MY DAD IS A DJ

A child inherits his parent’s love of music but develops his own tastes.

Trevor, an African American tween, faces a conundrum as both the end-of-school party and his birthday approach. While his father, DJ Dap Daddy, plays some amazing tunes, Trevor feels increasingly distant from him, as his dad seems unaware that the boy is growing up and changing. When his parents split up and his dad gets his own place, Trevor hesitates to tell him that he has new friends and favorite foods and that a remix might be better for the school party than the classics. While listening to “Stand By Me” one day, Trevor changes the tempo, adds guitar, new instruments, beatboxing, scratching, vocals, and a voice-over, fashioning his own remix. With this song that’s “old and new at the same time,” Trevor brings something truly his own to his dad’s DJing when the party rolls around. This is a realistic story of a child coming-of-age with an artistic parent who looks back more than forward but who can also still grow. Brown’s highly patterned and textured watercolor, ink, and pencil illustrations incorporate collage elements, effectively conveying the tensions between father and son. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

In this worthwhile father-son story, music is the tie that binds.