Abner & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure

Abner & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure (YA) by Dan Gutman.

Having tired of recommending the same few books for reluctant male readers, I finally asked my school librarian for some new picks to expand my own horizons (and, hence, hopefully my students as well).

Joe, an avid baseball player and fan, is a 13 year old boy who is able to time travel when he touches old pictures (in particular, baseball cards). In this story, Joe decides that he wants to uncover the truth behind the inventor of baseball. Abner Doubleday is the American whom legend reports to have invented the game; however, there is no proof of this. Joe decides to hop over to 1863 to find out if it's true. The only thing stopping him? Mom. But to his surprise, his mother, a nurse, readily agrees to let him go - IF he'll bring her too. Reluctantly Joe agrees, and he and his mom embark on their journey.

To their surprise, (but not the reader) they land in the middle of the Civil War. Gettysburg to be exact. Excellent depictions of the battle are given as well as what medicine was like at the time. Eventually, they stumble across Doubleday. After a quick baseball game and some war-time fighting, Joe and his mother decide to retreat home to safety. More adventures ensue, but I don't want to give it all away.

At first, I did not like this book. I didn't like the protagonist, and I'm not a big sports fan. However, I love the idea of time travel and historical stories. So in the end, the book worked for me. It had just enough humor. The 19th century scenes were well done. The suspense was rather low key, but I can definitely see why boys would like this book.

1) It's an easy read. Nothing very complicated. Easy plot. Easy and few characters.
2) It's about sports.
3) The boy helps play the hero, and becomes more grown-up (especially in his relationship with mom).

An Amazon review that I read mentioned that this book was too violent, but I don't really know what they're talking about. The Gettysburg scenes were truthful, and nothing that a fourth grader couldn't handle.

Final Grade: B+

One Caveat:
At one point, the mother muses over the possibility of going back in time to prevent the assassination of Lincoln. Joe tells his mother that history cannot be changed. Joe reminds her that he tried to prevent the Black Sox Scandal in 1919 but couldn't ( page 129). But at the beginning of the novel (page 22), the reader learns that Joe's Uncle Wilbur is only alive because of Joe's time-traveling intervention. In 1919, Uncle Wilbur originally died of influenza. On Joe's trip there, he gives his uncle some flu medicine. So I guess you can change history as long as it's not textbook history.