Dads Read Too

JER: “ My Cat Looks Like My Dad ” by Thao Lam is Ejler’s new favorite book.  The last three nights she has carried it in, while excitedly saying: “my cats looks my dad”, in her still developing English skills.  I love the simple lines and use of patterns that seems like an homage to scrapbooking.  Most of all, I love the sentiment that “FAMILY is what you make it”.

JER: “ A Hungry Lion or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals ” by Lucy Ruth Cummins is perfectly summed up by one of my other favorite authors: “So smart and so cute and so dark all at the same time.  Sheesh.” - Jon Klassen (from the back cover). Just when I through I figured out the story arc, it would take another dramatic turn.  Well worth tracking down.

JER: “ Bear Came Along ” by author Richard T. Morris and illustrator LeUyen Pham is my favorite children’s book of 2019, so far.  It is a perfect metaphor for LIFE.  Each of us have distinctive personalities, strengths, and weaknesses.  It is easy to assume that we know best how to navigate the issues that arise when we end up in the “river”. But we actually need a little bit of curiosity, a little friendship, a little caution, a little bravery, a little excitement, a little contentment, and a little acceptance of the unknown to make it “down the river”. AUTHOR’S NOTE: “As a parent, I learned pretty quickly that kids are born with inherent personalities.  We do our best to guide them, but their distinctive characteristics define who they are.  All these diverse personalities go out into the world and balance one another.  Sometimes the hardest thing to do is embrace the other, especially when that other is so different.  But it is through th...

JER: “ The Fate of Fausto ” by Oliver Jeffers is a painted fable about power, ownership, and relationships.  Fausto is quickly introduced as a megalomaniac “who believed he owned everything”, and he was willing to stamp his foot, make a fist, and show everything he encountered that he was “boss”. He even tried lying to be able to “own” the “sea” when he professed “I love you very much” and “I understand you deeply” - in an abusive-spouse-sort-of-way.  But when Fausto climbs “overboard to stamp his foot on the sea”, he learns that he did not understand. “The sea was sad for him, but carried on being the sea”. When my friend Alice first saw this book, she thought it might be a little controversial.  My spouse, Mallory, quickly read through it, and exclaimed, "I'm not sure we should read this to our kids", which made me very intrigued.  The book does deal with death, and depending on whether or not you want to have that conversation with your kids, it might be w...

JER: “ Little Bear’s Big House ” by Benjamin Chaud is a playful re-telling of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. Here, little bear goes off on an adventure, and ends up playing in a Big House that he discovers.  He explores and plays until falling asleep in a bed, only to be woken up by “three bears”, who turn out to be his parents and baby brother, but due to the dark shadows they end up scaring each other and meeting back up at their home in the woods.  I love the illustrations by Benjamin Chaud.  They are packed full of small details that keep little eyes searching the page for hidden animals and subplots #thebearsseries 

JER: “ When Sadness Is At Your Door” by Eva Eland reminds me of one of my favorite children’s movie - “Inside Out” as it navigates emotions and the processing of them.  As a child, I felt like I tried to suppress any feelings I was experiencing.  I think some cultural and religious expectations may have contributed to that, but for the most part I think I tried to suppress sadness based on my personal fear or shame.  As I’ve grown older, I’ve found that inviting emotions in and sitting with them can be a much healthier way to process.  I love the author/illustrator’s depiction of sadness as something that could be scary: “it arrives unexpectedly”, “it follows you around”, & “it sits so close to you, you can hardly breathe” to the point that “it feels like you’ve become sadness itself”. This is the “sadness monster” I tried to chase away and pack down when I was a kid.  But if you: “try not to be afraid of sadness.  Give it a name”, “just...

JER: “Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever” -  I remember being really fascinated and intrigued by Richard Scarry books as a kid.   They weren’t really cute, like most children’s books were.   They had a grittiness to them, in a working-class-hero sort of way.   When I found this book in a used book shop in California, I couldn’t pass on it, even if it meant exposing my kids to the perplexing world of Richard Scarry.  Thanks to @booksfromwhenwewerekids for the idea