fathers

Review: How to Cheer Up Dad by Fred Koehler

| Tasha

how to cheer up dad

How to Cheer Up Dad by Fred Koehler

Little Jumbo’s dad is having a very bad day, but Little Jumbo can’t figure out why.  When Little Jumbo spits his raisins at the ceiling, his dad should have remembered not to put them in his oatmeal since Little Jumbo doesn’t like them.  His dad also should have remembered that Little Jumbo doesn’t like his brown overalls, but he didn’t so Little Jumbo ran out of the house naked.  Little Jumbo had to figure out how to cheer up dad, especially after getting a time out when it seemed like Dad needed one himself.  So Little Jumbo sets out to make the perfect cheering-up afternoon with Dad, and it works.  Maybe.

Koehler tells one story with his words and another in the pictures.  This makes for great fun especially with his dead-on sense of timing for humor.  The story is told in Little Jumbo’s voice, but the images show the point of view of the father quite clearly and the mishaps that Little Jumbo has all morning long.  The blissful afternoon together makes this book a little deeper and less madcap, much to the book’s credit.  But the final twist at the end brings the laughter right back again.

Koehler’s art will appeal to fans of Mo Willems with its clear lines, silly humor and a strong relationship between the two characters.  Little Jumbo and his father are two charming characters who related together with a mix of frustration and love. 

Filled with laughs, this is sure to cheer up bedtime at any house but particularly if shared by a dad.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial.

Review: Ten Eggs in a Nest by Marilyn Sadler

| Tasha

ten eggs in a nest

Ten Eggs in a Nest by Marilyn Sadler, illustrated by Michael Fleming

Released January 28, 2014.

Gwen the Hen laid eggs and Red Rooster was very excited to be a father.  Gwen refused to let him count the eggs before they hatched because it was bad luck.  So Red just had to wait.  When one egg hatched, he marched off to the market to buy the new chick one worm.  But when he returned home, there were two more new chicks!  He hurried back to the market after adding 1+2.  Then when he returned there were three more chicks.  1+2+3=6 newly hatched chicks and off Red hurried.  I bet you can guess what happened next!

This beginning reader nicely mixes counting and addition into the story.  Young readers will enjoy the bustling pace of the book and the tension of what Red will find upon his return to the nest.  The entire book has a warmth and sense of community that is tangible.  Simple text includes lots of numbers and remains simple for new readers throughout.

Fleming’s art is cartoon-like and very child friendly.  The colors pop on the white backgrounds, especially Red who is really a rainbow of colors including orange, purple and blue.  The oval chicks are bouncy and cute as can be. 

To sum it up, this is a great “addition” to new reader collections.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Edelweiss and Random House.

Review: Knock Knock by Daniel Beaty

| Tasha

knock knock

Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty, illustrated by Bryan Collier

Every morning a young boy plays a game with his father.  His father knock knocks at the door and the boy pretends to be asleep until his dad is right next to him and they give each other a huge hug.  But then one day, his father isn’t there to play the game any more.  His father isn’t there to get him ready for school either.  Morning pass with no father.  The boy thinks that maybe his father is just there when the boy is at school, so he writes him a letter about how much he misses his dad and how much he expected to learn from him.  The boy waits for months and nothing happens, then one day he gets a letter from his father.  A letter that speaks to their separation but also one that encourages him to continue to live and knock on new doors.

Beaty’s text is deep hearted and searingly honest.  As his author’s note says, he had an incarcerated father who had been his primary caregiver as a young child.  So Beaty has revealed much in this picture book about the gaping hole left from a missing parent.  Yet the genius of this book is that it will work for any child missing a parent for any reason.  And I adore a book with such a strong connection between father and child.  Beaty manages to convey that in a few pages, leaving the rest of the book to reveal the mourning and grief of loss but also a hope that shines on each page.

Collier’s illustrations shine as well. Done in a rich mix of paint and collage, they are filled with light as it plays across faces, dances against buildings, and reveals emotions.  His illustrations are poetry, filled with elephants, showing the boy growing into a man, and the man turning into a father.  They are illustrations that tell so much and are worth exploring again after finishing the book.

This book belongs in my top picks for 2013.  It is beautifully done both in writing and illustrations.  I’m hoping it is honored by the Coretta Scott King awards and I’d love to see a Caldecott as well.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

| Tasha

impossible knife of memory

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Released January 7, 2014.

