Picture book biographies

Did I ever find some terrific biographies!  Check these out!
The first one is called "Trombone Shorty" by Troy Andrews, which actually makes this one an autobiography.  Trombone Shorty is, unsurprisingly, a trombone player.  What is surprising is how young he started (when he was 4!) and how he got started, which is detailed in the book. The art work is awesome and really helps you feel the energy and affection for music and New Orleans.  I think the kids will like the story of his start and they will love to hear about his foundation that is helping to mentor high school students in the New Orleans area in the music business.  Here's a tiny desk concert from NPR with Trombone Shorty and his band.

The second one is a biography of Jane Goodall called "Untamed- The Wild Life of Jane Goodall" by Anita Silvey.  This biography is stuffed full of photographs of Goodall during her entire life.  The story is told with lots of interesting details that are sure to make kids (and adults) keep reading.  There are also lots of connections to all the work in Jane's life, including her foundations and effects of her research.  This one needs to be in every library.  

The third one is one for sports fans.  It's called "Growing up Pedro" by Matt Tavares.  It's about a baseball player named Pedro Martinez and how he became a great pitcher, helping the Boston Red Sox win the American League Championship in 1999.  It also tells what a big influence his big brother, Ramon (also a professional baseball player) had on his life.  It's a really great story of persistence and perseverance.  The pictures are also terrific.  This would be great paired with some of the other picture book biographies about baseball players like "You never heard of Sandy Koufax?" by Jonah Winter or "You never heard of Willie Mays?!" also by Jonah Winter.  We are definitely getting this one for our library.  Here's a book trailer about it.