Review by Booklist Review
Two-time Caldecott medalist Raschka offers up this celebration of dads as a perfect read-aloud to share for Father's Day. Each double-page spread shows a father and child. The diverse couples include a pigtailed daughter on Dad's back, playing "horse and rider." Another shows a dad and child as engine and railcar, while a third pair enacts boat and captain. So whatever the duo (and there are a variety!), the message is always side by side. Generous white pages are the backdrop for the illustrations, done in watercolor and gouache. The energetic presentations offer up ebullient joy as the activities of rope jumping, kite flying, swinging, and even sleeping show the warm love. Endpapers begin with many paired hats for each adult and child; each pair can be matched with the inside pages. Concluding endpapers match the paired shoes fun to look back and match those up, too. Rain or shine, indoors or out, the pictures of the pairs circle and support this close bond with splashing colors in every shade of happy.--Lolly Gepson Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In an album filled with carnival colors, Caldecott Medalist Raschka paints portraits of fathers playing with their children. A girl with long dark braids rides on her dad's back, beaming with happiness: "Horse/ and rider." A page turn, and she's wearing a crown while her father cuts a caper and waves his hat: "Queen/ and jester." A third spread shows the two running off, kites in hand, "side by side." Five more father-and-child pairs in a variety of shapes, ethnicities, and sizes play and take pleasure in each other's company. Each pair receives several dedicated portraits that end with the chorus "side by side." The art offers pleasing tensions: small and large, strong and fragile, leading and following, sleeping and waking. The figures are friendly and resolutely unglamorous, wearing an array of hats and clunky, oversize shoes, and their placement in each spread has a rhythmic grace. Stiff, creamy pages and the long, thin trim size give the book a distinctive look. Raschka understands the crucial role that fathers and father figures play in children's lives, and he conveys it with childlike exuberance. Ages 3-5. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Spare text blends with trios of jaunty watercolor tableaux showing various dads interacting with their children. They engaging in imaginary play and practical partnerships, such as queen and jester, horse and rider, engine and railcar, crane and cargo, all conducted "side by side." One special spread shows "Learner" dad in a beret, all tangled as he attempts to mimic his "Teacher" daughter, who instructs him on jumping rope. Raschka amazes by conveying profound emotion in a simple, unpretentious way. VERDICT The two-time Caldecott medalist again delivers "awws" with this festival of fathers. Perfect for one-on-one sharing, side by side.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
With joy and simple metaphors, Raschka presents six pairs of fathers and children reveling in their loving relationships. A series of three double-page spreads playfully depicts each of the pairsand their symbiotic bondsusing only three words per spread. For example, Horse and rider shows a girl sitting on her fathers back; Queen and jester shows the now-crown-wearing child and Dad in a silly pose; then, side by side (the books refrain), they run off to fly kites. Two more pairs continue the pattern, then Raschka breaks form as he fills the next spread with comic-style frames highlighting all of the pairs enjoying ice cream. Three more sets, with the final one inserting, on the penultimate page, the reassuring phrase: today and tomorrow. Raschkas familiar watercolors are the showstoppers here, conveying both active and tranquil moments between the fathers and children. Loose, impressionistic figures in a variety of skin tones float on off-white backgrounds, suggesting universality and indicating there is nothing else in the world as important as the joy in movement or the contentment in just being together. But the message is clear: its not only in these paired metaphors that father and child enjoy each others company; its all the time. Today and tomorrow. Side by side. betty carter July/Aug p.115(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Raschka celebrates the many roles fathers and children take on when they spend time together.The tall, skinny trim size and largely white background emphasize the relationship between father and child that fills each spread, leaving little room for the sparse text, mostly just one to three words per page. "Horse / and rider" opens the book, showing a child with long braids astride a man who's down on his hands and knees. The next page shows the same pair, "Queen / and jester," as they pose, she in a crown, he clowning for her. The third contains the book's refrain, "Side by side," and shows the two, hand in hand, flying kites. This pattern repeats with other parent-child pairs of diverse skin tones and hair textures (though most pairs have similar features and coloring). One pair swaps roles as teacher and learner (as they fish and then jump rope); some engage in activities togetherpretend play, chessand others separately ("base / and explorer"). Raschka's trademark illustrative style is in evidence in his brushy watercolors. Readers will have no doubt as to the emotions of the characters, and they are sure to find both mirrors of their own play as well as ideas for new ways to interact with their grown-ups. Parents and children will seek out some side-by-side time after sharing this. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
