Honus & me

Gr 4-6-Life is not perfect for 12-year-old Joe Stoshack in this novel by Dan Gutman (Avon, 1997). He is stocky, his ears stick out, and his legs are slightly bowed. Stosh is a pretty good player, but the taunts of the opposing baseball team tend to throw him off his game. His real area of expertise is collecting baseball cards. He and his mom have had money problems since his parents' divorce, which leads his mom to offer his services to their elderly neighbor $5 to clean out her attic. Stosh finds 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card in mint condition. Should he keep the valuable card? After all, he found it. Or should he give it back to its rightful owner, who may not even know it exists? In addition to this moral dilemma, Stosh becomes involved in a delightful time travel fantasy. He has always tingled when he touches certain old baseball cards, but this one grants his wishes: Honus is transported to the present. Even more incredibly, Stosh travels back in time to the seventh game of the 1909 World Series in Detroit. This clever adventure will capture the hearts of anyone who has ever held a baseball bat in his or her hands. Gutman's voice rings true from start to finish. He genuinely captures the spirit of the adolescent Stosh. Johnny Heller's outstanding narration provides a highly visual performance. He is totally convincing as Stosh: listeners can picture his youthful enthusiasm, his facial expressions, and the occasional eye roll. He is also totally convincing as the adult characters, especially as Honus and Amanda Young, Stosh's neighbor. Listening to Heller is so much fun it is difficult to imagine simply reading the book. A must-have for all elementary audiobook collections.-Maura Martin Smith, Somerset Elementary School, Shawnee Mission, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Honus & Me Chapter One "Hey! Elephant ears! When you walk down the street, Stoshack, you look like a taxicab with both doors open!" The words burned in my ears, which do stick out a little from my head, I must admit. I was at the plate. It was two outs in the sixth inning, and I was the last hope for the Yellow Jackets. We were down by a run, and the bases were empty. Their pitcher was only eleven, but he'd already whiffed me twice. That crack about my ears threw me off, just enough so that I tipped the ball instead of hitting it with the meat of my bat. That was strike two. Behind me, I could hear some of the kids on my team already packing up their equipment to go home. There wasn't much chance that I was going to smack one out of the park. I hadn't hit one out of the infield all season. It's not that I'm not strong. My arms are really big, and people tell me my chest is broader than any other seventh grader they've seen. I'm short for a twelve year-old and a little stocky. I'm actually a pretty good ballplayer. But those insults really get to me. The last time up, I struck out when they said my legs looked like a pair of parentheses. You know-(). Bowlegged? I guess I'm kinda funny-looking. If I wasn't me, I'd probably be making fun of me, too. Nobody likes to make the last out. I sure didn't want to strike out looking at the last pitch whiz past me. I was ready to swing at just about any thing. The pitcher went into his windup again, and I stood ready at the plate. The pitch looked good, and I brought back my arms to take a rip at it. "Hey Stoshack!" their shortstop shouted as the ball left the pitcher's hand, "Is that your nose or a door knocker?" I'd never heard that one before. It threw off my timing. It felt like a good swing, but I hit nothing As usual. "Steeerike threeeeeeeeeeeee!" the ump yelled as the ball smacked into the catcher's mitt. Again. My third strikeout of the game. Did I swing over it? Under it? Too early? Too late? I couldn't even tell. All I know is that I wanted to shrivel up and fade away. The other team hooted with glee. Even some of my teammates were snickering. Honus & Me . Copyright © by Dan Gutman. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Honus and Me 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.