Henry Aaron's Dream

Matt Tavares hits one out of the park with this powerful tale of a kid from the segregated south who would become baseball's home-run king. Before he was Hammerin' Hank, Henry Aaron was a young boy growing up in Mobile, Alabama, with what seemed like a foolhardy dream: to be a big-league baseball player. He didn't have a bat. He didn't have a ball. And there wasn't a single black ball player in the major leagues. But none of this could stop Henry Aaron. In a captivating biography of Henry Aaron's young life -- from his sandlot days through his time in the Negro Leagues to the day he played his first spring training game for the Braves -- Matt Tavares offers an inspiring homage to one of baseball's all-time greats.

Matt Tavares is the illustrator of Iron Hans: A Grimms’ Fairy Tale; ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, or an Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas; Jack and the Beanstalk; Doreen Rappaport’s Lady Liberty: A Biography; and Kristin Kladstrup’s The Gingerbread Pirates, as well as the author-illustrator of Zachary’s Ball, Oliver ’s Game, and Mudball. He lives in Ogunquit, Maine.