Dads Read Too

JER: “ BOB Books ” by Bobby Lynn Maslen and John R. Maslen are really great learn-to-read-books.  I have been trying to find a way to encourage Lake to read more, but I wasn’t making much progress.  I am really glad Andy suggested these books.  They use a very simple progression of sounds and the switching of letters to make it very easy for kids to have the courage to try reading.

JER: “ The Whispering Town ” by author Jennifer Elvgren and illustrator Fabio Santomauro is based on the true story of Danish resistance during World War II. AUTHOR’S NOTE: “By 1943, the Nazis began to round up the estimated 8,000 Danish Jews and send them to concentration camps.  Danes hid Jews in private homes, warehouses, barns, hotels, and churches.  Then they secured boats and hired fisherman to transport them across the sound to nearby neutral Sweden.  Almost all of the Jews were smuggled out of Denmark.  About 1,700 Jews escaped from the small fishing village of Gilleleje.  One moonless night, the town’s citizens stood in their doorways and whispered in directions to the harbor.” As I read this story, I couldn’t help tearing up, thinking about the tremendous bravery of these Danes.  It also gave me tremendous pride to know that my ancestors were part that effort.  My great-aunt Gerda Valentiner (the sister of my grandfather Ejler Valen...

JER: “ This is Sadie ” by author Sara O’Leary and illustrator Julie Morstad is smart, slightly silly, and a beautiful exploration of imagination.  It starts with: “This is Sadie. • No, not that.  That’s a box.  Sadie is inside the box. • Wait, do you hear?  Sadie says she’s not inside the box at all. ‘I’m on an enormous boat,’ she says, ‘crossing a wide, wide sea.’” • Thanks to my friend Katie DuRocher for the suggestion.

JER: “ Little Blue and the DEEP DARK NIGHT ” by Jon Davis is a wonderful illustration of how to reframe experiences.  When little Blue wakes up in the middle of the night, she imagines “goblins with gnarled snarly teeth and boggling goggling eyes”, but Big Brown helps her realize that it is just as likely that she heard “a delightful doggies Saturday night unicycle convention”. It is very easy for all of us to let our imaginations envision the worst possible scenario, a cognitive distortion called “catastrophizing”, and children are especially vulnerable to this mental trap.  I love how this book displays techniques to reframe situations, like a dark bedroom, a scary hallway, and a spooky nighttime kitchen into silly, safe situations.

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...