Babe Ruth and the Ice Cream Mess (Ready-To-Read - Level 2 (Hardback)) [Library Binding]

Dan Gutman (Author), Elaine Garvin (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2004 | Series: Ready-To-Read - Level 2 (Hardback)

CRASH! Young George (Babe) Ruth sends his friends' baseball right through a kitchen window. George runs in fear all the way to his father's tavern, where he finds a dollar. That's enough money to buy ice cream for all his friends to make up for the lost ball! So he takes it. Even as a boy Babe Ruth was generous. But sometimes, it got him into big trouble....

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dan Gutman hated to read when he was a kid, then he grew up. Now he writes cool books like The Kid Who Ran for President, Honus & Me, The Million Dollar Shot, Race for the Sky, and The Edison Mystery: Qwerty Stevens, Back in Time. If you want to learn more about Dan or his books, stop by his Web site: www.dangutman.com. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin Library (February 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689855303
• ISBN-13: 978-0689855306
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,312,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

This is hard. I'm a pretty regular Jersey guy who spent fifteen years trying to write newspaper articles, magazine articles, screenplays, books for adults, and just about everything else before I discovered the one thing I'm good at--writing fiction for kids. I aim for kids who DON'T like to read, and hopefully the kids who DO like to read will enjoy my stuff too. For all the gory details about me, check out my web site.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very strange book, March 9, 2007

By 

Austin Blair (Okemos, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Babe Ruth and the Ice Cream Mess (Childhood of Famous Americans) (Paperback)

This book is very odd and, quite frankly, not very good. First of all, Babe Ruth seems like an unusual subject for a kids' book about childhood, since from what I know, Ruth had a fairly unpleasant childhood. After all, his father signed off on parental rights when Babe was seven and he spent the rest of this youth living in a boys' reformatory (St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore).

In the story, seven year-old George (before he became known as "Babe") breaks a window while playing baseball with his friends, runs away from the scene, sees an ice cream cart, later steals a dollar from his father's inexplicably empty tavern, then buys ice cream for all his friends with the dollar. His parents discover his theft, and after a heartfelt exchange with his mother, the book ends with George's father chasing the boy out of the house with a wooden paddle! (I found myself checking the back of the book to make sure I didn't miss the last page--I couldn't believe that a childrens picture book would end in this manner).

This book may have worked better if it had been about Babe's relationship with Brother Matthias, who was Ruth's mentor (and baseball instructor) at the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, but it makes no sense in trying to write about the Babe's rather indifferent parents (and to end the book on such an odd, unresolved, and sour note that will just leave kids confused).

3.0 out of 5 stars What on Earth is the Moral of this Story?, December 9, 2004

By 

Lynn Ellingwood "The ESOL Teacher" (Webster, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Babe Ruth and the Ice Cream Mess (Childhood of Famous Americans) (Paperback)

Strange tale for a young kid. Babe Ruth as a child steals a dollar from dad to buy his friends ice cream and runs away from a beating at home. What?????? This story is a strange tale in the manner it is told.