PORTLAND, Maine — “Growing Up Pedro,” a children’s book about Boston Red Sox great Pedro Martinez by Ogunquit author and illustrator Matt Tavares, went on sale Tuesday.
Tavares, a graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, has written and illustrated other children’s books about baseball stars Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Henry Aaron, as well as the lesser known Andy Oyler, among other non-baseball books.
“Growing Up Pedro” tells the story of how Martinez grew up in the Dominican Republic and how he loved baseball and idolized his older brother, Ramon, who first pitched professionally.
“With so many ballplayers coming from the Dominican Republic, I wanted to tell the story of that quintessential modern baseball experience. And after reading about Pedro, I decided he was the perfect subject,” Tavares told the Bangor Daily News on Tuesday.
“First off, I’m a lifelong Red Sox fan, and Pedro is the greatest baseball player I’ve ever seen in person. And his story is one that I think kids will relate to,” he continued. “He was an underdog from the start and overcame so many obstacles along the way. There was nothing like being at Fenway when Pedro was pitching, and it was a lot of fun to relive those memories when I was working on this book.”
As Red Sox fans know, Pedro Martinez would go on to win three Cy Young Awards, given to the best pitcher in each league of Major League Baseball, and a World Series title with Boston in 2004, helping break the team’s 86-year championship drought.
Martinez, who also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Montreal Expos, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies during his career, will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this year.
Similar to biography written for adults, Tavares needed to conduct extensive research for “Growing Up Pedro” — not just to understand Martinez’ background but also to be able to illustrate scenes from his youth.
“I traveled to the Dominican Republic and visited some places that still look how they did when Pedro was a kid,” Tavares said. “It was really amazing to be able to see all these places in person, then go back to Maine and paint all the scenery and houses and people I had just seen in my travels. It made the process even more personal for me.
“Pedro wasn’t directly involved in the making of this book, because he was busy working on his own memoir at the same time I was writing ‘Growing Up Pedro,’” he continued. “But he was aware of it, and his agent helped with some fact-checking. Fortunately, Pedro has done countless interviews over the years, so I was able to find answers to pretty much everything I wanted to ask him.”
In a 2013 interview with website BabeRuthCentral, Tavares said writing about baseball could make reading more accessible to young readers who may be passionate about sports but not yet books.
“Baseball is just something I’ve always loved. I wasn’t a big reader when I was a kid, but I would read anything about baseball. I try to make books that I would have liked when I was a kid,” Tavares told BabeRuthCentral.
“I still love spending every day drawing, writing and painting, but I’m also motivated by the fact that I know that there are real kids out there who are going to read these books,” he continued. “Some of them might not be that interested — baseball biographies aren’t for everyone, I guess. But for some of them, this might be the book that really grabs them and makes them want to read more books.”
As for all this snow Maine has been receiving this winter? Tavares told the BDN being snowbound indoors has given him “lots of time to focus and get work done.”
“But with all the snow days lately, I actually have coworkers in my studio — my kids — which is nice,” he said.
