Daddy's Song - Hardcover

Lesléa Newman is a poet, an animal lover, and the author of many successful books for young readers. Lesléa lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Karen Ritz has illustrated more than forty books for young readers. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

PreSchool-Grade 1—As a father puts his child to bed, he sings her a song filled with silly, fantastic, and humorous images. It follows a simple pattern-"If foxes play with balls and bats,/And chickens wear fine coats and hats...." The verses, one rhyming couplet per spread, culminate with the lines, "If this whole world turns inside out/And silly things are all about,/Remember what will still be true—/Your daddy's here,/and he loves you." The text is brought to life by Ritz's gouache illustrations, which use bold colors including purple, orange, red, and green in a fabulous, whimsical world where imagination flows wild and free. The combination of realistic depictions of the animals with comical expressions and unexpected colors is priceless. Pair this book with Sam McBratney's Guess How Much I Love You (Candlewick, 1995) or Margaret Wise Brown's The Runaway Bunny (HarperCollins, 1942) for a storytime lovefest.—Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.