Joe DiMaggio: Young Sports Hero (Childhood of Famous Americans)

Have read many in this series, and this book isn't up to the caliber of the others we've read. The writing style was very basic, almost as if a child wrote it. Here's one sentence: "Joe DiMaggio looked cool, and he dressed cool..." There is much editorializing of why Joe is a hero, as if the author were trying to convince us. This outlandish and completely opinionated statement caught me by surprise, "In the eyes of many people, he was the LAST real hero we've had." Say what?! I can think of many heroes since Joe Dimaggio, and many who's hero status comes from helping/serving others instead of playing ball. I think mentioning that he was married and divorced twice, including a marriage to Marilyn Monroe (questionable character that she was) could have been left out entirely since it had nothing to do with his childhood or baseball career. If anything, it taints his character. When I asked my 8 year old what he learned after reading this, that was the one fact he pointed out. And, finally, the absolute worst paragraph in the whole book: "All of us look for role models to pattern our life after. In a perfect world those role models would be teachers, scientists, police officers, and others who make the world a better place every day. In the real world, our heroes tend to be famous people - movie stars, musicians, and athletes. As long as we live in the real world, you couldn't pick a better hero than Joe DiMaggio." Again, what?! I totally disagree. I know many of us reading this series are looking for biographies that inspire and classic quality reading...and this book is neither.

Mr. Dunn has done an excellent job allowing young readers to get to know Joe DiMaggio. My son pointed out that DiMaggio had almost more homers than strikeouts in his career. I'd already known that, but it impressed me all over again. I think my son has read the book about five times already. This book allows young readers to get to know Mr. DiMaggio, both as a youth and as a professional. Highly recommended.

My grandson is a sports fan and loves to read before falling to sleep. He enjoyed reading about one of the early baseball players.

9yr old son enjoyed this book.

This has been well received by 7 year olds. Nice way for next generation to connect with great Americans of the past.

Joe DiMaggioTagline: Catch Fish, Not BaseballsPlot: This book is about a boy named Joe DiMaggio. He was born in San Francisco on November 25, 1914. His family was not very wealthy, they made a living off catching and selling fish. They moved to California so they could fish and get better jobs. Joe was never interested in fishing. The one and only thing he was interested in was baseball. Joe loved baseball when he had the chance to play he did. Him and his brothers played in the backyard whenever they could. One day Joe found a broken oar in a trash can so he worked on it for days. When he was finally finished he showed his family. It was a baseball bat! Him and his brothers went to try it out and it worked great! Joe was very good at baseball one day he saw guys playing a game at a field by his house. One team didn't have enough players so he volunteered to play. Joe was put in right field and he played very good. On the last play of the game Joe caught the ball right at the fence and if he didn't catch it it would have been a home run. With that catch Joe’s team won the game. Joe didn't stop playing! He played for a team called The Jolly Knights. He was up to bat and this was the last play of the game. There was two strikes on him so he knew he had to protects the plate. The pitch was perfect so Joe took a swing at it and he jacked it. It was still in the air when he reached first then it soared over the fence. After the game Joe won the MVP (Most Valuable Player). A few years later a man asked Joe if he could speak with him. The man wanted Joe to play for the San Francisco Seals. He accepted the offer and played on the same team as his brother. During a season with the Seals Joe was on a bus sand when it was his stop he stood up and something popped in his left knee. Joe went down hard. It turned our Joe had torn ligaments. His career was over. Or was it? All the team,s that wanted Joe had backed off because of his injury. The Yankees took a chance and drafted Joe not knowing if he would recover or not. It turns out Joe made an amazing recovery! He played for the Yankees. He didn't play at first since he was a rookie, but he worked to play right field. He got the chance and played amazing. When Joe was still on the Seals he had an outstanding 61 games straight getting a hit. On the Yankees he did outstanding also. He won 10 American league pennants and 9 World Series championships. Joe retired in 1951. Joe had a huge smoking problem and got lung cancer. He died on March 8, 1999 in his home town San Francisco.Main Characters: Joe DiMaggio; He was born on November 25, 1914 in San Francisco. He didn't like school and wasn't that good at it he only focused on one thing and that was baseball. His family was poor and made a living off fishing, but Joe hated to fish.Vince DiMaggio; He fished but also made time for baseball. Him and Joe were on the same team the Seals. When he got injured on the diving play at right field Joe went in to take his spot. Joe was even better than Vince so Vince was kicked off the team. He was born on September 6, 1912 in San Francisco, California.Giuseppe DiMaggio; He is the father of Joe,Vince,Dominic,Nellie, Mamie,Thomas,Marie,Michael,, and Frances. He was married to Rosalia DiMaggio. He ran a fishing shop in California. He moved to California from Italy in 1898. Spent almost all of his time fishing and didn't have a clue about baseball. His family was very poor and barley had enough money for food because of the Great Depression.Theme: Never give up in what you believe in. This is the theme because Joe wanted to become a MLB player and never gave up his dream. He kept playing baseball and he made it as a MLB player for the New York Yankees.I recommend this book for people that like baseball and like to read about other people’s life. I really enjoyed this book because I play baseball and I like reading about people who have succeeded in sports. So, if you like reading about sports and other people then I recommend this book for you. This author did a really nice job to express how Joe felt and how his life took place and what all happened in his life. Again, I recommend this book to a lot of people and it is a very good book to read.

This was just one of the facts my son spontaneously shared. This was the first book in the series that my almost 8-year old read. He was enthused about sharing what he learned about young JD and his family. He is asking for more titles from this series for his upcoming birthday.