Becoming Babe Ruth

Is there a bigger baseball fan in the children's literature world than Matt Tavares? His sixth book on the subject profiles the iconic George Herman "Babe" Ruth, with Tavares shining a light on the flamboyant slugger's charitable side. In Baltimore at the turn of the twentieth century, young George's delinquent ways land him at Saint Mary's, a local industrial boarding school. There he meets Brother Matthias, whose majestic home runs in the schoolyard enthrall young George. Matthias tirelessly coaches George on the baseball fundamentals, and soon George leaves school and becomes "the Babe," capturing the imagination of the American public with his booming home runs and even bigger personality. But when a fire destroys his old school, Ruth shows that he hasn't forgotten his roots: he invites the Saint Mary's band on a Yankees road trip, helping to raise money to rebuild the school. Tavares expertly conveys Ruth's charm through mixed-media illustrations -- the boyish grin, the huge appetite (one humorous spread features Ruth in front of an outlandish spread at a restaurant), the love of the game he played so well. Tavares brings the well-paced story to a close with the now-world-famous Babe returning to Saint Mary's to put on an impromptu slugging exhibition for the boys, similar to the ones Brother Matthias gave that so enchanted George as a boy. It's a lovely, poignant ending to a standout sports picture book biography. Appended with an author's note, baseball stats, and a bibliography. sam bloom