Growing Up Pedro: How the Martinez Brothers Made It from the Dominican Republic All the Way to the Major Leagues

Reviews/Quotes

Booklist 01/15/2015 Booklist Tavares’ latest baseball profile, featuring Pedro Martínez, is as much an homage to the love between brothers as it is a biography.... Concluding stats top off this winning title. -------- Kirkus Reviews 02/12/2015 Kirkus Reviews Watercolor, gouache and pencil illustrations depict the emotional fervor of the action.... A warm portrait of a modern baseball icon. -------- Publishers Weekly 01/21/2015 Publishers Weekly Tavares’s luminous paintings pair with accessible prose arranged into verselike passages to create a vivid portrait of two contemporary athletes. -------- School Library Journal (starred review) 01/21/2015 School Library Journal (starred review) Tavares masterfully depicts, with quick verse and beautiful illustrations, the world in which the two siblings came of age.... This is a strong overview of a remarkable athlete. Martinez’s unbelievable statistics are included at the end of the book. A wonderful introduction to a truly special player. -------- Horn Book 12/04/2014 Horn Book Tavares highlights their warm filial relationship, inviting readers to understand how Ramón is challenged by loneliness in America, mostly because his lack of English prevents him from communicating. ... The gouache and watercolor paintings lovingly depict both players, from boyhood to adulthood. Tavares captures some of the iconic images of Pedro: pitching with intensity, goofing off in the bullpen, and even being taped to a pole by his teammates as a prank. -------- Literacy Daily 09/29/2015 Literacy Daily The beautiful illustrations complement the narrative and the selection would partner well with other biographies about baseball players, including those by Matt Tavares: Henry Aaron’s Dream and There Goes Ted Williams. -------- from Kendal Rautzhan 05/14/2015 from Kendal Rautzhan The story of how Pedro Martinez came to achieve that status is inspiring, and author/illustrator Matt Tavares captures it perfectly for younger readers. -------- School Library Connection 08/18/2015 School Library Connection Detailed illustrations support the text through attractive landscaped scenes. The facial expressions of the characters are especially telling and remarkable. -------- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 04/07/2015 Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Fraternal mentoring and emulation forms a cohesive theme throughout. --------