In the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about dads. It's only natural at this time of year, after all, since Father's Day was just a few weeks ago. But I'm also getting ready to blog about The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher later this week, and that's a really great book about dads. I've known that I wanted to blog about this picture book, Mighty Dads, for awhile, and I was lucky enough that Scholastic was willing to give me a copy to review.
Mighty Dads is illustrated by James Dean, of Pete the Cat fame, which made this book a favorite with Frances and Gloria. But I knew that this book would be a perfect match for a father/son pair who are very dear to me. Since the son is making his blog debut here, he'll need an alias, just like the girls have. The post where I talk about why I chose their aliases is here, and many of the reasons I chose those names are still true today, more than three years later. And if you know Russell Hoban' books, you will know that Frances has a best friend named Albert. Perfect for our young friend, who I will now refer to as Albert. My Albert turns four in two weeks. He is full of imagination and chatter, and is blessedly flexible about playing with any and all of the girls' toys. He is also a big library fan, and whenever we go, Albert requests books about diggers, cranes, dump trucks, and construction sites. Albert is sweet, loving, funny and all boy in his fascination with construction equipment. Frances and Gloria never cared very much about those sorts of vehicles, so it's fun to learn new facts about them as Albert does.
Each construction vehicle father in this story takes their child to work with them. On each two page spread, the father teaches the child how to do the job they'll share. "Bulldozer Strong shows Dozy right from wrong. They go roar, roar, roar!" The simple text (just two sentences per spread) is rhythmic and easy to predict. Listeners will enjoy chiming in with the sound that vehicle makes. I can imagine a storytime getting progressively louder with each repetition. It might also be fun to make the story more physical, acting out the various jobs. The cranes reach, the cement mixer and his child go spin, spin, pour. There are all sorts of applications for this story.
Another thing I love about this book is the way the fathers engage with the younger vehicles. They are guiding their children through the routines of their everyday jobs, but they also are there to protect and support their children. The text in the beginning of the book states that Mighty Dads "keep them safe and bolted tight and show them how to build things right." That emphasis on doing their job correctly is referred to throughout the book. These dads take pride in what they do for a job, in doing it well, and teaching their children to do the job successfully also. And they don't neglect the fun, either. "Dump Truck Sturdy teaches Dumpy to get dirty." Isn't that the best part of a construction zone? There are so many opportunities to do a dirty day's work.
While the fathers exhibit patience, strength and pride, the young vehicles show their energy and enthusiasm. They want to be 'just like Dad'. Each of the little vehicles looks just like a mini version of their father. While they are trying to do their father's work, the younger versions always produce just a little less than their dads. Junior Crane has to work on hauling girders on the shorter side of the building; his dad, Crane Long Arm, is delivering beam on the taller side. Same with the dump trucks - Dumpy's pile of dirt is dwarfed by what his father has delivered. But the child's contribution is just as worthy. I love the nicknames Holub has created for the equipment too - there's Boom Truck Tall and Boomer, Excavator Big and Vator (I sort of wish this father/child pair were dressed all in black to give off the Darth Vader vibe). The nicknames keep each family related, but also keeps the personalities distinct.
Dean's illustrations are a perfect match for this story. The backgrounds are simple and bright, keeping the focus on the equipment and their actions. On the excavator page, there is a huge swath of blue sky framing the bright orange excavators. The excavator pair balances on the brown dirt, their scoops digging out the earth below. It helps create a sense of perspective for the reader, too. Excavator Big fills most of one side of the spread, while little Vator is even smaller than the adjoining text.
The most winning part of the illustrations are Dean's trademark faces incorporated into the vehicle windows. There is so much personality embued just by the slant of a large eye. The crane's long arm resembles a pointy nose because of the eye placement. Looking at the father-child pairs is so much fun. The solid primary colors from the backgrounds continue on to the vehicles themselves. It gives a sense of play to the construction work. They are bright, attractive, yet simply drawn - the way construction equipment should be. Each father is plain and hard-working, and proud of it.
