Mighty Dads - Hardcover

Holub, Joan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0545609682 ISBN 13: 9780545609685

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2014

Synopsis

A new constructacular picture book from the New York Times bestselling creator of Pete the Cat, James Dean and bestselling author, Joan Holub.

Mighty dads, strong and tall,help their children, young and small.They keep them safe and bolted tightand show them how to build things right.Inventively told through James Dean's colorful construction vehicle characters, MIGHTY DADS is an adoring dedication to hardworking fathers and the subtle ways they teach their boys and girls to follow in their tracks. The Dump Trucks learn to get dirty. Crane keeps his little one safe from harm. The busy Cement Mixer gives his daughter a hug. The Forklift cheers his son on.A surprising and touching view of a father's love for his children, MIGHTY DADS is the perfect way to say: I'm proud of you!

About this title

About the Authors

Joan Holub has authored and/or illustrated more than 130 children's books. With Suzanne Williams she is the author of the popular Goddess Girls, Heroes in Training, and Grimmtastic Girls series. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina and can be found at joanholub.com.

JAMES DEAN's art has sold in more than ninety galleries and shops across the United States. He has devoted his paintings to Pat le chat for fifteen years and has turned his natural love for cats into his life's work. He illustrated his first self-published children's book, Pat le chat : J'adore mes souliers blancs, in 2008. James lives in Savannah, Georgia, with his wife Kimberly.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 1—The dads at this construction site teach by example and encourage their youngsters to strive to do their best. For example, there's Excavator Big, who "helps little Vator dig./They go/ scoop,/scoop,/scoop." The patterned text continues in this vein, "Steamroller Brave/shows little Roller how to pave./They go roll,/roll,/ roll." Other father-and-son teams include Bulldozer and Dozy, Boom Truck and Boomer, Cement Mixer and Mixie, Dump Truck and Dumpy, Backhoe and Hoe-Hoe, Grader and Grady, Forklift and Forky. The action verbs and sound effects (crash, bang, boom!) abound as the adults demonstrate how to get jobs done and extol the virtues of being "strong," "steady," and "true-blue," in addition to being "brave" and "wise." The heavy-outlined cartoon artwork depicts the machines prominently profiled and personified on the page with a simply drawn eye in the passenger-side window or windshield (the only white space on most spreads). There is nothing out of the ordinary about the rhyme or the artwork, but the message of "Mighty Dads say,/'I'm proud of you!/ Tomorrow let's build/something new!'" is just the ticket for vehicle-obsessed youngsters who can't get enough of construction play.—Luann Toth, School Library Journal

The author of Little Red Writing (2013) and Zero the Hero (2012) offers an ode to construction vehicles and their offspring. Using rhymed couplets and action verbs, 10 spreads introduce individual heavy machines and their functions: “Excavator Big / helps little Vator dig. / They go / scoop, / scoop, / scoop.” Dean, best known for the Pete the Cat books, depicts both large and small versions of vehicles doing their thing. Throughout, each is realistically portrayed, save for anthropomorphizing eyes. The colorful artwork also includes interesting details (motor oil, toolbox, construction cones) without becoming cluttered. Once everyone is introduced, the young ones join their dads at work, and at the end of the day, “Mighty Dads say, / ‘I’m proud of you! / Tomorrow let’s build / something new!’” This makes for a perfect choice for story hours—the vivid verbs demand to be chanted and dramatized—and pairs nicely with Sherri Duskey Rinker’s Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site (2011) or Kate Banks’ more realistic The Night Worker (2000). Preschool-Kindergarten. --Kay Weisman

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0545609682
• ISBN 13: 9780545609685
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Dean James
• Number of pages: 40