FATHERS HAVE BIG HANDS

A picture book that describes all the things that fathers do.

Charry’s debut depicts all the things that fathers do for their children by showing the different reasons fathers have big hands, big feet, big voices, big eyes and big hearts. For example, fathers have big hands to do things like “help you up when you fall down and put bandaids on your skinned knee” and “open pickle jars and fix your toys and bake your favorite bread and tuck you in at night,” and they have big voices “to tell you what a wonderful kid you are and to brag to all the other fathers what a brilliant kid you are.” The short and simple text works well as a read-aloud for even the youngest of listeners. Full-color illustrations accompany the text and show a diverse mix of fathers helping and caring for their children, who grow progressively older, from babies to young adults, as the pages turn. Both the text and the illustrations focus solely on fathers and show only fathers with their children, so the book will work especially well for single dads, though it is suitable for all fathers. Bolded text emphasizes certain words and denotes the different big features fathers have. The illustrations are in a simple, comic-book style; some have a flat, amateurish look. The dad running beside his bicycling daughter doesn’t appear to actually be in motion, and the dad getting ready to jump in a lake with his son has cartoonishly large muscles and one hand balled in a menacing-looking fist. The less-than-perfect illustrations are slight issues that most young readers will not notice or will overlook.

This quick, enjoyable read-aloud offers a positive view of the father-child relationship that will be appreciated by adults and young listeners.