Daddy Goes to Work

"In this gentle, endearing story, a young African-American girl spends the day with her father 'helping' him in his office. His obvious devotion to and involvement with his family (he makes French toast for breakfast, her favorite of 'all the breakfasts Daddy makes') serves as a wonderfully subtle role model for all fathers. Boyd's watercolors give life to the rhyming text, as in the opening scene when the eager to be 'off to the office' girl awakens her parents, it is easy to see the father's lifted eyebrow and the cat's surprise at her early morning exuberance... Consideration for others, essential good manners, work ethics, and the unfolding sequence of a day's events (so closely reflecting a good story's requirements of beginning, middle, and end) are a natural part of the storyline and beautifully reflected in the illustrations—no moralizing or heavy tone mar the insertion of these life lessons. Teachers will be happy to see pie charts, graphs, and other examples of math principles at work in daily life—even the hopscotch drawing in the park is clearly numbered for the youngest observers to recognize and name. The views of family, work, and city life are as important as the wonderful relationship of the individual father and his daughter—all essential parts of the fully realized 'whole' encompassed in this picture book... Ages 4 to 8." -- Children's Literature