My Father Is Taller than a Tree by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin

Ideal for a Father’s Day read, this book features pairs of fathers and sons who spend time together.  They do so many different things from boating to painting to playing games.  The father son pairs are diverse not only by being from different cultural and racial backgrounds but also in their relationships.  There are father who wrestle, fathers who need help, father who are artists, fathers who read books.  This is a true celebration of the importance of fathers and the many ways that men can be fathers to their sons.

Bruchac’s poem flows over the bottom of the pages, knitting them together.  The poem is simple and enjoyable with rhyming couplets that offer the inspiration for the illustrations.  Halperin’s illustrations are exceptional.  Done in crayon and pencil, they have a delicacy of line combined with a pleasing density of color.  Each double spread offers one large image of the father and son and then four smaller images showing details of the time they are spending together.  Because of the detail of the pictures, this book is best shared one-on-one and really looked closely at and talked about.  The illustrations invite readers in, tell them a story beyond the poem, and allow us to really understand fathers and sons.

A beautiful book that should not be saved just for Father’s Day.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.