, geared toward an older child, there are baseball card-sized boxes, giving greater detail about Jackie Robinson's effect on the Brooklyn Dodgers, and on American baseball in general. The author gives insight into the challenges Robinson faced as a black man playing professional sports in the 1940s, among other information about this important athlete. The illustrations are nothing short of phenomenal. Looking at the faces of the crowd watching Jackie Robinson play baseball, popcorn flying in the air, joy on their faces, you might think you were looking at a photograph. The images are uncannily realistic; the colors and shading are gorgeous; the canvas, lush and evocative. This author/illustrator team has scored a homerun with a winner of a book. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Kids books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews