Welcome back to The Real World According To Sam for another book review! If you've been here a while, you know I have been in the mood for some baseball stories lately. Today is no exception! This review is for a children's book from the 1990s. Batter up!
Honus and Me
Author: Dan Gutman
Genre: Sports Fantasy/Science Fiction
Year: 1997
Synopsis
Joe Stoshack lives for baseball. He knows everything there is to know about the game -- except how to play well. His specialty is striking out. Stosh feels like a real loser, and when he takes a low-paying job cleaning a bunch of junk out of his neighbor's attic, he feels even worse -- until he comes across a little piece of cardboard that takes his breath away. His heart is racing. His brain is racing. He can hardly believe his eyes. Stosh has stumbled upon a T-206 Honus Wagner -- the most valuable baseball card in the world! And he's about to find out that it's worth a lot more than money....
Review
I have had one previous experience reading a book by Dan Gutman and let me just say I wasn't really amused with the work. It was a more recent series and as a gifted person, reading about a "gifted" kid (which I was myself, knowingly since I was tested in 2nd grade), it was just a mess to me, personally. I checked out the book without noting the author, and once I did (a couple chapters in), I was pleasantly surprised. This book, to me, is a delight! Sometimes, authors can surprise you, so I definitely won't be writing off any without seeing if they also did something in a different vein that I might enjoy more.
Joe "Stosh" Stoshack is your average kid. He loves baseball, he likes the idea of being rich, and he wants to take care of his mom and be somewhere he thinks is better than where he is at. Stosh isn't a great athlete, but he loves the game. He collects baseball cards and his shoe soles are worn. He always keeps a baseball card underneath his foot within his shoe. To make a few extra bucks, he goes over to help the elderly lady next door. He is tasked with cleaning out her attic and she tells him to toss everything out. While working in the attic, he comes an old and very rare baseball card. He takes it, runs to get it appraised, and then ends up in a bit of trouble as a result.
This book is the first in a series called Baseball Card Adventures. In this book, Stosh realizes that he has a magic power that involves baseball cards. One night, after finding the card, Stosh wishes he could meet Honus Wagner. He wakes up to find that Honus Wagner is in his room! Later, he finds out that the magic works both ways, and he gets to go back in time with Honus Wagner, to an older age of baseball. This is a great setup for this concept and I do want to keep reading the other books in this series.
I really enjoyed this book, so let's talk about a few reasons why. For one, it involves baseball. Like Stosh, I played little league, and also like Stosh, I was NOT a great hitter. I could barely hit, but I was pretty good at fielding. I do collect a few baseball cards myself, but only the ones of my local Triple-A team. Baseball isn't my number one favorite sport, but it is very high up for me and I thought it was handled very well as the main subject of the book. There are games played, a view of a World Series game, a window into an older version of the game, tips on being a better player, and interactions with one of the best players in the game.
Another thing I loved about this book, was that there are quite a few solid conflicts. Stosh deals with the kinds of issues your average kid deals with. He considers whether taking the card was right or wrong, his parents are divorced and they have different outlooks on his new find, and he is dealing with trying to just be better at his favorite sport. There is a lot that I think kids can relate to in this book.
The other thing I really like about this book is how well researched it was. It becomes very clear early on that the author knows what they're talking about. Time was taken to be sure that this book was written with a lot of authenticity, even with there being a lot of fictional, fantastical elements. At the conclusion of the book, there is a section that talks about which parts were fictionalized most, but throughout the book the author includes a lot of factual player stats. Overall, I think that this book was written with a lot of love for the game and it really comes out. This is my favorite fictional baseball book I've read so far this year. I give Baseball Card Adventures #1: Honus and Me a Lone Star rating of ✯✯✯✯.
I think that young baseball fans will enjoy this book and that anyone who loves the game and is in touch with their youthful side can have a lot of fun with it too. I definitely recommend it and will be reading the other books in the series. I'm looking forward to "meeting" Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, and Satchel Paige, among others. Hopefully the other books are just as good as this one, because this was a Grand Slam!
This concludes my review! Thanks for tuning in to this installment from The Real World According to Sam, where I bring the books straight to your computer screen and even put in my own two cents on them.
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