It’s summertime and the stories are easy and hard. Both Dads and Moms are
important in reassuring your child(ren) that s/he/they are/is loved. Here are
just a few of the many grand books available to satisfy a child’s curiosity and
comfort her/his doubts. Make sure there is enough time to talk about
celebrations, answer questions, and have a good time together.
My Dad
by Anthony
Browne
Award
winning author-illustrator Browne adapts his characteristic minimal language
and tenderly imaginative colored pencil and wash painting style for this clever
tribute to dads everywhere. Beginning with “He’s all right, my dad,” which
repeats several times through the story for emphasis, the child narrator shows
how brave, strong and wise is “my dad.”
Also
recurring is a tan/brown/yellow plaid, first shown as a bathrobe on an
ordinary-looking man, drinking coffee. The humorous story includes dad balancing
on a tightrope, winning a race, dancing, singing, and playing soccer. However,
when he eats like a horse, or swims like a fish, he is recognizable as the
animals because he’s wearing the plaid bathrobe.
In
a perfect ending, “he makes me laugh. A lot,” the child is wrapped in daddy’s
arms, “HE LOVES ME! (And he always will.)” This merry, playful picture book is
for families to enjoy together.
Farrar, Straus &
Giroux, $17.99
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2
(This book may be
purchased from local and online booksellers.)
Yard Sale
by Eve
Bunting
illustrated by Lauren Castillo
Nearly
everything Callie’s family owns is spread across the front yard – furniture,
potted flowers, even her bicycle. Her family is moving to a small apartment.
Readers watch with Callie as people
pick through her family’s belongings. Someone buys her bed for less money
because of the crayon marks Callie made on the headboard – she made them to
keep track of how many times she read Goodnight
Moon.
She and her friend Sara try to
understand why Callie’s family needs to leave – “something to do with money.”
Callie’s anger is swift and strong when a man loads her bike into his truck and
Dad hurries over.
But Callie’s fear is real when a
smiling woman comments on how cute Callie is, and asks, “Are you for sale?” The
ink and watercolor paintings show Callie’s distress, the friendship between her
and Sara, the kind expression on the face of the man buying her bicycle. They
gently accompany this tough, sometimes heartbreaking tale.
Callie’s parents circle her with
their loving arms as they reassure her. Ultimately, as the three return to the
almost empty house, she realizes, “we don’t really need anything we’ve sold. ….
We will fit in our new place.” This is a graceful, vital storybook of a family
in transition.
Candlewick, $15.99
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2
(This book may be purchased from
local and online booksellers.)
and tango makes three
by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
illustrated by Henry Cole
New
York City’s Central Park Zoo is known for hosting children and their families,
who go there to visit the animal families. Also famous are the penguin
families, especially Roy and Silo, two boy penguins who do everything together
– bowing to each other, walking together, singing to each other, swimming
together. The two watched girl and boy
penguin pairs build nests of stones for themselves. So, Roy and Silo did this
too. Roy even found a rock that looked like what the other penguins are
hatching into baby penguins. He and Silo took turns sitting on the “egg”
(really a rock). “But nothing happened.”
The penguin keeper, who cares for
the penguins and has been watching Roy and Silo, discovers a neglected egg.
When he brings it to their nest, “Roy and Silo know just what to do.”
The watercolor illustrations
highlight expressions and penguin body language. Using double page spreads and
a range of smaller individual illustrations, the artist skillfully companions
with the authors’ deceptively simple text to stir readers’ hearts with the
warmth of family.
Roy and Silo’s commitment to keep
the egg warm eventually joyfully produces Tango, the first penguin in the zoo
to have two daddies. An Author’s Note at the end supplies background for this
true story.
Simon & Schuster,
$17.99
Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 3
(This book is available purchase from local and online booksellers.)
More Books for Fun
Tad and Dad
by
David Ezra Stein
Penguin, $16.99
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 1
(This book may be purchased from local and
online booksellers.)
The Baby Tree
by
Sophie Blackall
Penguin, $17.99
Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten - Grade 2
(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)
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