Most Popular Books by Don Tate

From acclaimed author and illustrator Don Tate, the picture book Pigskins to Paintbrushes tells the rousing story of Ernie Barnes, an African American pro football player and fine artist. He realized how football and art were one and the same. Both required rhythm. Both required technique. Passing, pulling, breaking down the field—that was an art. Young Ernie Barnes wasn’t like other boys his age. Bullied for being shy, overweight, and uninterested in sports like boys were “supposed” to be, he instead took refuge in his sketchbook, in vibrant colors, bold brushstrokes, and flowing lines. But growing up in a poor, Black neighborhood during the 1930s, opportunities to learn about art were rare, and art museums were off-limits because of segregation laws. Discouraged and tired of being teased, Ernie joined the school football team. Although reluctant at first, he would soon become a star. But art remained in Ernie’s heart and followed him through high school, college, and into the NFL. Ernie saw art all around him: in the dynamic energy of the game, the precision of plays, and the nimble movement of his teammates. He poured his passion into his game and his craft and became famous as both a professional athlete and as an artist, whose paintings reflected his love of the sport and celebrated Black bodies as graceful and beautiful. He played for the Baltimore Colts (1959–60), Titans of New York (1960), San Diego Chargers (1960–62), and the Denver Broncos (1963–64). In 1965, Barnes signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Canada but fractured his right foot, which ended his professional football career. Soon after, he met New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin, who was impressed by Barnes and his art. In 1966, Barnes had a debut solo exhibition in New York City, sponsored by Werblin at the Grand Central Art Galleries; all the paintings were sold. Barnes became so well known as an artist that one of his paintings was featured in the opening credits of the TV show Good Times, and he was commissioned to create official posters for the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics. From award-winning author and illustrator Don Tate, Pigskins to Paintbrushes is the inspiring story of Ernie Barnes, who defined himself on his own terms and pushed the boundaries of “possible,” from the field to the canvas. The back matter includes Barnes’s photograph and his official Topps trading card. Also included are an author’s note, endnotes, a bibliography, and a list of websites where Barnes’s work can be seen.

"Before Xbox and Playstation and Nintendo Switch, there was a tinkerer named Jerry Lawson. As a boy, Jerry loved playing with springs, sprockets, and gadgety things. When he grew up, Jerry became an engineer--a professional tinkerer. In the 1970s, Jerry decided to tinker with video games. Back then, if players wanted a new video game, they had to buy an entire new console. This made gaming very expensive. Jerry was determined to fix this problem. ... After working hard to find a solution, he finally ... built a brand new kind of video game console--one that allowed players to switch out video game cartridges. He also founded Video Soft, Inc., the first African American-owned video game company in the country"--

From award-winning author-illustrator Don Tate comes a remarkable picture book biography of William Still, known as Father of the Underground Railroad. William Still''s parents escaped slavery but had to leave two of their children behind, a tragedy that haunted the family. As a young man, William went to work for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, where he raised money, planned rescues, and helped freedom seekers who had traveled north. One day, a strangely familiar man came into William''s office, searching for information about his long-lost family. Could it be? Motivated by his own family''s experience, William Still began collecting the stories of thousands of other freedom seekers. As a result, he was able to reunite other families and build a remarkable source of information, including encounters with Harriet Tubman, Henry "Box" Brown, and William and Ellen Craft. Award-winning author-illustrator Don Tate brings to life the incredible, true story of William Still, a man who dedicated his life to recording the stories of enslaved people fleeing to freedom. Tate''s powerful words and artwork are sure to inspire young readers in this first-ever picture book biography of the Father of the Underground Railroad.

Little Friedrich Müller was a puny weakling who longed to be athletic and strong like the ancient Roman gladiators. He exercised and exercised. But he to no avail. As a young man, he found himself under the tutelage of a professional body builder. Friedrich worked and worked. He changed his name to Eugen Sandow and he got bigger and stronger. Everyone wanted to become “as strong as Sandow.” Inspired by his own experiences body-building, Don Tate tells the story of how Eugen Sandow changed the way people think about strength and exercise and made it a part of everyday life. Backmatter includes more information about Sandow, suggestions for exercise, an author’s note, and a bibliography.

