A Tale of Two Daddies - Softcover

Oelschlager, Vanita

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0981971466 ISBN 13: 9780981971469

Publisher: Vanita Books, 2010

Synopsis

A Tale of Two Daddies is a playground conversation between two children. The boy says he heard that the girl has two dads. The girl says that is right--she has Daddy and Poppa. True to a child’s curiosity, practical questions follow: Which dad helps when your team needs a coach? / Which dad cooks you eggs and toast?” To which she answers: Daddy is my soccer coach. / Poppa cooks me eggs and toast.”

Intended for 4- to 8-year olds, this book introduces a type of family increasingly visible in modernm society. Neither favoring nor condemning, it reflects a child’s practical and innocent look at the adults who nurture and love her. It becomes clear that the family bond is unburdened by any cultural discomforts.

 

About this title

About the Author:

Vanita Oelschlager is a wife, mother, grandmother, philanthropist, former teacher, current caregiver, author and poet. She is a graduate of Mt. Union College in Alliance, Ohio, where she currently serves as a Trustee. Vanita is also Writer in Residence for the Literacy Program at The University of Akron.
Kristin Blackwood is an experienced illustrator. Some of her other books include My Grampy Can’t Walk; Let Me Bee; Big Blue; Made In China; What Pet Will I Get?; Ivy in Bloom and Ivan’s Great Fall. She uses a linoleum reduction technique for creating the illustrations for this story. Kristin lives in Lakewood, Ohio, with her two daughters.
 

From Booklist:

In an affectionate story of adoption in a gay family, a small girl answers a friend's questions about what it is like to have two fathers. The boy asks: “Which dad would build your home in a tree? And which dad helps when you skin your knee?” And the girl answers: “Poppa's the one who builds in a tree. / Daddy's the one who fixes my knee.” The simple, immediate rhymes are illustrated with digitally touched linoleum prints in bright colors and thick black lines that show the friends at play, as well as cozy scenarios of the girl in her nurturing home; in one particularly warm scene, Poppa serves a plate of eggs and bacon that looks like a smiley face. Strangely, the adults' faces are never shown, just distant views of their legs and arms: one daddy is formally dressed, the other is in jeans and sneakers. The story's message is clear in her answer to the question, “Who is your dad when you're sad and need some love?” Both, of course. Preschool-Grade 2. --Hazel Rochman

About this edition

• Publisher: Vanita Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0981971466
• ISBN 13: 9780981971469
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 42
• Illustrator: Blackwood Kristin