The amazing Laurie Halse Anderson returns with a book that is powerful, thought-provoking and personal.  Hayley and her father just have each other.  For the past five years after her mother’s death, they have been hauling freight in his truck.  But now they have returned to her father’s home town so that Hayley can finish high school and live in a normal home.  However, their home is anything but normal.  Her father can’t hold down a job because of the images and flashbacks that come over him from his time in Iraq.  He drinks to keep the visions at bay, but then blacks out and forgets what he has done.  He has never hurt Hayley, but he is getting worse rather than better and Hayley is all alone in dealing with him.  At the same time, Hayley is slowly making friends at school, particularly Finn, a boy who has his own family issues to contend with.  As things at home get darker and more dangerous, Hayley has to figure out who she can trust to help, if anyone.

Anderson has written a book about PTSD and the traumas of being a soldier that speak to vets from any war.  She herself was the child of a vet from World War II and has a father who struggled himself with these issues.  Thanks to this personal connection, her book goes deep below the skin into the world of Hayley, her love for her father, and truly connects with the horrors of heroes who return home just to be haunted by what they have done and seen. 

Hayley is a strong character but also deeply flawed.  She is hidden behind so many protective layers that readers discover her as she gets to know Finn.  She slowly reveals a bright intelligence and witty humor.  Her relationship with her father is one based on adoration but also on pure coping with his disabilities.  She herself has faulty memories and blank places that she refuses to focus on and think about.  She too is hiding from her memories, but in her case they are the happy ones.

This book is deep, dark and haunting.  Anderson writes with consummate skill here and looks beyond the headlines into what PTSD in a family member truly means.  Appropriate for ages 14-18.

Reviewed from ARC received from Viking.

Review: My Dad Is Big and Strong, But… by Coralie Saudo

| Tasha

my dad is big and strong but

My Dad Is Big and Strong, But… by Coralie Saudo, illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo

Released May 8, 2012.

Translated from the French, this picture book takes the traditional bedtime story and turns it upside down.  Every night it’s the same thing, Dad does not want to go to bed.  The boy tries to get his father to bed nicely by using logic, but his dad just gets wilder and wilder.  The boy refuses to chase after him, instead offering a quiet story together.  That always works, and the two of them sit together in a chair: the father on the boy’s small lap.  Two stories later, and the boy finally has his father tucked into bed, but the process is not done yet.  The boy can’t head to his own bed yet or his father will ask to sleep with him.  And though his father may be big and strong, he’s also afraid of the dark.

This picture book has a wonderful charm about it that really works.  While there are other books that turn the parent/child relationship around, this one does it with a gentleness and honest joyfulness that is simply lovely.  A large part of this is the tone of the writing.  The sentence structure also works well, showing the skill of the translation.  The book plays with so many of the stereotypes of getting children to sleep that it is a delight to share with children.

Giacomo’s illustrations keep the size of the father and son as different as possible.  As you can see from the cover, the boy is quite small.  It is that size difference that adds so much humor to the illustrations, especially when the father is sitting on the boy’s lap for a story.  Another wonderful whimsical touch is the way the father heads to bed in hat and tie, rather than pajamas. 

Doing a pajama or bedtime story time?  This book would work very well there.  It is also a great pick for bedtime snuggles, though you might find yourself on your child’s lap just to try it out.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Enchanted Lion Books.

Review: Level Up by Gene Luen Yang

| Tasha

level up

Level Up by Gene Luen Yang, illustrations by Thien Pham

As a child, Dennis was forbidden from playing video games.  When his father died, he played them all the time.  He was even good enough to consider playing on the professional circuit.  But that was before THEY showed up.  Four cute little angels with plenty of attitude and a lot of bossiness seemed to know exactly what Dennis should be doing with his life, and it certainly was not video games.  Instead, they pushed and insisted in his father’s name that he start studying hard and then go to medical school.  But will Dennis find happiness there?  Or will he return to his love of gaming?

Yang captures the tension between following your own dreams and following those of your parents.  The four angels serve as universal parental voices, insisting that the future path is set and that one must fulfill one’s destiny.  The writing is infinitely readable, down-to-earth and yet striking.  The book wrestles with important themes, using the graphic format to lighten things but still looking deeply at the choices that shape a life.

