My Father Knows the Names of Things - Hardcover

Yolen, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416948953 ISBN 13: 9781416948957

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010

Synopsis

My father knows the names of things. . . . And teaches all the names to me.

From each bird that sings, to every kind of cloud, to all of the planets, the father in this story knows the names of them all--and takes the time to impart his knowledge to his child. As they walk together outside, the father points out which mosses are the fuzziest and which insects are the buzziest, which flowers are the tallest and which beetles are the smallest. Jane Yolen's lyrical text is complemented by Stephane Jorisch's soft artwork, a pairing that is touching without being overly sentimental, which makes this the perfect choice for fathers and children to share.

About this title

About the Author

Jane Yolen is an award-winning author who has written more than 380 books for children, including the bestseller How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? and the 1988 Caldecott Medal winner Owl Moon. She is known for her beautiful poetry, picture books, fairy tales, novels, and nonfiction, and has even been called “the Hans Christian Andersen of America” (Newsweek). She lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Visit her at JaneYolen.com.

Stephane Jorisch has illustrated a number of picture books, including Suki's Kimono by Chieri Uegaki; I Remember Miss Perry by Pat Brisson; The Real Story of Stone Soup by Ying Chang Compestine; and Footwork: The Story of Fred and Adele Astaire by Roxane Orgill, which received a starred review in Publishers Weekly.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1—This paean to fatherhood is not really a story but rather a list of all of the things the narrator's father knows, ending with, "He points out everything we see/And teaches all the names to me." It is simply a poetic love song and as such could be very effective. Unfortunately, the rhyme scheme is occasionally uneven. While lines like "My father knows the names of things,/Each different sort of bell that rings," work fine, they are followed by "And stones,/And knows the names of planets,/Stars,/And even human bones." The mixed-media illustrations, however, are wonderful. The boy and his dad exude love and companionship as they paint walls, study bugs, and fly in fanciful airplanes together. The pictures are full of movement and whimsy, and the final scene shows the child in bed in a darkened room, dreaming, with his father looking in on him. The paintings are detailed and varied and do an impressive job of depicting the imagery in Yolen's poem.—Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
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About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1416948953
• ISBN 13: 9781416948957
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Jorisch Stephane