And those hard-working fathers are proud of their children too. When the day of work is done, they celebrate their children's achievements: "When their rumble day is through - Mighty Dads say 'I'm proud of you! Tomorrow let's build something new!'" I love that the fathers end the day looking forward to spending the next with their children! And everyone is fast asleep as the book ends.
This book is going to be well-loved by Albert and his dad, and I can't wait to share it with them. Here's to a fun day spent together!
Mighty Dads. By Joan Holub; pictures by James Dean. Scholastic Press, 2014.
sent by the publisher on request.
I have never, ever been someone who wanted to tackle home construction. I don't have the vision to see how this room or that might look differently with a wall torn down. I also really, really dislike the dust and mess of remodeling, the noise of construction, the various headaches of planning and purchasing and completion. Once when I was in my early teens, my family embarked on a home remodeling and expansion project. It took place at the other end of our house from my bedroom. I doubt I was inconvenienced in any way. Yet it had an impact on me, though I remember very little of the process. For the family in Building Our House, it has a very different impact.
The very first page shows the little family (mom, dad and two children) crammed into the front seat of an old pickup truck. On the title page, they are shown packing everything they own into that truck. As they turn in to their new lot, the truck is crammed high with those belongings, covered with an old tarp. The narrator says "Today is moving day. We left our old house in the city and are moving to the country." As the pages move on, it turns out that the family is building their own house (which you might have suspected from the title!), on a lot where a house has never been before. They believe have everything they need to get started - tools, plans, and that truck. The narrator (who is now revealed as the perhaps four year old daughter) tells us the truck's name is Willys.
As the family gets started, some help arrives. The little girl describes when the trailer where they'll live arrive. Then a truck arrives with a drill to drill for water, and later the electric company comes to raise wires. After water and gas are installed to help make the little trailer ready for them, the family launches into purchasing and gathering supplies. She states that her dad works at a job in town during the week, so they do all the work on the weekends.
Her Grandpa comes to dig the foundation with a backhoe, once her dad has staked out the property. The hard labor begins in earnest now, framing, pouring concrete, shaping lumber. As the winter approaches (the second winter of this project already!) they work harder than ever to complete the house. There are fundamental pieces that must be in place before the snow - chimney, roof, siding and windows. But, as often happens, the winter winds and storms arrive early.
The little family is finally in the house as the snow grows thick upon the ground, but there is still much to do, including the all-important plumbing, electricity, insulation and other crucial, slow steps. Finally, the home is ready and there is a moving party to welcome the family home. The little girl (who has grown a lot older over the 18-ish months took place), notes "Once the moving is done everyone goes back to their homes, but my family stays right where we are. It's our very first night in our new home." This is a satisfying ending to all the work, and in fact even to the readers it feels like an enormous accomplishment.
There have been other big events that take place over the course of the book, if you are careful to examine the illustrations. When the family first arrives at the field where they'll build, a stray cat is stalking through the weeds. As the time continues, you can see that same cat first being fed outside, frolicking with the children, and once they've all moved inside the new house, giving birth to kittens that also become part of the family. And there is a new addition to the human family during the house building too. Once the family begins living inside, the mother's stomach is unmistakably ungainly with a new baby. As they move in, officially, you can spot the new baby nestled in her arms.
I've referred to the detail in the illustrations but they are really such a great match to Bean's story. Even though I've highlighted some of the changes, there are many other items to pore over as the year goes by. The father often looks haggard and frazzled, as a father working full-time while building a house might. The mother is clearly more architecturally-inclined - she studies the plans and does all the measuring. She also does her fair share of the construction work too. It is fun to see a gopher pop up in the field from time to time, clearly not deterred by the cat.
There is poetry in the writing, as well. One of my favorite scenes is this one: "On a clear, cold night Dad sets the corners of the foundation by the North Star. One wall will face north to ward off the wind, one east to welcome the morning, one south to soak in the sun, and one west to see out the day." That is beautiful writing - I can feel the winter night, the care that went into choosing each corner of the foundation. This is just the beginning of the process, but it needs to be right.
