Honus & Me

Baseball Card Adventures #1

by Dan Gutman

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....

Genres: Sports, Historical Fiction, Baseball, Fiction, Fantasy, Childrens, Middle Grade

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1997

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 4 out of 5]

Fun

A good book. Well researched and easy to read. Not the best in the series but a fun read nevertheless.

[Dayton Biesecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good cool weird interesting fun book

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is for young readers but somehow ended up on my GR baseball shelf as a top 100 baseball book.

It is reminiscent of Field of Dreams but involves the famous Honus Wagner cigarette card. In this story the card invokes time travel as well. Everybody else wants it because it is worth $500k.

It was an enjoyable story. I'd call it historical fantasy for youths.

4 stars

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Fantasy/Historical Fiction (Fiction)

Fountas and Pinnell Guided Reading Level: R

Summary: Joe lives with his mom in Louisville, Kentucky. He is into baseball cards, but can't collect as many as he would like because his family is short on money. One day, his elderly neighbor, Amanda Young, asks him to clean out her attic for a few bucks. While he is cleaning it out, he discovers an Honus Wagner baseball card from 1909. It is the most valuable baseball card. Before he has a chance to tell his mom about the card, Honus Wagner appears in Joe's bedroom and they begin an adventure. Joe uses his magical ability along with the baseball card to go back to Honus Wagner's time and visit the last game of the World Series of 1909.

Why I Liked/Disliked the Book: I really appreciated the historical details in this book. I learned a lot about baseball in the early 1900's and about Honus Wagner. Although some of the details are not true, this book really gives you a sense of how baseball was different back then (wait till you hear about how dirty Ty Cobb played).

What This Book Made Me Think About: Sports fiction is so much more interesting when combined with historical fiction. There are clearly great stories to tell from the old ballplayers. Dan Gutman has really brought Honus Wagner alive in this book and we learn about him as a really special person. I would much rather read this kind of sports story than a Matt Christopher fiction book any day.

I wish... I could read more historical fiction about Honus Wagner, but I've never come across any other books like this! Luckily, Dan Gutman has created a whole series of baseball card adventures about Joe traveling to other times in history including books about Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and several other amazing players.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty good story. I liked learning about a baseball player that I had never heard of before. It had some fun plot twists.

[Presten Hodgden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. It’s about this kid named Joe who finds a baseball card in this lady’s attic. When he touches it he gets this weird feeling and he finds out he can travel back in time to when the card was made. This card was Honus Wagner’s card and Joe gets to meet him but he faces some difficulties and has to work through them. I’m not gonna tell you what they are your just gonna have to read the book and find out. This is a great book that most readers I think will enjoy.

[Jdrysdaleanderson4 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack a young boy found a baseball card that made him go back in time. When he went back in time he made friends with the great Honus Wagner. Both of them had crazy adventures together such as switching cloths in the middle of the game so that Honus was injured. When it was time to go back to his time there was a problem he forgot to bring a new card so that he could come back to his time. All jack wanted to do was go back to his time to see his friends and family. But then he realized something. He always kept baseball cards under his shoes to block out the holes in his shoes. So he took them out and managed to go back to his time. The adventures that he had with Honus were unforgettable and know he had a power that no one else had. Going back in time. Hounus and me is about love, courage, strength.

[Dalton Esbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very good. I loved it because of all of the facts that were in it about Honus. I learned a lot about Honus that I didn't know about him. Joe found a Honus Wagner baseball card in an old ladies attic that he was cleaning up for her. He put the card in his backpack and went home after finishing. That night he went to bed with the card in his hands and when he woke up Honus was there.

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book teaches you a lot of interesting facts about the baseball player Honus Wagner. If you are really into baseball and baseball history, I would recommend this book to baseball lovers or sports enthusiasts.

[Ryan King]

Joe Stoshack was having a money problem and couldn’t find a way to get some. They would take any chance that they could get to make so money. His parents were divorced and he thinks the reason that his parents split up was that they didn’t have a lot of money. So, he cleaned out his neighbor's attic to make some money. When he was there, he found a Honus Wagner card. It was worth a lot of money. After that, he went home and fell asleep with it in his hand. When he woke up, Honus Wagner was in Joe's room! Then they went back in time. While they were there, he had to go back to present time. But he couldn't. He didn't have a present-day card to get back. I got scared because I thought he was going to have to stay there forever. But then he found a present-day card in his shoe because he used it to cover the holes in his shoes. Then when he got back to present-day, he gave the card back to his neighbor.
I really liked this book because I am a baseball fan. I also didn't know much about Honus, but I learned a little bit from this. This really got me mad when Joe couldn't get back to present-day. Then when he got back, I was relieved.

[Braydon Claussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really shows you that you need to put your mind into things to achieve success. You have to give it your all if you want to do good. At one point Honus said that you don’t need to win to have fun as long as your having fun that’s all that matters. Always believe in yourself and believe in what you are capable of. Don’t take yourself for granted. Make the effort don’t half do something. Give everything your all even if you don’t think your good. You never know how good you are until you give it your all. Confidence it the key to making yourself happy be confidence with anything you do. Don’t let others get to you. Always do your best in life no matter what.

