6/19/2022 Holiday Round Up: Father’s Day

Father’s Day is upon us & with it, an opportunity to sprinkle some love & recognition on the many unsung heroes around us. Dads do more than unclog toilets, kill roaches, make corny jokes, & give car advice over the phone. Actually, they are unique paradoxes. Some may be covered in tattoos & drive a Harley & look as formidable as the mafia, but when it comes to their daughters, they are the first to attend a tea party while wearing a tutu. Still other Dads rock it out in the corporate world, making their nemeses quiver in fear, but leave early to teach little Johnny how to use his training wheels.

Every Dad has either a screensaver on their phone or a billfold in their wallet of family pictures. Every Dad has been bitten up alive by mosquitoes attending sports games or helping with Scouts. Every Dad has attempted a vacation to bring his kids to his hometown, with varying results. Every Dad has uttered “Let’s not tell your mother about this” during the direst of situations diffused. Some things are just universal.

Whether they are waging silent wars with the HOA about their lawns, imparting valuable advice about looping a tie, threatening to make their daughter’s potential suitors disappear, or taking the cooking of the Thanksgiving turkey way too personally, a Dad’s love & presence is irreplaceable. Why else would there be entire Reddit pages & YouTube channels dedicated to Dads saving their kids in the pool or giving general advice for kids who didn’t have a father figure growing up? The power of a father never fades. Those of you reading this today with your Dad in heaven can attest to this.

I preface this post with a picture of Goofy & his son, Max, from The Goofy Movie, because sometimes, it takes some hard lessons for a father’s love to be appreciated & reciprocated. Goofy is a single parent who works long, thankless hours, saves carefully, doesn’t cut corners or lie, & leads by example. If he’s lonely or bitter about his lot in life, he never mentions it. He is involved in his son’s life & speaks favorably of him to others, setting high expectations. He may be embarrassing, but he is always sincere & honest. Yet Max is so absorbed in his own life that he never takes a moment to recognize the magnitude of Goofy’s devotion, or the myriad ways Goofy shows it. He doesn’t value their bonding time together & meets every sweet gesture with sarcastic quips & angsty sighs.

In the poem below, the narrator doesn’t realize the way his father prioritizes him & shows his love until it is already too late:

My point in bringing this up? Show you care. Not just on a Hallmark card holiday, but regularly. Call your Dad even if you don’t need anything from him. Go on the trips. Laugh at the jokes, no matter how many times you’ve heard them. We aren’t promised tomorrow, so make the most of every moment. Even if you still haven't forgiven him for that time you were watching Carrie & he was hiding behind the couch for just the right moment to touch your shoulder. Ugh!

So, before I get to the best Dad books for kids, here are some of my favorite pop culture Dads to commemorate this day:

Marlin smashes the stereotypical deadbeat Dad trope by being the epitome of involved & protective. He can’t go to the ends of the Earth to save Nemo, but he can go from one current to the next.

Liam Neeson, seen here in the film Taken, draws on all of his covert ops skills to rescue his daughter from an unspeakable fate. I promise you, he isn’t the first to make the vow he utters in this scene, nor will he be the last. Never make a Dad angry.

This clip from the TV show Malcom in the Middle shows Hal teaching a skeptical Malcolm how to roller skate. His methods are unorthodox…but they do work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUcw3P8JlNM

Mr. Bennet from Pride & Prejudice takes a stand quite shocking in his era – he’d rather his daughter be a spinster than marry someone unworthy of her. The fact that this docile, non-confrontational father literally makes his daughter choose between his edict & his wife’s is as shocking as it is heartwarming.

Last, but not least, shout-out to my favorite film of all time, Mrs. Doubtfire, led by the inimitable Robin Williams. When divorce & a strict custody agreement prevents him from seeing his children, a happy-go-lucky father uses his acting skills & studio props to engineer a new persona – that of an elderly nanny. He infiltrates his former home, sabotages his ex-wife’s budding romance, & wins the hearts of his children, all in the name of love (& insanity, granted). Is there anything a father won’t do to see his kids?

Picture Book 1

Title: Owl Moon

Author: Jane Yolen

Illustrator: John Schoenherr

Recommended for: Grades K-2

Basic plot: A father decides his daughter is finally old enough to take owling on a cold winter night.

Why I love it: The imagery alone in this tone poem is riveting. The snow is compared to milk in a cereal bowl. The hoo-hoo’ing is adorable. The line about “having to make your own heat” is as prescient now as it was in 1988 when it won the Caldecott. Walking in the woods at night is normally a sinister thing, but in this classic, it becomes a rite of passage, a moment caught in time that will sustain the protagonist for the rest of her life.

