Jim & Me

Baseball Card Adventures #8

by Dan Gutman

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Jim Thorpe, a Native American, won two events in the 1912 Olympics. However, after a scandal about his eligibility, he was stripped of his medals. Now Stosh and his enemy, Bobby Fuller, head back to the past in a quest to save Thorpe's legacy.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Childrens, Fantasy, Adventure

224 pages, Library Binding

First published January 29, 2008

About the author

The author of over 80 books in a little over a decade of writing, Dan Gutman has written on topics from computers to baseball. Beginning his freelance career as a nonfiction author dealing mostly with sports for adults and young readers, Gutman has concentrated on juvenile fiction since 1995. His most popular titles include the time-travel sports book Honus and Me and its sequels, and a clutch of baseball books, including The Green Monster from Left Field. From hopeful and very youthful presidential candidates to stunt men, nothing is off limits in Gutman's fertile imagination. As he noted on his author Web site, since writing his first novel, They Came from Centerfield, in 1994, he has been hooked on fiction. "It was fun to write, kids loved it, and I discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to take a blank page and turn it into a WORLD."

Gutman was born in New York City in 1955, but moved to Newark, New Jersey the following year and spent his youth there.

Reviews

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

What a surprise! This was a spectacular book that I truly loved. The author took a lot of time to do research. From my knowledgeable of baseball, it was truly outstanding.

I think this would make a great movie or television series.

I highly recommend.

[Kayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to learn about sports but in a fun way with facts and fiction in the same book to make it fun let me tell you this is the book for you. Stosh is a boy that can travel through time by the touch of the card and it'll take him back to the time when the card was made. One day Stosh's enemy Bobby Fuller shows up at the door and he wants Stosh to take him back in time to Jim Thorpe who is one of the best olympians ever, winning gold in the Decathlon and penthalon. They were striped from him when they found out that he played professional ball before the olympics which wasn't allowed at that time. They want to go back and stop him from playing so he will be the one of the most famous athletes of all time. They hit many bumps in the road on the way. What will Jim think about kids trying to tell him what to do? Will Stosh and Bobby be able to stop Jim? Will they even be able to find Jim in New York City? Read this book and find out.

[Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I like books that involve stats and athletics. I liked this book about Joey Stoshack has a special talent where if he holds a card he can travel to the year that card was made. He loves baseball so likes to travel back in time and see famous baseball players. This is all fun, but when secret gets out about his talent and his enemy, Bobby Fuller, gets ahold of it things don't seem so great. Bobby wanted to go back in time and visit a distant relative of his. Jim Thorpe, Bobby's great grandfather, the Indian/American man that did everything. He played baseball, football, and was in the Olympics. He won the decathlon and the pentathlon. He was later stripped of his medals because he had played minor league baseball before the Olympics. Stosh wanted to go back in time and tell Jim not to enter the Olympics so he wouldn't be put to shame.

[Bob Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wasn't my favorite, I have read better, BUT I did like it it was very interesting. I don't really like baseball but it is a fun sport. I also love the concept of this book like going back in the future is just cool. I do wish they made a basketball series with the same concept of these book. I wish they told me more about the player they were going back in time to see. Overall I enjoyed this book It had some action like the close games and what not, that was interesting. I would've liked a full season of close games. I may read another one of these books to see if it was just that book I didn't like and try out another book. I have read another one of these books a couple years ago and it was pretty good. I would like to read more sports related books because they bring interest to me. I think I will read the book Jackie and Me hopefully next

[AJ Thumma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stosh the main character can travel through time, but in a very special way. He can travel through time using baseball cards. Say stosh has a Jim Thrope baseball cards from 1913. Stosh will hold that card for a period of time and he'll go back to that time. He has to have a current time baseball card to be able to come back to present time. If he doesnt he would get stuck in the past. I honestly think this is a very interesting book. I think it would be very cool if it could actually work in real life. I really love this series of book.

[Nile Schuett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I found it very interesting. I thought that it kept the reader on the edge of their seat the majority of the book. One of the main characters is a trouble maker and it is exciting to see what he says and does. I think many people would enjoy this book. Josh is a nice person because he takes one of his enemies back in time. It shows that he has really good character. It shows a lot of what life was like back in the days of the great depression. Many people would kill to have a job. It was a very hard time for the American people.

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olivia, my baseball fan, has discovered this series at the library. She listened to the audiobook and rates it 4 stars.

[Payten Elijah]

I think that his book is a very good book. Its a good book for people just starting to read chapter books. It is good for them because it is an easy book to understand. I think that I'll read the whole series. I'll tell you about it a little. So there's this kid who can time travel. He can only time travel with baseball cards. They usually only work if they are from the early 60s. So whenever he touches a card he get this tingling sensation. If he holds it to long he will go to the time of the card. Also he goes near the person of the card.

[Nate Dierickx]

I really liked this book. I like a lot of sports books. This book interested me a lot because they go back in time. It talks a lot about baseball history. Like people that played baseball a long time ago and made a difference. They go back in time to see a baseball player and try to help him. I think people that like sports would love this book. If you like baseball you would like it even more. I want to try to read all the books from him. They tell you about the history of baseball and tells about over 100 years ago how baseball was.

