The Daddy Book

The Daddy Book
Robert Stewart ~ pictures by Don Madden
McGraw-Hill, 1972

I don't give my husband enough credit on this blog. While it was I who innocently began this hobby four years back, he has wholeheartedly supported it, both emotionally and financially. He's clocked hundreds of hours reading aloud and reaped the benefits of a child with a huge vocabulary. He's shelled out hundreds of dollars to help me fund this obsession whenever my mad money account has run dry. It's he who gets angry when we listen to Harry Potter number seven on audio tape without him during the day, and it's he who races to tuck the boy in so he can finish off reading aloud the final chapters of Harry Potter number one all snug and cozy in bed.Daddies are the often unsung heroes of children's literature. The read-aloud kings who aren't afraid of making silly voices. Who never seem to lose patience with the phrase "just one more chapter." Many a night I've had to go in and intervene as the clock ticks by 8, 8:30 and into 9, and I still hear the words of JK Rowling echoing down the hall. The dads who tote stacks and stacks of picture books into restaurants and read story after story as their dinners sits cold and uneaten. It's for my husband and daddies like him and daddies all over the world that this little gem was written and illustrated. A testament to the never-dying love and devotion that emminates from the man who helped create you.

Daddy often does what Mommy does. He changes diapers. Daddy cooks dinner and washes dishes. Does your Daddy give you a bath? Put your pajamas on? Put you to bed? Sometimes daddies get angry. Does your Daddy ever tell you to eat all your food? Wash your hands? Stay in your bed? Pick up your toys? But all daddies love their little boys and girls. No matter what.

Covering all things Daddy, from what they look like to what they wear to what they do for a living to what they love to do (though, I can't imagine there are a ton of daddy pipe smokers out there nowadays). The colors here are so vibrant and the pages so alive with activity. I never get sick of looking at this book or reading it, though, whenever the boy strolls over with it tucked under his arm, his smile spreading out ear to ear, he's usually not headed in my direction. Thanks to all you daddies out there who read to your children... and, oh yeah, all that other stuff you do...

Also by:
Is There Life in Outer Space?
One Kitten for Kim
Oxygen Keeps you Alive

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