Readers may leave this book wishing their own parental units might be “misplaced,” if only so that they can visit this...
A gently surreal tale of a boy who must sift through throngs of abandoned fathers while on the hunt for his own.
The worst feeling? You’re sitting at the breakfast table coloring and you realize you’ve misplaced your dad. In this tale, a boy’s search takes him to the Bureau of Misplaced Dads. The director informs the kid that “at least 20 or 30 dads wander in every day,” including striped-sweater dads, weeping dads, and even a couple that have been released back into the wild (this “wild” is just outside the bureau’s back door). When offered an array of adoptable dads, the boy is tempted. Fortunately, now he is able to remember where his own father may be. The word “misplaced” sets the right tone, clarifying early on that the boy will certainly find the right papa. The whimsically deadpan art keeps the tale upbeat, contrasting the wide array of hopeful, physically dissimilar dads against one another. Sadly, the book is not without the occasional creepy moment, like the leering dad lurking in a cardboard box with a knife and fork in hand. Still, it’s hard not to be charmed by the dads on display, including a “dad who always looks like he’s just gotten out of bed” and a “dad from Strasbourg, wearing his daughter’s bonnet,” among others.
Readers may leave this book wishing their own parental units might be “misplaced,” if only so that they can visit this bureau. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77138-238-0
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Better stories about Hanukkah abound.
A family of latkes prepares for Hanukkah.
The members of the Latke family are all potato pancakes, even their dog, Applesauce. As Hanukkah approaches, daughter Lucy greets readers while her parents fry jelly doughnuts, her older brother holes up in his room being a teenager, and Grandpa disrupts the holiday by offering up an alternate spelling: “CHHA-nukah!” Applesauce explains that both can be correct. The usual celebrations continue, with all participating except for the teenager. And then Grandpa commences to tell the story of the holiday with his own twist. It was not the Maccabees who fought for freedom, it was bees: “MEGA-BEES!” Applesauce tries to correct this version, but Grandpa continues. The enemy was not Antiochus: It was “ALIEN POTATOES FROM PLANET CHHHHH!” And while the Maccabees were low on oil, the Mega-Bees are low on honey. Also in this revised account is a giant dreidel that calls to mind the Trojan horse and from which the Mega-Bees emerge to “[mash] those tater tyrants into tatters.” Add the usual ingredients and you have, of course, “POTATO LATKES!” Silverberg’s narration brings to mind a Borscht Belt routine that may be appreciated by some adult readers but is just as likely to cause confusion among its audience. His digital illustrations depict latkes that resemble brown blobs and only add to the general muddlement.
Better stories about Hanukkah abound. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47912-9
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A quiet, warm look at the bond between grandfather and grandson.
After a visit, an African-American grandfather and grandson say farewell under a big yellow moon. Granpa tells Max it is the same moon he will see when he gets home.
This gently told story uses Max’s fascination with the moon’s ability to “tag along” where his family’s car goes as a metaphor for his grandfather’s constant love. Separating the two relatives is “a swervy-curvy road” that travels up and down hills, over a bridge, “past a field of sleeping cows,” around a small town and through a tunnel. No matter where Max travels, the moon is always there, waiting around a curve or peeking through the trees. But then “[d]ark clouds tumbled across the night sky.” No stars, no nightingales and no moon are to be found. Max frets: “Granpa said it would always shine for me.” Disappointed, Max climbs into bed, missing both the moon and his granpa. In a dramatic double-page spread, readers see Max’s excitement as “[s]lowly, very slowly, Max’s bedroom began to fill with a soft yellow glow.” Cooper uses his signature style to illustrate both the landscape—sometimes viewed from the car windows or reflected in the vehicle’s mirror—and the expressive faces of his characters. Coupled with the story’s lyrical text, this is a lovely mood piece.
A quiet, warm look at the bond between grandfather and grandson. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: June 13, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-399-23342-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
