MY DADDY AND ME

There are so many different kinds of dads in the world that support their kids in so many different ways.

This rhyming board book follows fathers and children through a typical day for a toddler and parent, starting with waking up and continuing until bath-and bedtime. Dads are cheerfully involved in every activity, whether it’s giving their children breakfast, planting a garden together, or going for walks. In every picture, from morning until night, the fathers depicted are delighted by parenthood, and their children are thrilled to spend time with their dads. The watercolor-and-ink illustrations utilize a gentle, pastel palette to depict fathers and children with a variety of skin tones and racial backgrounds. The lilting text reads aloud easily and is simple and predictable enough for even very small children to memorize and read along. “Daddy wakes before I rise. / Drinks his coffee. Rubs his eyes. / Sees me standing on the stair. / Picks me up. Smooths my hair.” Paired, the art and words create a loving, nurturing tone. The book’s only shortcoming is its tendency to place the dads in fairly stereotypically male parenting activities, like teaching children to ride bikes or giving them baths, rather than doing things like cleaning up messes together or changing diapers, tasks which often fall to mothers.

Sweet and affectionate.