Similarly, besides looking at sports stars, I soon began to delve into biographies of all kinds of leaders and inventors, like George Washington or George Washington Carver. Only with this strong background in biography and history would I later in my teen and college years even begin to appreciate other forms of literature, especially fiction.
PURPOSE OF CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE
Children's authors write books for many reasons but most of the biographies produced are undertaken for much the same reason as Matt Tavares--one such author of sports celebrities--has elaborated: "I'm mostly just looking for great stories, but also stories that I find inspirational, and stories I think kids will also be inspired by."
Certainly, in living out their daily struggles, children need inspiration--as do we all.
Naturally, in most of the biographies that are written for children (or even those written for adults too) often the positive and inspirational messages dominate more in the tale than do the struggles, failures, mistakes, and errors of the individuals written about. I believe that once the general longitudinal story is known by a young reader, the way will have been paved for him or her to actually under take later further research and study.
Through children's biography literature, young readers are introduced to real heroes (as compared to batman or Harry Potter) to hang onto and whose life they can reflect on--even if their own life seems rather dull or uneventful in comparison. Moreover, the best children's writers are always researching and gleaning (more) knowledge and sharing (ever more) diverse material than the children's biographies written in my own 1960s and 1970s generation.
Matt Tavares elaborates on the importance of doing original work in creating his book on Babe Ruth--a topic which might seemed to have come naturally to him after he had already published a writing on Ted Williams (based partially on his own father's personal recollections of the man).
Tavares, howeve, wanted his book on George Herman "Babe" Ruth to bring something new to children readers. Tavares stated, "I only wanted to do my own Babe Ruth book if I could find some way to make a book that's different from what's already out there. I decided to focus on his early years, and tell the story of how he became Babe Ruth. Most people think about Babe Ruth as a larger-than-life, almost mythical character. I wanted to tell a story that showed him as a real person."[1]
Tavares began his undertaking by digging into the literature and archive of photos on Ruth. Eventually, Tavares not only wrote but illustrated a new Babe Ruth by focusing on how hard-working Ruth had been in honing his craft. Tavares explains, "I was surprised by how hard he [Ruth] worked to be great. I think people have this idea that he was just this freakish talent, who stuffed his face with hot dogs, drank beer, and hit home runs. But he practiced for countless hours, first at St. Mary's under the guidance of Brother Matthias, then during his baseball career, when he was the first professional baseball player to have a personal trainer in the offseason. Yes, he was naturally gifted and strong, but he worked very hard to be the greatest baseball player he could be."[2]
Tavares added, "Before I started working on this book[ about Ruth], I think I had this impression of Babe Ruth being more self-indulgent, and not someone who really cared about others. So I was surprised by how much he did for children. Everywhere he traveled, he visited countless orphanages and hospitals, bringing joy to kids in tough situations. He was a hero to these kids, because he was one of them. He knew what he meant to them, and he fully embraced the role."[3]
The role Tavares prescribes to Babe Ruth could apply to himself or the mission of a host of children's biographical writers. Children's literature must not become simply repackaged flavors--i.e. simply mixing up the story line of the same-old tales---but with every new generation of writing children's literature ought to bring something new to the reader--i.e. a new insight into the main character of the biography or new insight into the world the protagonist grew up in.
HEROES and HEROES OF FAITH
In the area of children's literature, Barbour publishing has been putting out a series (of nearly 40 books) on the theme: HEROES OF THE FAITH. The first book I ever read from the series was on Sojourner Truth: American Abolitionist by W. Terry Whalin. We were introduced to her struggle and numerous quotes and speeches, including "Ain't I a woman?"
"Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff"--Sojourner Truth
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