School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Gr 3-5 This picture book pays homage to Aaron's strength of character and determination to play major league baseball. In 1940s Mobile, AL, young Aaron dreamed of playing though ballparks posted "Whites Only" signs and his father warned him, "Ain't no colored ballplayers." Then Mobile opened a "Colored Only" ball field, and, in 1947, Aaron learned that Jackie Robinson would play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. After high school, Aaron joined a Negro League team, the Indianapolis Clowns. It was apparent that his talents would take him to the major leagues. Older teammates cheered him on, though "it was already too late for them." A large watercolor illustration captures the poignant scene as his teammates watch Aaron, who has just hit a towering fly ball, start to circle the bases. In both the Negro Leagues and the minor leagues, Aaron and his teammates met racism and hardship. White fans jeered, segregated restaurants and motels turned them away, and ballplayers often slept on buses while traveling between games. Tavares ends his account in 1954 when Aaron, having won a starting position on the Milwaukee Braves, met his hero in an exhibition game in his hometown. Well-written text and brilliantly composed art highlight the poignancy and triumph in Aaron's story. This rousing tribute should resonate with a wide audience. Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA

ALA Booklist (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

The opening page presents a stark reminder of baseball's shameful past: a chain-link fence, its sign emblazoned with"WHITES ONLY," separating the viewer from the field. This reality is echoed in the narrative, which opens with Aaron's childhood. After seeing Jackie Robinson play his first game as a Dodger in 1947, the skinny boy who could hit the ball harder than anyone around en though he held the bat with the wrong hand on top ew he had a chance to live his dream. But, as Tavares pointedly relates, it was anything but an easy road. Aaron weathered racism with steady perseverance and outstanding play from the Negro Leagues to his Milwaukee Braves debut. Tavares' vibrant artwork brings viewers into dingy dugouts, on cramped busses, and into the dust of the diamond as Aaron works his way into history. Though the book ends just at the outset of Aaron's record-making big-league career, a final spread of stats shows how good he was, and for how amazingly long. The home-run record may have been stolen, but books like this ensure that Aaron's legacy remains intact.

Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2015)

With understated, unfussy cadences, Tavares describes young Hank Aaron's major-league dream in this smaller-size, reformatted edition originally published as a picture book. After a brief stint in the Negro Leagues, Aaron signed a minor-league contract with the Braves but faced brutal racism in the South. In a final illustration, Tavares's skillful combination of watercolor, ink, and pencil shows Aaron in his first major-league game. An author's note and Aaron's career stats are included. Bib., ind.

Kirkus Reviews (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

This book opens with a stark image: Readers look through a chain-link fence at white boys playing ball, a large WHITES ONLY sign dead center. <p>This book opens with a stark image: Readers look through a chain-link fence at white boys playing ball, a large WHITES ONLY sign dead center. When Henry Aaron was a boy in 1940s Mobile, Ala., he played with a broom handle instead of a bat until he was 12, when a COLORED ONLY field was opened. He held the bat the wrong way, but he could hit harder than anybody. Inspired by Jackie Robinson and his older teammates in the Negro Leagues, Aaron signed with the Braves, playing first in the South Atlantic League in Class A ball and then the Majors. Tavares describes in straightforward but resonant prose what Robinson, Aaron and other black players endured--colored-only audience sections at the ballpark; restaurants and hotels that would serve their white teammates but not them; vicious and foul language--ending his account with Aaron's first <ajor League appearance. The author illustrates his powerful words with extraordinary, heroic images: Muscular watercolor, ink and pencil pictures put readers right in the scene, often looking up at Aaron. Very fine. (author's note, stats, bibliography) <i>(Picture book/biography. 8-12)</p>