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Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility."
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Jamie Hawkins, better known as Jim Hawkins, is the main protagonist of Chris Heimerdinger's Tennis Shoes Adventure Series. He serves as the main protagonist of Tennis Shoes Among The Nephites, Gadiantons And The Silver Sword, and The Feathered Serpent: Parts One And Two. Jim later appears as an overarching character in The Sacred Quest and The Lost Scrolls before returning as a supporting protagonist in The Golden Crown. Jim is also a minor character in Warriors Of Cumorah and Tower Of Thunder, one of the main protagonists in Kingdoms And Conquerors and Sorcerers And Seers, and a minor character in Drums Of Desolation. Jim is an active member of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints who frequently finds himself thrust into adventures where he and his family members go back in time to the events chronicled in the Book Of Mormon, the Bible, and the Doctrine And Covenants. He is the husband of Renae Fenimore, and later Sabrina Sorenson, the father of Melody Hawkins, Steffanie Hawkins, Harry Hawkins, and Gidgiddonihah Hawkins, the stepfather of Meagan Sorenson, the brother of Jennifer Hawkins, Judd Hawkins, Steven Hawkins, and Mitch Hawkins, the brother-in-law of Garth Plimpton, and the uncle of Joshua Plimpton and Rebecca Plimpton.
Tennis Shoes Among The Nephites[]
In the first book, Jim is introduced as a thirteen-year-old boy who, despite being raised in a Mormon family, is part of a gang of teenagers who call themselves the Vikings. While performing church services with his father, Jim gets to know a geeky kid named Garth Plimpton who attends the same church as him.
When Jim and Garth learn of the legend of a cave called the Rainbow Room underneath Cedar Mountain, they decide to sneak out and explore Frost Cave in search of the Rainbow Room. Although they are unsuccessful on their first search, on their second search, Jim's younger sister Jennifer joins them and helps them find the Rainbow Room. However, the three of them fall into an underground river and are taken through a time loop that takes them to ancient times, when the Nephites and Lamanites described in the Book Of Mormon lived.
Jim, Garth, and Jennifer are found by Lamanite scouts and taken to the camp where Amalickiah and his brother Ammoron reign supreme. At a royal feast, Amalickiah grills Jim and Garth about their origin. Jim and Garth tell him that they are from Cody, Wyoming, which Amalickiah does not believe. He deduces that they are Nephite spies and sentences them to the Lamanite priests' next ritual.
Not long after, Jim and Garth are set free by a Lamanite traitor and escape into the surrounding forest. They run into a band of soldiers led by Teancum, who bring them back to the city of Zarahemla. There, Jim hears more about the Nephite-Lamanite war going on, and develops a crush on a young Nephite girl named Menochin.
While exploring the marketplace one day, Jim and Garth follow a suspicious-looking man and eavesdrop on a secret Kingmen meeting. To the boys' horror, the Kingmen are an organization of assassins that are planning to murder various Nephite leaders, including Teancum and Captain Moroni. Jim and Garth rush to warn Teancum of the plot to murder him, unintentionally starting rumors of assassins among the Nephites. In retaliation, Sellum approaches Jim and holds him at knifepoint. After Teancum shows up and breaks them up, Sellum is sent to prison.
Not long after, Teancum prepares a war party to march on the Lamanite camp where Amalickiah resides. Since Jim, as a time traveller, has the gift of tongues that allows him to speak and understand any language as if it's his own, Teancum asks him to accompany him to serve as his translater. Jim agrees on the condition that Teancum rescues Jim's sister Jennifer, who is being held captive by the Lamanites. Teancum agrees to his terms.
After winning a battle with the Lamanite army, Jim and Teancum enter Amalickiah's camp to kill Amalickiah and rescue Jenny. They find Amalickiah and kill him in his sleep before rescuing Jenny.
After Jim and Jenny reunite with Garth, the three of them are told by the prophet Helaman that, if they disclose the memories of their experiences in Nephite times to anyone else in the modern world, they will lose their memories of those experiences. Jim, Garth, and Jenny then find the cave that contains the time loop that brought them to Nephite times and use it to go back to modern times. At first, Jim makes good on his promise to keep his adventures a secret. However, when he witnesses Jenny tell a friend from church about it and subsequently lose her memory of it, he feels the need to share it in some form. He resorts to recount his experiences via a written manuscript, as he feels that keeping his adventures a secret is selfish. However, when he finishes writing the manuscript, he loses his memory of his adventure.
Years later, as recounted in the novel's prologue and epilogue, Jim finds his manuscript in his old files. He reads it over and finds it intriguing. He notices that Garth Plimpton is a major character in the story and decides to share it with him. Garth reads over the manuscript and shares Jim's intrigue; however, unbeknownst to Jim, Garth kept his committment to keep their adventures a secret and in turn retained his memory.