Clemente!
Perdomo’s witty, passionate account of the beloved Puerto Rican baseball pioneer takes an unusual approach. The child narrator, whose father is president of the Roberto Clemente fan club, was named in honor of the great player, and little Clemente can tell you just about everything there is to know about the man, from his childhood to his staggering statistics. More important, the boy’s mother reminds him, were Clemente’s off-field heroics as a staunch family man, battler of racism, and humanitarian; he tragically died in a plane crash bringing relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Bits of Spanish are gracefully sprinkled into the narrative: the father tells his boy, “When your teacher takes attendance, / and she calls ‘Clemente,’ / you stand up and say, ‘¡Presente!’” Collier’s kinetic artwork uses collage to explosive effect in scenes of number 21 wielding a bat, and somber directness in a desolate spread of endless ocean waves. More than just a biography, this book warmly illustrates the parent-child bond that is one of the finer by-products of sports fandom. Grades 1-3. --Ian Chipman