The Babe and I

By: David Adler (2004)

This book is set during the Great Depression and it is about a young boy that decides to start selling newspapers to support his family after his dad lost his job. The boy sells these newspapers outside Yankee Stadium and he starts making decent money as Babe Ruth and the Yankees start playing well. One day the Babe Ruth buys a paper from the boy and gives him tickets to watch him play.

When I first read the title for this book I thought it was going to be more about Babe Ruth, but he turned out to be more of a side character in this story. I liked the story but I thought that message of cooperation was a little forced, in that the author just seemed to try to tie everything together on the last page by comparing the family dynamic to the way a team works.

This may be a good historical fiction piece to show students because it really shows students how difficult it was for many families and how many sacrifices people had to make, even young children. As a teacher I may want to do an activity where I have students discuss the different ways that they help out at home.