George loved words. But George was enslaved. Forced to work long hours, George was unable to attend school or learn how to read. But he was determined—he listened to the white children’s lessons and learned the alphabet. Then he taught himself to read. Soon, he began composing poetry in his head and reciting it as he sold fruits and vegetables on a nearby college campus. News of the slave poet traveled quickly among the students, and before long, George had customers for his poems. But George was still enslaved. Would he ever be free? In this powerful biography of George Moses Horton, the first southern African-American man to be published, Don Tate tells an inspiring and moving story of talent and determination.

A biography of self-taught (outsider) artist Bill Traylor, a former slave who at the age of eighty-five began to draw pictures based on his memories and observations of rural and urban life in Alabama.

The War Within is a complex, virtuoso analysis of an Australian life written by an unabashed and unrepentant author- an acidic dissertation on the roles of genes, environment and litany of trauma play in developing a person''s character, and at the same time, a sauntering chronicle of social mores. In turn, we follow the life of the author as he comes to terms with male status anxiety- apparently inexhaustible in its capacity to cause suffering. Along the way, Tate examines the dark crevices of the male psyche as he battles inner demons from the Vietnam War and the unconditional love of his beautiful Christian Wife, Carole. Above all, this memoir is a celebration of the human condition, of a man with a can-do, cavalier attitude to life and is an outstanding contribution to Australia''s rich heritage of memoir.

The only picture book biography of Dudley Randall--a poet, publisher, and leader of the Black Arts movement of the 1960s--from Ezra Jack Keats Award Winner Don Tate and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honoree and New York Times bestselling illustrator Laura Freeman Dudley Randall''s first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free Press when he was only 13 years old. He continued to write, and as he grew older, he realized that his voice could be powerful. When calls for equal rights were growing louder during the civil rights movement, Randall wrote the "Ballad of Birmingham" in response to an incident of senseless violence against a Black community in Alabama--and suddenly, the world was paying attention to his words. But Randall knew that most publishing companies were ignoring Black writers. In 1965, he founded the groundbreaking Broadside Press to give a platform to Black creatives like Audre Lorde, Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, and Sonia Sanchez, as well as his own work. Randall and his fellow writers used their literary voices to express pride in Black history and culture. From award-winning author Don Tate and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honoree Laura Freeman comes a picture book biography of Dudley Randall--a poet, publisher, and leader of the Black Arts Movement. Integrated throughout the story as well as the back matter, Randall''s most famous poems help bring the story alive. Back matter also includes more information about the famous figures and historical movements discussed in the narrative. Included Randall poems: "Ballad of Birmingham" "On Getting a Natural (For Gwendolyn Brooks)" "Twilight" "Booker T. and W.E.B." "Langston Blues"

May 1969 the Vietnam War Atrocities, Curruption, Murder. The Falsification of History. Anzacs Betrayed is a companion piece to the best-selling memoir, The War Within. Don Tate now provides an in-depth analysis of one of the most sordid matters in Australian military history, the deletion of the 2nd D&E Platoon from all the histories of the Vietnam War and his 38 year battle to have it reinstated. It is a story of many parts- but at it''s heart, it is a story of betrayal. Not only the betrayal of the thirty-nine Infantry Privates who formed the ad hoc, 2nd D&E Platoon in Vietnam during 1969, but a story the gatekeepers of our military heritage don''t want told- the ''red hats'' of the military establishment, and the historians of the Australian War Memorial. And there is good reason why- because it turns on its head the romanticised image of Anzac and the noble traditions of the Australian Defence Force. Don Tate volunteered to go to the Vietnam War as a naive, but patriotic nineteen year old boy in 1969 and served as an infantry reinforcement with three units - the 4th Battalion, the 2nd D&E Platoon, and the 9th Battalion. He was badly wounded in action on the 19th July 1969 and was hospitalised for more than two years. Many years later, he learned that not only hadn''t he been recorded with the 9th Battalion, but that all trace of the 2nd D&E Platoon had been erased from the histories of the Vietnam War. Worse, that the curruptions of his service records (and those of every man who fought in the platoon) was the result of a cover-up of atrocities that reached the highest levels of the military and the government.