There are many things I love about this family and this story. I cannot imagine the vision this took, the persistence throughout the long winters, the strength and energy to keep working when it got hard or overwhelming. I love that this is truly a family project - on every page, everyone is working, even the children. Sure, they have fun, hiding under wheelbarrows or splashing in wading pools, but the children also help measure, tote lumber and help lay insulation. They are involved, and it's a family accomplishment. And when the work cannot be finished by their little unit, their extended family comes. Aunts and uncles help with the frame-raising and I've already mentioned Grandpa coming with the backhoe.
One of the best parts about this story is the author's note. Bean explains that this book was inspired by his own parents building their house. He includes photos from that time in his life, and it's so enchanting to see these photos echoed on the previous spreads. I think this sentence summarizes both families very nicely: "My parents thought of themselves as homesteaders and brought to housebuilding a pioneering spirit of ingenuity and independence." This was truly a leap of faith, but it paid off in some amazing ways.
Building Our House. Jonathan Bean. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2013.
Borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library.
As you know by now, I have two little girls. Like any mom, I hoped when I was pregnant with Frances that she would like cars as much as princesses, and that I would make an effort to introduce both girls to as many different kinds of toys as possible - blocks, stuffed animals, cars and princesses. And as you could predict, Frances ended up loving primarily princesses and all of the tiaras, wands, and high heels. Then Gloria was born, and she could not have been more different. She is a Disney Cars fan. We have lots of trucks, race cars, and of course, Lightning McQueens galore (I think I counted ten the other day!). So a book about construction sites is right up Gloria's alley. And while Frances does still love princesses, she has learned to appreciate cars and trucks too.
Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site is a book that takes two popular subjects - bedtime and construction - and combines them. Even better, it does it in a way that works very successfully. Rinker and Lichtenheld start by looking at the whole construction site during the day. All of the trucks and equipment are busily working away at their day job. As the daylight fades, though, each truck begins to complete their tasks and shut down.
The very first piece of equipment is a crane truck. Rinker takes two pages for each construction vehicle. Crane Truck is a perfect example of how this book is set up. Before bedtime, Crane Truck has to raise one last beam up to the high rise. Rinker demonstrates in rhyming text how a Crane Truck operates and what his specific task is. As the sun goes down, Crane Truck finishes work on the building, and begins tuck his boom away to prepare for bed. Sleepy, Crane Truck holds his teddy bear in his claws and hangs a softly glowing star nightlight from his boom. The last line of every section reads "Shhh...goodnight, Crane Truck, goodnight" or cement mixer or dump truck or bulldozer or last but not least, the excavator.
I really like the way Rinker has treated her subject here. This book is equally about construction and bedtime. So for those readers and listeners who want to know about how construction equipment operates, they'll be able to learn about that. And the rhyming text and soothing goodnight routines help set the tone for bedtime. However, the one thing I did notice after repeated readings is that all of the vehicles shown are male. I wish she could have worked in at least one female vehicle, as I think that would make the book more attractive to girls.
The illustrations add to the comfort and interest of the book. Lichtenheld starts on the construction site is in full action, pouring cement, hauling heavy beams and transporting dirt. The pictures of the vehicles are all accurate, with plenty of detail to appease a construction lover. Yet they also all have expressive eyes and features to give them added personality. As the light dims and the site shuts down, listeners will enjoy all the other things they will spot on the pages. The moon glows softly as the construction site grows silent. The cement mixer cuddles up with a security blanket and I've already mentioned Crane Truck's teddy bear. My favorite, though, is the Dump Truck. He snores contentedly as a man throws open a window in a building across the alley. The man hollers "Hey! Pipe Down!" as the snoring extends through the girders of the construction site. The illustrations are personable and reward a careful viewer.
At the end of the book, the whole construction site is sleeping peacefully. This is a book I wish I had had at my old library, where I did a monthly pajama storytime. It would have been a soothing mix of big construction noises and quiet, peaceful sleep. Goodnight, goodnight.
Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld. Scholastic, 2011.
Reviewed from my personal collection.
