The Lieography of Babe Ruth
The Absolutely Untrue, Totally Made Up, 100% Fake Life Story of Baseball's Greatest Slugger
by Alan Katz
Tanglewood Publishing

This is such a delightfully, nutty book! It's for middle grade but it tickled me too! There are the silliest things written in here! It tells a whopper of tales describing Babe Ruth's life. This will keep the reader entertained if they know about The Babe or not.

Near the end of the book, it switches and tells the true story of Babe Ruth and it holds your interest. I think kids will be interested to see what the REAL one was like!

There are lots of clever illustrations along the way to really enhance the story. Why weren't there books like this when I was a kid? This would be good for any child that loves humor, history, or baseball!

I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this awesome and hilarious book! ( )

Seriousness soars out of the park as this book dives into obvious and hilarious tales, which never could have happened.

If you're looking for a true account of Babe Ruth's life, this is not the book to grab up. It does base itself a little bit on this incredible baseball player's experiences but very, very, very loosely. From the historical side, I like it simply because it does raise awareness of Babe Ruth's existence and let's readers, at least, know a bit of very general information about him (what he did and who he was in an extremely broad sense). At the end of the book, there are a few pages which seriously summarize his life and allow readers to discover who he really was and what he accomplished.

The tales are humorous and drag in even quirky humor. For example, Babe Ruth sends a foul ball into the stands and accidentally breaks a girl's iPhone...which he feels very bad about sense iPhones are rare because they don't exist yet. Of course, his bat is broke and he needs to hit the next home run with his arm. In other words, these stories are goofy and silly and simply ridiculous.

Another plus point is found in the plentiful illustrations. I'm always a fan of these in middle grade books, and this one holds more than a couple. It allows readers to get a better impression of what's going on, adds humor, and even builds a picture of Babe Ruth in their minds. Plus, it breaks up the flow. At 64-pages, this is one that even reluctant readers aren't going to be scared to pick up, and the illustrations make this one even more attractive.

If I can criticize anything, it's that I'm not sure middle graders will find this one quite as funny as adults will...unless they happen to be baseball and/or Babe Ruth fans. Some of the humor might not hit quite right for the younger age group. Still, I recommend this one, especially to reluctant reading sport fans, and have no doubt that it will draw more than a few snorts and giggles.

I received a complimentary copy through Netgalley and laughed my way through the entire book. ( )