Two Museum Events This Weekend

an Arthur Griffin photograph and one of my illustrations from There Goes Ted Williams, on display at the Griffin Museum in Winchester, Massachusetts

I have artwork in two museum exhibits right now, featuring illustrations from my two Red Sox books- Zachary's Ball and There Goes Ted Williams. And I'll be at both museums this weekend!

Several pictures from Zachary's Ball are on display at the Wenham Museum in Wenham, Massachusetts. I'll be signing books there today, Saturday, at 2:00 pm. There will be lots of fun baseball-themed activities, and I hear they're going to raffle off a copy of Zachary's Ball signed by me AND Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia!

Tomorrow, Sunday at 3:00 pm I'll be doing a gallery talk at The Griffin Museum in Winchester, Massachusetts, as part of the There Goes Ted Williams exhibit. I was there for the opening reception a couple weeks ago, and it was a wonderful event. I hadn't seen the exhibit before then, and it was so cool to see my illustrations up there with Arthur Griffin's photographs.  That was more of a grownup event (my kids came, but it was after their bedtime so they got very tired...), but tomorrow will be perfect to bring the whole family.

And there's also an amazing Fenway Park exhibit at the Griffin Museum, so if you come to my signing, you can check that out too!

The Fenway Park exhibit, at the Griffin Museum in Winchester

Happy 100th Birthday Fenway Park!

To celebrate the 100th birthday of Fenway Park, I'm giving away a copy of There Goes Ted Williams, with an original pen drawing of Fenway inside (which I just drew a few minutes ago). Here it is:

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. Feel fee to share a Fenway memory if you want.

I'm also posting the giveaway on Twitter, so if you're on Twitter, please help me out and retweet it! Thanks.

Junior Library Guild Selection!

Hey, look what arrived in the mail today! Thanks, Junior Library Guild!

Late on deadline... must get back to work...

EXTRA! EXTRA!

There Goes Ted Williams in the Washington Post!

I always love Opening Day, and this year it was even more fun than usual, because with it came a flurry of new reviews of There Goes Ted Williams- including great reviews in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times!

Here are some snippets from some recent newspaper reviews:

"Exhilarating... Tavares’s full-bleed spreads alternate with sepia-toned spot drawings, all beautifully arranged in this old-fashioned but evergreen tribute."
-The New York Times

"Kids will especially like that this wonderful picture book spends a lot of time talking about the childhood of the famous Boston Red Sox slugger.... an exciting and inspiring story."
-The Washington Post

"Tavares writes “There Goes Ted Williams’’ like a jazzy poem. There is musicality in every line, and in every full-color painting. The nostalgia of the paintings plays beautifully against the straight-up clarity of the prose."
-The Boston Globe

And a few new blog reviews...

"Matt Tavares’s present-tense narrative lends drama and immediacy to the all-smiles-and-heroics biography, and the watercolor, gouache, and pencil illustrations depict Williams as large as a double-page spread can hold."
-The Horn Book, "Opening Day" feature

"From the super talented author-illustrator of four other equally spectacular baseball-related picture books... comes the story of lanky Ted Williams... The figure he portrays in this gorgeously illustrated picture book is that of an American hero."
-Letter Blocks: The Barnes and Noble Parents & Educators Blog

"This is a stirring book about Ted Williams, but also about what makes baseball so great.  I love it! It's a home run."
-Shelf-Employed

"In There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, author/illustrator, Matt Tavares captures the passion, dedication, and magic that was Williams."
-Kid Lit Frenzy

Thanks newspapers and bloggers!

There Goes Ted Williams Art Exhibit Opens Thursday

Just spreading the word about this exhibit I'm really excited about.  If you're anywhere near Winchester, Massachusetts, I hope you can join me at the opening on April 12! Here are the details...

THERE GOES TED WILLIAMS: ARTHUR GRIFFIN AND MATT TAVARES

 

Ted Williams, photographed by Arthur Griffin during his rookie season, 1939

THERE GOES TED WILLIAMS: ARTHUR GRIFFIN AND MATT TAVARES

Opening reception: Thursday, April 12, 7:00-8:30pm
The Griffin Museum of Photography, in Winchester, Mass
Exhibit runs April 5 through May 27, 2012

An exhibit of Matt Tavares's original artwork from his picture book, There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, alongside Arthur Griffin's historic 1939 photographs of Ted Williams, taken during his rookie season with the Red Sox- the first color photographs ever taken of Ted Williams.

Matt Tavares gives a members talk on There Goes Ted Williams on April 12 at 6:15 PM, before the public opening. He also gives a gallery talk and book signing  at the Griffin Museum on April 22 at 3 PM.  

Book Ends of Winchester will be handling book sales at both events.

illustration from There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, by Matt Tavares

 If you're interested, here's a longer post about how this exhibit came to be.

Road trip!

We're packing up the family minivan and heading down to New York City tonight for my signing at Books of Wonder tomorrow. Then it's on to Connecticut for an event at R.J. Julia Booksellers Sunday afternoon. If you're in NYC or the Madison, Connecticut area, come say hi! Both events should be a lot of fun. Here are the details:

Saturday, March 31	12:00-2:00 pm, book signing and talk at Books of Wonder in New York City. "Batter Up!" baseball event with Diane deGroat & Shelley Rotner (author and illustrator of Homer) and Audrey Vernick & Steven Salerno (author and illustrator of Brothers at Bat).
Sunday, April 1	3:00 pm, book signing at R.J. JuliaBooksellers in Madison, CT, for There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived

FYI- there happens to be an Ivy and Bean event at RJ Julia on Sunday at 2:00, just before my event. So if your kids are Ivy and Bean fans, come early and stay for both!

Sneak peek at my next book...

My next book, Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller (written by the amazing Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by me, published by Disney-Hyperion) doesn't come out until October, but my editor gave me the go-ahead to post the cover image on my web site. So... here it is!