[Austin Hubler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book Is written by Dan Gutman. So in the start of the book Joey lost his baseball game. Joeys parents are divorced and he comes over and got fired from his job. He doesn't think he can do anything. He is all down and stuff. Joey talks about his baseball cards. When he holds the card it feels weird in his hands. Then he hears a knock on the door and it was Bobby fuller and he bullied Joey in school. But he wanted to go back in time. To see Jim and he got in a lot of fights and he got coached for curve balls but could never hit them then they came out of the past and he was doing good against curve balls.

[Tobyn Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I personally didn't like this book as much as my others. I did still enjoy reading it but it wasn't as good as the peculiar series. I liked how Stosh tried to keep it a secret that he could time travel but his no good cousin gave it away to everyone. My favorite part was where he thought Bobby was using drugs. It turned out he was just trying to give Jim Thorpe steroids to make him perform better. I liked when Stosh found out how good of a guy Jim was for helping people. This book was an attention grabber. It kept pulling me in and making strange turns that I didn't expect. I didn't get all the way to the end of the book but I got most of the way through. All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes baseball.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Gutman is a very talented author. He's able to write wacky stories for younger kids (the My Weird School series) and enjoyable sports books for older children/young teens. This book is one in a series where a kid is able to go back in time and meet interesting sports figures. This series is great for children/young teens who like books about sports, and they get to learn some historical facts along the way. I liked that this book was about an important Native American sports figure who is little discussed these days. The writing is good and they story whizzes by.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very good. It is amazing how times have changed. Jim Thorpe was a very good athlete and it is to bad they took his medals away for playing major league ball. I also found out that indian's were not very favored in this time. It stinks that they didn't get to play very much. My favorite quote of this book is when he said that he was born in the wrong time. I've never thought of that. Very well written book and I hope to read more from Dan Gutman!

[Hooters Rocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Jim Thorpe book.

[Brendan Shader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finsihed reading the book, Jim and Me, by Dan Gutman. To understand my review, you need to know a little about the book. In Jim and Me, Theres this boy nicknamed Stosh who is obsessed with baseball and knows a lot about the history of the game as well. Stosh also has this weird ability that allows him to time travel. If he holds a baseball card and concentrates hard, he's able to go back to the year that card was made. One of his enemies named Bobby needs to go back into time and see his great grandfather, Jim Thorpe. Stosh decides to help and throughou their journey, they face a good amount of challenges that they have to overcome.

Me personally, I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. While reading this book, it never bored me, it always kept me entertained and wondering what challenge they were going to have to face next. I never at anypoint wanted to put the book down. Throughout this book, the author was very descriptive in whatever he was talking about. "The guy with the shovel was stripped to the waist and his body was shiny with sweat. He looked to be about 6 feet tall. The muscles on his arms were huge. When he turned to face us, I could see he was a little chubby around the middle. His hair was jet-black, and it flopped over his forehead". This is only a small part of the book but you are able to tell how the authors's writing is and how much he does goes into depth on what he's talking about. From this, you can tell how tall the person is and what they look like exactly.

The reason why I gave this book a 5 out of 5 stars was because the book was about a subject I could relate to that this book is different from the rest. This book wasn't just another novel about someone achieving their dream to become a pro athlete and the story behind it but it had a bit of a twist because there was time traveled that was involved. I recommend this book to anyone who loves baseball and who loves a little suspense in their stories.

[Jarrett M · Rating 4 out of 5]

My book is Jim and me by Dan Gutman. The book is about a kid that can travel through time. His friend that bullied him came over and knew that he could go through time. And he wanted to go meet jim thorpe because he was the greatest athlete back in 1912. He got two gold medals from the olympics and get them taken away because he went to go play major league baseball and he didn’t get to play At all.
I really like that the author makes the kids teleport and the kids aren't really friends. But they still go and i really like how the author shows that the other kid tries to leave without him and it doesn't work. It doesn't work because joe has the power. The kid said that he was showing him how. A really cool thing that the author did was made joe see john mcgraw do a trick. And when joe got back and went to a baseball game but he couldn't play so he was third base coach. So he told this guy to go home off of a bunt and an over through and the guy got a triple off a bunt. Then joe did it he said hey picher let me see that ball really quick and when the pitcher through it he moved out of the way. He said run and that was the first time they won against that team.
I recommend this book because it is supper entertaining with the teleporting in 1910 1912. With the tricks that mcgraw and joe do during the important games. The trick is if you have a guy on third you say hey pitcher can i see that ball quick. Then pitcher will throw you the ball you move and the person runs home and you could tie or win or just be up by more. It was pretty easy to read but it was just an all round good book to read.

