Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

Next book

MY FATHER SAID/ MI PADRE DIJO

A tender portrait of paternal love in its many varieties.

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

A son recounts all the ways his father showed his love in this bilingual children’s book.

The dads in the storybooks of today often show complete command of their emotions and are endlessly forthcoming with their pride, vulnerability, and support. But author and illustrator Silva reminds readers in this book’s introduction that for plenty of dads of an older generation, or dads who weren’t raised in the American middle class, “it can be hard to openly share their feelings or bond with their kids” in the ways Western society believes they should. This children’s book is a love letter to fathers like the author’s, who prefer to use actions rather than gifts or words to convey the depth of their feelings. The text follows a consistent structure of two lines starting with “my Father said he loves me…” in both English and Spanish, accompanied by a digital illustration. Silva depicts a chronology of a working-class Mexican-American father and his son from the child’s birth through childhood. The narrative marks milestones like haircuts, working, and birthdays, with many illustrations pointing to agricultural work as well as traditional Mexican food, music, and decor; these represent declarations of love through hard work, sacrifice, and cultural pride, with the father showing his devotion through “his backbreaking work” and “the music he played.” The digital illustrations often have a photographic quality, which effectively enhances the book’s theme of memory.

Silva’s poignant and personal story offers a perspective on a kind of paternal love that is often misinterpreted; he writes in the afterword that “My Father said…he loved me…although not with words…now I know how much he cared.” His vibrant, 2-D art style conveys the idea that his life is full of dynamic love (despite not hearing the words) in a variety of domestic scenes, like bedrooms, kitchens, and family trips in the car; homes are decorated with colorful walls, paper banners, Catholic elements (like crosses), and photographs. The most compelling visual elements, however, are the pastoral depictions of the “backbreaking work” that the father does to sustain his family. Silva uses long lines that bisect the pages to represent the fields he and his family worked in, rendered in shades of green, brown, and orange to emphasize their importance. There are some subtle cues about class and the sacrifices made by those living the immigrant experience, perhaps most acutely in the image of “calloused working hands,” coarse with abrasions, over a planting field. A family scene in the car shows that the protagonist has other siblings and a mother, thus implying love in other forms, but this narrative is squarely an homage to his relationship with his father—his namesake—and the story of how he was taught how to love in turn. Children raised differently can learn a new love language from Silva’s tale, and children native to either language will get the words to appreciate how love may or may not manifest in their families.

A tender portrait of paternal love in its many varieties.

Pub Date: July 28, 2024

ISBN: 9781958615300

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Con Todo Press

Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2024

Next book

ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Next book

IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024

ISBN: 9780593702901

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024

Close Quickview