It’s 1932 and everyone is struggling through the Great Depression. When the resourceful young narrator of this story discovers that his father is jobless, he decides to become a newsie. He and his friend Jacob figure out how to sell more papers than the other kids. Many more. Because they’ve got Babe Ruth to help them. Business is soon booming and, thanks to the Babe, they even get a chance to see a Yankees game.

Amazon.com Review
"For my birthday I was hoping my parents would give me a bicycle. They only gave me a dime."

So begins David Adler's inspired tale of the challenges and magic--yes, magic--of a depression-era childhood spent in the Bronx, New York. Disappointed, but not surprised by his present, the young narrator in The Babe & I spends his birthday afternoon wandering neighborhood streets with his best friend Jacob, discussing--as always--the New York Yankees and the world's greatest baseball player, Babe Ruth. The boys may have little in the way of monetary goods, but they do live within walking distance of Yankee stadium. They get a special lift from their proximity to this golden team of graced athletes, even if they can never go inside the gate. On this day, however, the stakes are raised significantly when the narrator discovers a difficult, saddening secret about his father. In response, he decides to join Jacob and become a newspaper boy--a decision that helps his family through these tough years and leads the narrator into the best, most unbelievable encounter of his life--better than any bike or birthday or anything.

Adler's honest, vivid reflection of 1930s life is perfectly complemented by Terry Widener's evocative, earth-toned illustrations. Reminiscent of WPA murals, Widener's images help Adler transport the reader to another time and place in a symbiotic pairing that makes this tender book a true work of art. (Ages 5 and older) --Jean Lenihan

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 10 reviews)

3 1/2* Sanitized Gotham, Small Role for the Babe

"For my birthday I was hoping my parents would give me a bicycle. They only gave me a dime." The opening of "The Babe and I" alludes to the Great Depression, specifically 1932 Bronx, where the unnamed protagonist loves his family first and baseball second. At least his dad is employed, every morning he pits on a suit and takes his briefcase to his office. "We were lucky. My father had a job. But we never seemed to have much money." Accompanying his friend Jacob on his paper route, he discovers that his Dad's office is a street corner where he sells apples. In fact, every corner has an apple vendor, selling one for a nickel.

However, the reader will notice a schism between the words and the illustrations. If this is the Great Depression, it's the Disneyland version: The houses, streets, and sidewalks are squeaky cleaned, the "shabby and wrinkled" clothes are clean and in one piece, and no stores are boarded up. Illustrator Terry Widener composes nice wide angled street scenes, illustrates the men in a 1930's movie style with broad shoulders and hats, and draws the boys looking prematurely old, but the Depression looks clean and calm. Only when the son asks his father about his secret job do we see a more realistic view of the emotional toil, as he walks sadly down a deserted (but really clean!) street: "Dad didn't say anything after that. I didn't either. We just walked."

Babe Ruth enters the picture when he supports the boy's budding newspaper job. Injured, the yellow-suited Sultan of Swat (also looking a bit too healthy) comes to Yankee stadium and gives him $5.00 for a 25-cent paper. (The Babe's injury, his pinch hitting, and other events reported here are "based on actual events that were reported July 14 through July 22, 1932.) Aside from Ruth's baseball heroics that result in the boy selling more newspapers, that's the entire extent of Babe's role in "The Babe and I," and the title suddenly seems misleading. On the last page, author Adler strains to make the connection more prominent:
"Babe Ruth was part of the 1932 Yankees. That year they were the best team in baseball. He and I were a team, too. His home runs helped me sell newspapers...I knew Dad and I were a team too. We were both working to get our family through hard times." (All this under a picture of the father in a nice blue suit walking from away their well-kept brownstone on an immaculate sidewalk.)

Looking beyond the pictures (and perhaps you'd rather not show signs of poverty to your young one), the book's strength is its portrayal of family dynamics, the father with his secret--and his anger-- and the son trying to help. (The mother doesn't find out, and, in addition, is barely seen.) However, the book should could focused somewhat more realistically on the material and social effects of poverty, or at least emphasized the Babe more. Although there is about little economic hard times, a better book about Ruth's own difficulties is Donald Hall and Barry Moser's "When Willard Met Babe Ruth." "The Babe and I" hints at the era, but I'm still looking for a kids' book that better illustrates the links between the Depression and baseball.
June 12, 2005

The Babe and I

The Babe and I was a good story because the kid for his birthday he only got a dime and in the 1932, a dime was like two dollars.The kid and his mother always thought that his father had a job but the whole time he had been fired and he was out selling apples.Then they went for a walk him and Jacob and the kid found out that his dad sells apples and he got upset because he saw how hard it was for his dad to make a dime.So then the kid got a job as a newspaper seller and he was tought to sell like a pro and he started making money.Then one day Babe Ruth bought a paper from him and gave him five dollars and he didnt reconize Babe but then he bought tickets for the game and watched BAbe play.Then with the little bit of money he had left he went home and put it into the money jar.

The reason i liked this story was because the kid tried to help his family because he found out that his family needed help.Then he kept the secrect to himself about his dad selling apples because he didnt want his mom to find out.
April 05, 2005

The Babe and I

The book takes place during the Great Depresion,and its about a boy that thinks his family is lucky because his dad didn't loose his job.However in the day of the boy's birth day,the boy finds out that his dad had lost his job and now his selling apples.the boy was really sad, but his friend Jacob offers him to sell news papers with him.The boy starts to sell,and to carry it he borrows the neighbors'carriage.One day thet the boy is selling news paper ,he sells one paper to Babe Ruth and with the money babe pays him the boy and Jacob go to his last game. I rate this picture 4 because I liked the way the author described the emotion of the characters.I also liked the describing details of the settings.
April 01, 2005

The Babe and I

This book was about a family living in the Bronx. This family was very poor. Only the dad. On that day it was the boys birthay. So his dad gave him 10 cents. Because on those days that was enough money 2 eat and pay rent. So one day the dad leaves to work and his son and mom stay home. Then the boys best friend comes over to his house and ask him if he wants to go to work with him. So they did. And on the way home to his friends job they bought an apple for 5 cents. Also on the way he saw his dad selling apples! The boy felt really bad and confused why he wasnt working in a factory? But he didnt way nothing to him or let his dad see him. So his friend thought him for people to by him newspaper to announce Babe's home runs and good palys. And it did work also he even made much more then his dad. Even one day, his favorite baseball players, Babe, bought him a news paper and give him 5 dollors. After he earned a lot his dad found out. But he wasn't mad about it, just emberessed. So what this boy kept doing his job he felt thankful for babe because for his good plays he got a lot of many.
April 01, 2005

The Babe and I

The babe and I was a book about a kid living in New York during the middle of the great depression. He thinks his dad is a business man but soon finds out that hes a "apple seller".
This book is a great childrens because of the fact that it is realistic and teaches kids what life was like in the Great Depression.
March 31, 2005

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