Pham’s illustrations are filled with simple lines, washes of color, and often have a play of light and dark backgrounds in different frames on a page.  But if one looks at the illustrations, they are well rendered, interesting and far more than the simple lines may originally seem.

This book has teen and gamer appeal galore.  Before I got to read it myself, my husband and two sons had to read it first.   Both the theme of video games and the graphic format made it impossible for them to pass up.  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

Book Review: My Side of the Car by Kate Feiffer

| Tasha

mysideofthecar

My Side of the Car by Kate Feiffer, illustrated by Jules Feiffer

Sadie and her dad are finally heading to the zoo.  Their trip has been cancelled for several reasons that Sadie can clearly remember, but today nothing can stop the trip.  They are on their way to the zoo when Sadie’s father points out that it’s raining.  Sadie looks  out her window and says that it isn’t raining on her side of the car.  Her father keeps driving, because all Sadie sees out her window is sunshine and lots of people heading to zoos.  People on her side of the car are watering their lawns, though it’s pouring on her father’s side of the car.  When they get to the zoo, Sadie’s father allows her to decide if they should stay, because it is raining hard on his side of the car.  Sadie decides that it would be too wet to go to the zoo in the rain.  So they reluctantly head home, until her father notices that the sun is out on his side of the car…

This picture book is inspired by a real-life event between author Kate Feiffer and her father, illustrator Jules Feiffer.  They share their version of the event that inspired the book at the end of the picture book, and Kate continues to insist that it was never raining on her side of the car.  That’s be beauty of personal perspective and the power of imagination and expectations for children.  This book captures it with humor and because it is told from Sadie’s point of view, with an honestly and care for the child view.

The combination of the fresh point of view from Kate Feiffer and the loose-lined art of her father is a winning one.  The imaginative power of Sadie never wavers in Kate’s writing.  The humor of the text and its attitude is reflected effectively in the illustrations as well.

Highly recommended, this book reminded me of both my own strong convictions as a child and those of my own children.  It is a testament to the imagination and creativity through which children view the world.  Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by

Hide and Squeak: Bedtime Fun

| Tasha

hideandsqueak

Hide-and-Squeak by Heather Vogel Frederick, illustrated by C. F. Payne

Daddy Mouse chases Mouse Baby around the garden and through the house trying to get him to head to bed.  Mouse Baby hides in the kitchen, in the bathroom, and the living room with his father right behind.  Until finally, Daddy manages to grab his tail just before he runs off to a new hiding place.  The pace of the fast-moving book changes to a slow bedtime story as Mouse Baby is tucked into his matchbox bed.  This is an adorable bedtime story with just enough running and romping to keep it lively and fun.

Frederick’s writing incorporates repetition and rhyme.  Daddy Mouse has a rhyme he says again and again in the book, making this a great choice for small children:

Mouse baby, mouse baby,

where can you be?

I can’t see you.

Can you see me?

It’s time for bed.  It’s time for sleep.

No more time for hide-and-squeak.

The tone of the entire book is playful with the added fun of a chase and hide and seek.  Payne’s illustrations have a nice timeless feel to them that adds warmth to the book.  They also have the added charm of coming from a mouse-high perspective that children will enjoy.  The relationship of father and child is highlighted in both the illustrations and the text. 

A great bedtime pick, this book just may become a favorite night time read for your family.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Also reviewed by:

My Father Knows the Names of Things

| Tasha

 

With a colorful airplane on the cover, this book welcomes you to the world of a father and son.  The father knows all sorts of facts.  He knows the names of each and every thing from birds to dogs to cheese to bells.  He knows facts about things like which beetles are smallest and which mosses are fuzziest.  His son follows merrily after him, soaking up the knowledge of his father.  A great book for Father’s Day.

Yolen’s poem is clever, silly and great fun to read.  It’s couplets are merry and jaunty.  The rhyme is never overpowering and the rhythm adds to the appeal.  Jorisch’s watercolor and gouache illustrations also have a wonderful sense of play.  They have a quirky modernism that captures the feel of the poem and adds to it. 

This book celebrates knowledge and imagination as well as the father son relationship.  It is a treat for any time of year.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

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