[Alex Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because first it was an interesting was to start the book and Joe found a surprise cleaning his neighbors attic and he was hesitant to take it but he did. He felt guilty but that night Honus Wagner appeared in his room and started talking to him. I liked the detail he gave like when Honus told him that kids would make fun of him because the way he looked or because he was stockier than other kids. I also liked the surprise he had for Joe in the end of the book . I definitely recommend this book to others.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my kids for Battle of the Books. I loved hearing about how baseball used to be played without all the money that has come in and ruined a lot of the game. My kids really enjoyed it too!

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cute little book hooked me on reading the rest of the series with my eight year old son. I love the historical references that are slid in alongside the sports history and fictional story.

[Rev Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great way to learn about how Honus Wagner was really like.

[Elliot Cummins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book about a kid that has these powers to travel into time, to meet his favorites player. This is his first adventure back in time, he meets Honus Wagner and they are able to travel back with him. This was a good book, this book inspires you to pursue your dreams,and to be a good person. Dan Gutman is my favorite kids author and writes extremely good books.

[EJ Manning · Rating 5 out of 5]

ever since I read Ted and me I wanted to start the series from the beginning but also reading another book from it I love the part where Joe I mean honus needs to stop the bleeding and from getting infected witch He tagged ty Cobb witch he was bleeding to the part that it mentions game 7 of the world series in 1909 makes it even better because I don't know anything about the 6th ever year the MLB and literally Joe said I just want to know what it would be like in the MLB just one at bat he gets that sweet spot right down the middle and I foght he would get a single and when it says going to second now I think he hit it all the way to the warning track and then going for third base I think he hit of the tall wall and then home why not right

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good Juvenile Fiction book. Why would I read this? Well, while not a general fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, some of the top Baseball Fiction books combine the sport with time travel. Kinsella did this with The Iowa Baseball Confederacy and Shoeless Joe (which became the movie Field of Dreams). Darryl Brock did this with If I Never Come Back and Two in the Field. And so I searched for other books that might have both Baseball and time travel and found this interesting series by Dan Gutman. This is the first book of the series that reminds me a lot of a Children's Series I used to read to my kids "The Magic Treehouse" There the brother and sister go to a treehouse and are transported to moments in history. Here the young man gets a sort of electric static feeling in his hand when he touches certain baseball cards and that prompts the time travel. In this book Honus Wagner returns to current day Louisville when the boy finds and touches the valuable T-206 baseball card with Wagner's image. Then he also goes back in time with Wager to the 1909 World Series. How this happens who knows - of course nobody can time travel nor can we know how it could occur - but it is a great device in this book to teach young readers about some of the greatest baseball players and to show them the differences between todays game and that of yesteryear. The book also teaches some very good moral lessons, in this book the young man finds this card who belongs to the old lady next door, and has to decide whether to return it to her or keep the card and sell it to make a lot of money for his family. We also find out some good personal details about Wagner.
This book really focuses on history, and uses time travel to do that. For me, it was a fun read and I might just read quite a few more in this series!!!

[Megan Koval · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! I am a big baseball fan, and a big Pirates fan as well, so I was excited when I saw I was assigned to read this book for class. I was expecting this book to be a bit more about baseball, but I was pleasantly surprised by what actually happened in the book. I definitely thought that the time travel aspect of the book was one of the neatest things about the book. I also thought that the book had a great lesson to go along with it.

I think that this book would be a good independent reading book or book group book for elementary school boys who enjoy sports. I think that they would enjoy it because it is about baseball, but it also has some unexpected twists. I also think it would be a good book for someone who may lack confidence in himself or herself because one of the most important things Honus stresses is having confidence in oneself. A particular element of literature that students could take away from this book is its great use of imagery. The author really makes you feel as if you are actually at a World Series baseball game on the field and I think that is awesome. I think it would be easy to teach kids imagery with this book because the author does an incredible job of describing little details, even things such as Stosh's holes in his shoes.

I think this book does a great job at addressing the fact that just becasue a kid may seem to be a "misfit" that he or she can actually do great things. I think that the author does a great job of using Honus's infulence to help Stosh see his full potential and I think that is something that could be incredibly inspiring to kids who read this book.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a fine choice for young baseball fans. There are a lot of good things in here. The main character, Joe Stoshack, is dealing with some tricky issues, like understanding his parents' divorce, struggling to make ends meet, being made fun of by his peers for his appearance, and making tough choices between right and wrong. It is kind of cool to learn a little more about the world of baseball and one of its great players. You can tell the author is a baseball fan and a bit of a historian too. He gives us facts about Honus Wagner in a kid-friendly way here and there that help us understand who Honus was as a person and as a ball player. By the way, his name sounds like "honest," not like "bonus," as this book also explains to those of us who don't know. There are photographs and stats and plenty of other helpful tidbits, including a short section at the end explaining which parts of the book were fact and which were fiction.

