In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson is a children's novel about a young girl named Shirley Temple Wong who leaves a secure life within her clan in China following World War II. She begins a new life in America because her father has taken a job as an engineer in the United States. Many Chinese customs and traditions are discussed, along with their importance to Wong and her family. Shirley's family does not give up their cultural traditions, but they do adopt many American customs in order to adapt to the American way of life.

The reader enjoys many humorous situations as Shirley fails to understand her new culture and the nuances of the English language. It takes her a while to learn her new language, presenting her with many difficult, and sometimes hilarious, outcomes. At first, Shirley desperately wants to fit in with her new classmates by playing stickball or by leaving the school for lunch. Because she is of small stature and doesn't have good ball-handling skills, Shirley has trouble fitting in with her classmates' activities. Her efforts are admirable, but her classmates are not encouraged to include her on their teams. Her habit of bowing to them and her lack of fluent English makes it hard to the children to accept her. Her parents want her to fit in, but they are not adept at helping her. Noticing her quietness and sadness, her father buys her a pair of roller skates. Not knowing how to skate, Shirley becomes bruised and bloodied from her efforts to learn. It isn't until a fellow fifth grader befriends her that she learns how to roller skate and how to play stickball. This friendship helps her enjoy life in a new land, and to feel more a part of this new culture.

She never loses her connection to the culture of her birth, as she still misses the closeness of her clan and the interaction with her many cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Bette Bao Lord manages to tie together Shirley's love of her past life in China and her present life in the United States. She is able to "fit in" without losing her ties to the past.

This novel is humorous in its treatment of Shirley's adjustment to her new culture. Its high point is Shirley's meeting with her American hero, the black baseball player Jackie Robinson. Many parallels are drawn between them and their "fitting in," from their being pigeon-toed runners, to their being different from the status quo. Her rabid interest in that most American of sports, baseball, defines her acceptance of her new culture as well as its acceptance of her. This book shows the power of sports and how it can create a friendship.