I have many fond memories of going to see meteor showers at 3am with my Dad in Minnesota, or doing midnight walks on the beach while camping on Anastasia Island near St. Augustine. Whether the foray centers around owls or not, something about being out in the wilderness in the dark of night is magical & alluring.

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks, OverDrive (cheapest $0.81 & up, used).

Extension activity: Obviously, look up the owls in your area (where I am, it’s barred), & go owling! Keep a log of what you see & hear.

Picture Book 2

Title: A Child’s Garden of Verses

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Illustrator: Brian Wildsmith

Recommended for: Grades K-4 (varies)

Basic plot: Robert Louis Stevenson published this collection of 64 poems (uniquely written from a child’s point of view) in 1885. They were lovingly dedicated to his childhood nurse, Alison Cunningham, who would read to him & comfort the young lad when he was ill with bronchial complications. Whether they are about play, adventure, sleep, or wishes, the poems are considered among the most influential ever written.

Why I love it: I’ve read fifty versions of this collection, but Wildsmith’s tantalizing illustrations make this my favorite. They have all the flair & drama of a child’s drawing, but with the painstaking attention to detail & single-minded focus of an adult. I remember my Dad reading “The Land of Nod” to us before bedtime, so I love having a version where I feel the illustrations match the vivid action in my own head. Plus, Wildsmith autographed it in 1973, so that’s pretty dope.

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, OverDrive (cheapest $6.34 & up for the reissued edition, used).

Extension activity: Have your kiddo write a poem from an adult’s perspective while YOU write one from their POV. Compare notes & illustrate lovingly.

I also like to compare & contrast Stevenson’s poems to the popular Shel Silverstein poetry collections, like Where the Sidewalk Ends or A Light in the Attic. After combing through, pick one poem from each author that you feel has a lot in common. Then, analyze how they approach the same topic differently, highlighting the tones, themes, & rhyme schemes, if applicable.

Picture Book 3

Title: My Cat Looks Like My Dad

Author & Illustrator: Thao Lam

Recommended for: Grades K-2

Basic plot: This story examines all the commonalities between a man & his pet cat (who kind of looks like old, tired Garfield).

Why I love it: Not all Dads have human children. This book explores the bond between a father & his furbaby, as well as a mother & her parakeet. It is sweet & touching, not to mention hilariously on point (any cat owners will commiserate with the love of boxes, the constant stretches, & the chorus concerts they occasionally put on impromptu). My stepfather, Roger, is the cat whisperer of the family. He has never met a creature that didn’t take to him immediately, he’s rescued countless kitties from poverty, heights, & broken limbs, & I swear the cats reward his kindness by loafing on him at every opportunity. Cuteness overload in that household, truly.

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks (cheapest $1.77 & up, used).

Extension activity: If you have pets, make a chart of their characteristics & personality traits. Determine who they most take after in the family.

Picture Book 4

Title: Hair Love

Author: Matthew A. Cherry

Illustrator: Vashti Harrison

Recommended for: Grades 2-4

Basic plot: This gorgeous book follows a father who must confront his greatest adversary – his daughter’s hair. It not only sets a beautiful precedent about the lengths a father will go to for his daughter’s happiness & comfort, but it also is a triumphant tale of hope & perseverance, as we discover why the mother isn’t able to take the reins on the hairstyling as she usually would.

Why I love it: Frequently classified as a social justice book, it is as empowering as it is charming. Cherry even adapted it into a short film which looks uncannily (& welcomingly) like The Proud Family animation. The film garnered significant social media buzz & even won an Oscar.

When asked about his inspiration, Cherry has stated that he was inspired to create Hair Love to “counter stereotypes about Black fathers, because they have had one of the worst raps in mainstream media as being portrayed as being deadbeats and not being involved”. He also wanted to increase representation of Black hair. It is fitting that this book is being highlighted on Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the emancipation of the enslaved after the American Civil War. Ironically, Juneteenth was first celebrated in Texas, the very state where DeAndre Arnold, a high schooler, was suspended from campus for refusing to cut his locs. The “Cherry” on top? Our Hair Love author & director invited DeAndre to the Oscars, so he could see firsthand the awareness being raised for his plight. Cherry is the epitome of being the change he wants to see in the world. I can only imagine how proud of him his own daughter is.

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks, OverDrive (cheapest $1.96 & up, used).

Extension activity: This could be a wonderful springboard for teaching your kids about Juneteenth. Additionally, have them examine news stories about the continued attacks against African-Americans in the workplace & education sectors simply for their hairstyles (sadly, some of these happened in my own hometown, Apopka, where hair that went past the chin was considered “out of dress code”). Change starts with raising awareness at a young age.

Thanks for tuning in! Keep the pages turning until we meet again & Happy Father's Day!

Love,

Sash