Baseball Card Adventures 12-Book Box Set: All 12 Paperbacks in the Bestselling Baseball Card Adventures Series!

My son is 6 years old and he is obsessed with baseball. While these books are written for 8 to 12 year olds, my son and I read these books together as a bonding activity and bedtime ritual. Due to some of the themes and events (racism in Jackie and Me - the N word is used, war/violence during Abner and Me, alcohol use during Prohibition era, gun violence - protagonist is shot at many times, mention of drugs (heroin, steroids), character gives “the finger,” etc.) it’s helpful for parents to have a discussion about the events in the book. Parts of Abner and Me (Battle of Gettyburg) are so gory that Gutman actually puts a disclaimer in the beginning of that specific book. These are not like the Magic Tree House series which I just hand over to my son to read, I’d prefer to have a discussion with my son while reading the books with him.Dan Gutman does a wonderful job of making these baseball players come to life. Many times the actual quotations from the baseball players (Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, etc.) are weaved into the storyline. All the books are written within a historical context (Great Depression, Civil War, segregation, Black Sox scandal of 1919, etc.) and utilizes actual baseball statistics/events. For baseball fans and parents who are history buffs, this is a phenomenal series and is well written. There are moments where my son and I are both cracking up (i.e. Babe Ruth’s driving).There are some moments in the series that definitely stop and make me go “hmm,” there’s some stigmatizing language towards individuals with mental illness and addiction (protagonist suspects that another character is using heroin and uses the word “junkie” and also uses the word “crazy” to describe the purpose of a straight jacket in the context of Harry Houdini doing a magic trick). In Jackie and Me, the White protagonist time travels to see Jackie Robinson break the color barrier and turns into a Black kid. While I get it’s to convey the White protagonist experiencing racism himself, at the end of the book he conveniently turns back to his White self (not equivalent to what Black people have to face on a daily basis).While the series is not perfect, it’s pretty darn close and it’s further solidified my son’s passion for both baseball and reading. Thank you to Dan Gutman for hitting it out of the park with this one!

My 9 year old son loves these books and he’s learning a little about baseball history at the same time! The reading level might be a little bit easy for a nine year old. Sometimes it’s nice to read just for fun!

It's a real pleasure to order this book set and to discover that it's more than equal to the cost, both in quality and content. My 11 year-old grandson has really dug into the books, liking them very much! I was amazed when I asked him a question on Willie Mays and he actually had the answer! Because of these books.

My grandson loved them finished them all in 2 weeks

I teach 2nd grade and my students love Dan Gutman I thought this would be good for enrichment reading. The books are great, but I would definitely advise them for 3rd and up. The are perfect for baseball fans!

My baseball loving 8 year old could NOT put these down. Absolutely would recommend!

Great series and easy read

Favorite books growing up. And good life lessons in a lot of them.