Happy Poetry Friday and Happy Father’s Day Weekend!
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate all the cool dads in the world than with Hope Anita Smith’s brand new poetry picture book, My Daddy Rules the World: Poems About Dads (Henry Holt, 2017).
Through fifteen heartwarming poems told in a child’s voice, Smith captures the singular bond between father and child as evidenced in everyday activities such as eating, dancing, playing music, and reading. Smith focuses on those small, intimate moments and interactions that mean so much to children, and every one of these gems brims with pride, adoration and pure love.
MY DADDY
My daddy is a porcupine
with whiskers that are prickly.
My daddy is an octopus
who finds where I am tickly
My daddy is a tall giraffe
who lifts me to the sky.
My daddy is a sea eagle
who teaches me to fly.
My daddy is a wise old owl
who stays up late at night.
My daddy is a big brown bear
with arms that hug me tight.
The poems are paired with Smith’s beautiful torn paper collages that feature fathers, sons and daughters in a variety of skin tones without facial features. I love how Hope is able to convey so much warmth and emotion through body language: an affectionate tilt of the head, a concerned hand lifting a chin, the reassurance of Dad holding the bike seat, being encircled in Dad’s arms as he reads aloud or teaches guitar.
Jama's Alphabet Soup 