Roberto and Me

Gr 4—7—As with the other stories in Dan Gutman's "Baseball Card Adventure" series, Stosh once again uses a baseball card to travel back in time in order to meet a legendary baseball player. In this story (HarperCollins, 2020), he travels to 1969 to meet Roberto Clemente, the Puerto Rican-born Pittsburgh Pirate who was also a great humanitarian. Stosh's goal is to convince Clemente not to board the plane to Nicaragua that is destined to crash. Unable to convince Clemente not to risk his own life in order to help the victims of an earthquake, Stosh returns home. Then, the story takes a different twist as Stosh meets his time-travelling grandson (in the year 2080) who urges him to travel into the future where he learns about the devastating effects of global warming. Stosh returns home, vowing to do something to make life better for other people. Historical notes and a list of websites that can be accessed to explore global warming are appended. Johnny Heller realistically voices each character and gets across Stosh's adolescent sense of humor and wonder. Deftly intertwining history and sports trivia, this story is sure to inspire listeners.—Cynthia Grabke, formerly Coakley Middle School, Norwood, MA