[Zachary Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story starts out in modern day Louisville, but Stosh does what he always does and goes back in time. This time though he is asked to bring Brad with him, but Brad and Stosh have never gotten along and he is hesitant at first. In the end, he brings Brad with and they goes visit Jim Thorpe, which is Brad’s great great grandfather, and they hope to go and try and save him from getting his olympic medal taken away. When they got there, Brad was always protective over his backpack, but when he fell asleep Stosh went in it, and inside he found bottles and a needle. He later discovered it was steroids, but at first he thought it was heroin. The main conflict is that they are trying to help Jim play in the MLB, but he can’t hit a curveball. In addition, Jim likes to go to bars and get drunk A LOT and that doesn’t help his batting. Also while they’re there they play a pickup football game with some of the kids and they gave that money to Jim to help him. In this book, I really enjoy how he lets me hear everything Stosh is thinking and how Stosh thinks about the pros and cons before he ever does anything. I didn’t like how they incorporated drugs into the story or how Jim didn’t get his medals back. I would recommend this book to Middle or early High school kids who enjoy a quick read.

[Austin S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very interesting and I would recommend it to anyone who has any interest in sports books mixed with science fiction type of things. The main character, Stoshack, goes back in time to meet his bully's great-great grandfather Jim Thorpe. He learns that he was the greatest athlete to ever live.

When they first try and go back in time, they go back to the great depression. They met Jim Thorpe there working on a construction site. he and his great great grandson, Bobby, meet and Jim asked Bobby if he knew anything about the tribe Jim came from. Bobby said he didn't and Jim said that there was no way that Bobby was his grandson because his heritage was the one thing his family cared about.

They figured out that the card they used was from the wrong year so they found a card from when he was playing with the New York Giants. His coach was a major jerk and Jim quit the team twice and they got him to play again both times. they went back into their normal time to Stosh's game and he used a play he learned from Coach McGraw to win the game.

[Cody Koch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is ok. Its actually pretty boring in the beginning. If you like baseball in anyway you will like this book. If I had the power to go back in time I would go back to get football cards not baseball cards. I like football way better.
So Stosh grabs the baseball card and goes back in time. He then goes to watch a baseball game with Jim playing it in. Jim is the one who is on the baseball card that he has with him. He waits until the game is over and goes to meet Jim. To his surprise they hang out together.
Then Stosh goes back in time and is just in time for supper. He eats supper with family and says nothing about going back in time. He just acts like nothing is wrong and parents don't know anything that is happening. He brushes his teeth and goes to bed without saying a word.
He can't wait to go back in time tomorrow.
These are my thoughts on this book so far. Hope you enjoy it!

[Jennybeast · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book wants to return Jim Thorpe to a place of mainstream knowledge, and to be inclusive about the many great players of baseball. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that detract from that goal -- from the grandkid being a jerk (so there are no positive depictions of Native Americans as characters), to the stereotype-reinforcing Native American alcoholism and historical references to Thorpe as a savage, to the great athlete but not a great baseball player phenomenon -- unintentionally this book portrays an extraordinary athlete as a sad and lost figure -- a tragic portrayal, rather than a celebratory one, and I found it more than a little depressing. Realistic? Probably, but what is the goal of the book? If the desire is to restore Thorpe as an icon, I give it a swing and a miss.

[Brock Meade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe Stoshack is an average middle school boy. Joe is a huge baseball player and card collector. By the touch of the card Joe could travel anywhere anytime by the blink of an eye by using just a baseball card. This is a sports book and also a fiction and a little bit of historical fictions. In my total opinion I think that this book is going to be one of my favorite books that I have ever read. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU DON'T LIKE TIME-TRAVELING OR SPORTS!! I feel like the author had a good change of words and that he did very good on Historical fiction and describing the characters very good.

[Ryan King]

Right now the book is kind of interesting. Bobby Fuller (The amazing pitcher in Stosh's league) went into his game to relieve. Then Stosh's coach pulled out Bobby's birth certificate and it said he was 15 and the league was 14 under. When that happened, I was very surprised. Then the other pitcher for Bobby's team went into the game. But Stosh's team still lost. I wasn't very surprised about that since the team is really good. My thoughts on the book right now are that it is going to be a really good book.

[Mamiko · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just love this series - it's a kids' book, and is a big hit with my ten-year-old who loves baseball. I like that this book has a few consistent characters, all of whom are likeable, or at least you can find something about them that's relatable. Something dramatic or unplanned always happens during his time travel, and he learns something from each trip. But the lesson is presented in a way that's not too pushy or down-your-throat. I have learned so much about the U.S. history and about baseball through this book, and wish there were more volumes.

[David Rough · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Another good read by Gutman. The baseball card series is fun and entertaining. I did not like this one as much as some of the others. The plot focuses more on a current friendship (between Stosh and his not-so-good friend Bolly Fuller) than on the historical figure of Jim Thorpe. Jim was almost a minor character in the story - I like the books in the series that highlight the famous ball player and the situations that made them great.

[Gift Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8 stars
I think this book was very well written and very thoughtful
I know I would have loved and enjoyed it better if I had any knowledge of baseball
But despite my lack of knowledge, I still found the story quite wonderful

[Declan]

same as the other books in the series

[Jacob Cohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing
Period

[Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good well written book with good knowledge of time period.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

The language used in this book is so jarring. I wish the author had included a statement about it in his note.

[STU JOHNATHON · Rating 5 out of 5]

its a good book