Just Like Mike

by Gail Herman

When Michael Brown’s mom marries Mr. Jordan, everything changes. Now Michael’s got a new dad, a new house, a new school, and worst of all, a new name. Michael is nothing like the famous athlete. In fact, he can’t even dribble a basketball, let alone swoosh it through the hoop! How can he survive the rest of the year–the rest of his life, really–as Michael Jordan?

64 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 2000

About the author

Gail Herman, formerly a children's book editor in New York City, has written picture books, easy-to-reads, and chapter books, including many titles in the Who Was/What Was series. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her family.

Reviews

[Anthony Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just Like Mike is a realistic fiction,chapter book about a kid named Mike Brown,whose whole world changes when his mom gets married to a man whose last name is Jordan. Mike Brown is a typical kid,but there is nothing typical when your name is changed to Michael Jordan.
The self doubt and feelings that Mike Brown goes through about his life after his mom re-marries is what makes this book a good read. Mike Brown's identity crisis is eventually resolved by the end of the story.
I felt the quote on page 3 summed up the plot,"..calling myself Michael Jordan. We're both trying to see what it will be like when it really is my name once and for all. I think it will be pretty darn awful." On page 19, Mike Brown states," If only I wasn't Michael Jordan,everything would be easy." I can relate to this because I went to grammar school with a kid named Michael Jordan. Because we graduated from grammar school in 1980, having the same name as the real Michael Jordan did not affect my classmate due to the fact the icon did not arrive in Chicago until 1984. He actually did not even become famous for hitting the game winning basket in college until 1982. However, I kept in touch with my grammar school alum,because I was curious how having the name of the most famous person in the world affected his life? By 1988,my grammar school alumnus was a senior at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. While visiting other friends in town i looked Michael up, and he told me he had to change his phone number several times because so many students would call him up and play pranks, or just annoy him in case he was actually related to the real Michael Jordan. I felt sorry for him ,until I saw him years later, at a charity event in 1997. My friend Michael Jordan was a marketing representative,at the time, for 7up beverages and he was able to use his name recognition to bring in clients. Just like in the book,my friend Michael Jordan was able to overcome having the name of one of the most famous people in the world.

A good classroom connection is for my students to write the names of people they know, who also have the same name as famous people in the world. We would then have each kid tell who that person is, and if they like having identical names of famous people.

Like Mike has a Lexile Measure of 340L,interest level of grade 3,and a grade level equivalent of 2.7,which means a 2nd grade student by the 7th month of their school year,which is April, should be able to read this book independently.

[Jesse Baldwin]

This book is about a kid with no basketball skills but has the unfortunate name of Michael Jordan. This book is a good lesson for students to be comfortable with who they are.