Dad The man, the myth, the legend

This creative romp by Lowe follows a father with an apparently boundless capacity for fun, his more levelheaded wife, and their two children, the older of whom can't stop singing their father's praises. Mom provides comedic counterbalance to Dad's exuberant exploits, often revealing what the art does not: "Once, he blasted us off into space! We went so high and so fast, he said we went where no kids have gone before," reads one page, portraying the dad and kids suited up as astronauts. "Mom said if he pushes the swings that hard again, she'll send him where no one has gone before," the bottom of the page finishes. Torrent illustrates in a sketch-like style, richly colored and replete with dynamic illustrations of the white family. A rollicking celebration of one father's imagination. Back matter includes a fill-in list for the reader's own father. Ages 4--8. (May)

A child enumerates all the ways Dad is a superhero in his own right. This dad clearly has an imagination to match his child's. Last week, the kiddo was getting squeezed by a python, the double-page spread depicting a jungle scene with Dad using a vine to swing across to rescue his child from a menacing (and gigantic) snake. This gives way with the page turn to a single page revealing the child tangled in a green garden hose, Dad armed with a garden spade, and Mom, unimpressed, holding the hose where, presumably, Dad has sliced it with a trowel in the rescue effort. This sets the pattern, Dad imagining things with his children and Mom injecting a bit of reality, especially when his humoring of the children goes a little too far ("spaghetti with M & M's, chocolate sauce, and…potato chips," anyone?). This father seems to know just how to make everything right in his children's lives, from serving up ice cream to the losing baseball team and getting a matching terrible haircut to finding his daughter's lost doll. Torrent's illustrations of the redheaded White family play up body language and facial expressions so readers feel like they are there with them in each situation, no matter how outlandish. And their reactions to each other are priceless (kisses? Ewww!). Like this child, readers will want to be like this dad: able to dream big and accomplish anything. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.