Not every family has a father, but the boy in this book likes to imagine what he would do with his father if he were around. He would be fun, supportive and kind. They would play checkers and do dishes together, and his dad would stick up for him and listen to his troubles.
Coupled with Pham’s gentle, expressive illustrations, Zolotow’s little boy dreams of an ideal father, to which his mother replies that even though that perfect father might never come, that the boy can someday be a dad just like that.
40 pages Ages 4-8 978-0060278649
Recommended by: Sarah Stippich, Librarian, Pennsylvania USA
A great addition to any library collection, this upbeat book acknowledges the reality of today’s single-parent family without judgment.
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This young African American boy is imagining what his father would be like if he had stayed to be a part of his family.
Through the eyes and heart of the boy we hear what the important things are. We hear how his father would be there morning and night and the two of them would have a pattern he could count on to always be true. They would walk to the corner together every morning and his father would go one way to work and the boy would turn the other way to go to school
This father might get angry but he would not shout or be aggressive. He would make life fun by telling jokes and playing games.
There would be sharing and understanding and knowing things only a dad knows because he was once a boy too.
This is a touching, heartfelt story about the incredible role fathers play in the family seen from the crystal clear view of a child's heart.
978-0060278649 Ages 5-10 40 pages
Recommended by: Barb
