Babe & me

Review by Booklist Review

Gr. 4^-7. Fans of Joe Stoshack's previous time-traveling baseball adventures, Honus and Me (1997) and Jackie and Me (1999), are familiar with this Little Leaguer's talent for using baseball cards to send himself back in history. This time Joe brings his dad with him to the 1932 World Series to answer one question: In game three, did Babe Ruth call his famous home run before he hit the ball? As in the previous titles, Gutman weaves a delightfully improbable fantasy from actual events, with the difference between fact and fiction explained in a concluding note. Father and son land first in New York, meet and dine with the Babe, and then move on to Chicago in time for the legendary homer. Gutman uses the Depression as an evocative backdrop, but his attempt to introduce the Holocaust (via a newspaper headline about Hitler being named chancellor) seems forced. Still, readers will enjoy the action, the rich baseball lore, and the sense of adventure. --Gillian Engberg

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

A boy and his father zip back in time to discover whether Babe Ruth actually predicted his home run in Game Three of the 1932 World Series. "Gutman's account of Joey's strained relationship with his divorced father and his portrait of the intriguing, revered slugger against the backdrop of Depression-era New York are equally skillful," noted PW. Ages 8-12. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-7-Once again, 13-year-old Joe Stoshack time travels and meets baseball greats of the past. In this book, he takes his father along, as they attempt to discover whether Babe Ruth really "called his shot" in the 1932 World Series. The pecuniary possibilities of the adventure are not overlooked. His dad's main interest in going back in time is to make a killing in the sports-memorabilia market. A bag full of baseballs autographed by Babe Ruth would be worth a fortune in today's market, and Joe and his dad try to cash in. Their plans go awry, but they do manage to meet the slugger and experience his outsized personality. True to history, he remains an elusive figure here. At times, he is portrayed as rather lonely and maudlin and at other times he's a caricature-especially in a gross, exaggerated eating scene: "Babe Ruth hit big, and he missed big, and he lived big. And I can tell this from personal experience, he also puked big." The book does evoke the importance of a sports hero to an America mired in the depths of the Depression. And, as so frequently happens in baseball novels, the adventure proves to be the catalyst for a new understanding between father and son. This is an entertaining romp through a part of baseball history.-Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Horn Book Review

Thirteen-year-old Joe, who time traveled into baseball's past in two previous books, visits 1932 to learn if Babe Ruth really predicted his legendary World Series homer. Joe's father comes along, too, hoping to make a financial profit from the experience. The book convincingly captures Babe's oversized personality, but nearly every plot turn is contrived to get Joe smack in the center of things. From HORN BOOK Fall 2000, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Babe & Me A Baseball Card Adventure Chapter One It was about eight years ago--when I was five that I discovered baseball cards were sort of . . . oh, magical to me. It was past my bedtime, I remember. I was sitting at the kitchen table with my dad. This was before my mom and dad split up, before things got weird around the house. Dad was showing me his collection of baseball cards. He had hundreds, a few of them dating back to the 1920s. My dad never made a lot of money working as a machine operator here in Louisville, Kentucky. I think he spent all his extra money on his two passions in life-fixing up old cars and buying up old baseball cards. Dad loved his cars and cards. They were two of the things Dad and Mom argued about. Anyway, we were sitting there at the table and Dad handed me an old card. "That's a Gil McDougald card. from 1954," Dad said. "He was my hero growing up. What a sweet swing he had." I examined the card. As I held it in my right hand, I felt a strange tingling sensation in my fingertips. It didn't hurt. It was pleasant. It felt a little bit like when you brush your fingers lightly against a TV screen when it's on. I felt vibrations. It was a little frightening. I mean, it was only a piece of cardboard, but it felt so powerful. "Joe," my dad said, waving his hand in front of my face, "are you okay?" I dropped the card on the table. The tingling sensation stopped immediately. "Uh, yeah," I said uncertainly as I snapped out of it. "Why?" I "You looked like you were in a trance or something," Dad explained, "like you weren't all there." "I felt like I wasn't all there." "He's overtired," my mom said, a little irritated. "Will you stop fooling with those cards and let Joey go to bed?" But I wasn't overtired. I didn't know it at the time, but a baseball card-for me-could function like a time machine. That tingling, sensation was the signal that my body was about to leave the present and travel back through time to the year on the card. If I had held the card a few seconds longer, I would have gone back to 1954 and landed somewhere near Gil McDougald. After that night I touched other baseball cards from time to time. Sometimes I felt the tingling sensation. Other times I felt nothing. Whenever I felt the tingling sensation I dropped the card. I was afraid. I could tell something strange was going to happen if I heldon to the card. I didn't know what would happen, and I wasn't sure I wanted to find out. Gradually, I discovered that the year of the card determined whether or not it would cause the tingling sensation. Brand-new cards didn't do anything. Cards from the 1960s to the 1990s didn't do much. But I could get a definite buzz from any card from the 1950s. The older the card, I discovered, the more powerful the tingling sensation. One day, I got hold of a 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner card--the most valuable baseball card in the world. The tingling sensation started the instant I picked up the card. It was more powerful than it had been with any other card. For the first time, I didn't drop the card. As I held the Wagner card, the tingling sensation moved up my fingers and through my arms, and washed over my entire body. As I thought about the year 1909, the environment around me faded away and was replaced by a different environment. It took about five seconds. In those five seconds, I traveled back through time to the year 1909. What happened to me in 1909 is a long story, and I almost didn't make it back. After that, I didn't think I would ever travel through time with a baseball card again. But once you discover you've got a special power, it's hard not to use it. For a school project, I borrowed a Jackie Robinson card from a baseball card dealer and sent myself back to the year 1947. I nearly got killed in 1947, and my mom grounded me. She didn't make me stay in my room or anything like that, but she did make me stay in the present day. "No more time traveling!" she ordered. But, like I said, when you've got a special power, you want to use it. Babe & Me A Baseball Card Adventure . Copyright © by Dan Gutman. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Babe and Me: A Baseball Card Adventure by Dan Gutman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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