Clemente! - Hardcover

Perdomo, Willie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805082247 ISBN 13: 9780805082241

Publisher: Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2010

Synopsis

A little boy named Clemente learns about his namesake, the great baseball player Roberto Clemente, in this joyful picture book biography.
Born in Puerto Rico, Roberto Clemente was the first Latin American player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the only player for whom the five-year initiation period was waived. Known not only for his exceptional baseball skills but also for his extensive charity work in Latin America, Clemente was well-loved during his eighteen years playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He died in a plane crash while bringing aid supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
Willie Perdomo's rhythmic text and Bryan Collier's energetic art combine to tell the amazing story of one of baseball's greats.

Clemente! is a 2011 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

About this title

Review:

"A fitting tribute to a fine man and a great way to engage the interest of young readers and listeners, this picture book is a wonderful reminder that some athletes deserve the hero worship they inspire." --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Graceful bilingual writing and warm, energetic paintings score big in this winning biography." --Cleveland Plain Dealer

"So Clemente is not just a story about the sports hero, who died in a plane crash in 1972 bringing supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua, but also a lovely tale about family, love, perseverance and culture." --New York Daily News

"Perdomo...strikes just the right note of precocious breathlessness, punctuating his text with Spanish to convey a people's enormous pride in one of their own...Collier's watercolor and collage pictures have a burnished look worthy of a heartfelt hagiography while at the same time evoking the dynamism of a genuine superstar athlete." --Publishers Weekly

"Perdomo's lyrical writing draws the reader in; Collier's illustrations are a beautiful companion to the words on the page and bring the characters to life." --Starred, Library Media Connection

"This winning tribute to a great humanitarian athlete will resonate with a wide audience." --School Library Journal

"More than just a biography, this book warmly illustrates the parent-child bond that is one of the finer by-products of sports fandom." --Booklist

About the Author:

Willie Perdomo is the author of VISITING LANGSTON, which received a Coretta Scott King Honor. He is a winner of the PEN Beyond Margins Award and lives in New York City.

Bryan Collier is the illustrator of Visiting Langston, Lincoln and Douglass, and of Rosa and Martin's Big Words, both Caldecott Honor books. He is also the author/illustrator of Uptown, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award and the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award. Mr. Collier lives with his family in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0805082247
• ISBN 13: 9780805082241
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Collier Bryan