The only complaint I had with the book was when it began to describe the 1909 World Series in detail. Not being very knowledgeable beyond the very basics of baseball myself, some of the descriptions were a little difficult to fully understand. I struggled a little in that section to continue reading. Fortunately, however, that did not go on for too extended a period, and I was soon able to lose myself in the story again. I do wonder how many young baseball fans would have the same difficulty as me in that section though.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really cute and interesting book. I've seen this series around forever in my classroom and others, but never got around to reading it. The facts about the value of the Honus Wagner card combined with the time travel aspect made this such an enjoyable read. I felt like I learned a lot, had fun reading, and came away with a new series I intend to recommend to my students.

[maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

part of the fun of working with kids and books is catching up on YA lit and inhabiting the mind of a 12-year old for a few weeks. this book, the first in a series, is completely hokey, with cheesy dialogue and a cartoonish villain, but it works. a boy stumbles upon a 1909 honus wagner baseball card in an old lady's attic, a monumental discovery in and of itself, but then learns he can bring the player to life and travel back through time just by touching it, to the year on the card. forget kids, that could be any grown-up's fantasy. it's like the sandlot meets back to the future meets the hardy boys.

[Graham Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Read as a kid, Review from 2024)

I’m sure if I tried to describe this series to another adult that didn’t read it as a kid they would accuse me of being feverish. As is, this series was pretty great for a young and casual baseball fan. Didn’t know about Honus Wagner beforehand (and I don’t know how many outside of hardcore baseball history fans would either) so that worked to both the book’s credit and perhaps detriment (maybe they should have opened the series with a more well known player). Still it was an enjoyable read.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I would have really liked this when I was 10-12. Now, it's kind of boring and poorly written. The plot feels rushed. However, I do think Gutman does a good job of portraying how a kid might really react in some of the situations Stosh faces. Ignoring the improbability of the time travel, of course.

[Alec · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just got done reading an amazing fictional book called Honus and me by Dan Gutman. A boy named joe has this magical power to go back in time by using a baseball card. This time joe does something different. Honus wagnor is a pro baseball player that used to play long ago. He went to meet honus back in 1919 but he didn't. To find out what happens read this great book.

[Ashlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read aloud with my kids on a road trip. Sometimes I struggle to find books that appeal to my son as much as my daughters (the girls aren't so picky) This was an all around champ for our family.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute baseball story I have given to several friends whose sons are reluctant readers.

[Jesse Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honus Wagner was one of the best baseball players that ever played. During his time, baseball cards were highly sought after, but the Honus Wagner T-209 card is different as it is the most valuable card in the world. In Honus and Me by Dan Gutman, Joe Stoshack loves baseball and knows a lot about the game but is not necessarily the best player on the field. One day, while cleaning his neighbor Amanda Youngs garage out, Joe stumbles upon a Honus Wagner card. When he takes it home, he started getting this tingling feeling then all of a sudden Honus Wagner appears. He helps joe get better at baseball, but Honus needed to get back to 1909 for the World Series so him and Joe go back together by touching the card together. In 1909, Joe is disguised as Honus’ brother and ends up helping the team win the World Series against Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers.

This book is one of my favorite books of all time. Not only does it give the reader a few fun facts about baseball, it is a fun read with a good story line. Who wouldn’t want to go back in time with arguably the greatest baseball player of all time to play in the World Series?

In the classroom, this book could be used if I were to do a baseball themed week or something of that nature.

[Chanelle S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last time you held a baseball card, did it tingle in your hand? I doubt it did. Well, in this series of books by Dan Gutman, when Joe holds old baseball cards in his hands he starts to get a tingling sensation, like the feeling you get when you touch something with a running motor or when you get a shock from static electricity. When Joe feels that tingling, he doesn’t know why it happens, he just knows that football cards, greeting cards and plain old cardboard don’t make it happen—only old baseball cards, and the older the better.

Joe loves baseball. He isn’t very good at playing baseball, however. He’ll be all ready to really whack that ball, and then someone will yell something like, “Your ears stick out like an elephant’s!” and whiff!!! That ball zooms right past him. Oooh, it ticks him off when kids do that.

Cleaning out a neighbor’s attic one day, Joe finds an old Honus Wagner card—the rarest card in baseball card collecting history. He feels that tingling as he holds it in his hands . . . and that night he meets Honus Wagner—how, I’m not going to tell you. But let me tell you it changes Joe’s luck in baseball!

[Brendan Cieplensky · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Honus and Me By:Dan Gutman is a book about a guy named Josh Stoshack who loves baseball. Since he was little he always played baseball. One day as he was cleaning his neighbors attic he found a Honus Wagner baseball card. Honus Wagner is one of the many players cards that are rare because they stopped making them and there is only three in the world. So when Josh found that card he is amazed, and turns out he has a special power that if he touches the card he will be able to go back to the time period of the player.
My opinion on the book is that it was very good because I love baseball and this book has amazing facts about Honus Wagner and many other baseball players. It also gives facts about Honus's baseball average and his life and career.
Why I rated it a 4 star is because it isn't the best book I read and also because there is many other baseball books out there then this one, but in general I like the book and recommend for you to read it if you like baseball.