Daddy Speaks Love

PreS-Gr 3–“Daddy speaks LOVE/ when he answers endless questions/ and makes a thousand plans./ New adventures await us morning till night./ Days full of tree climbs,/ the longest of hikes.” A new baby is lifted up by a loving Black father and life together begins with frailty and smallness, protected and cherished by families. This title delves deeply into the part fathers play in shaping the actions and minds of their children, and bettering the world their children will inherit. Featuring fathers and children of various races and ethnicities, the pages focus on small and big moments of the father-child relationship. Henderson pays tribute to the virtues of love, truth, joy, learning, dreaming, unity, trust, and pride among others, and shows how a father’s actions can resonate far beyond those early years. Although all the fathers and children shown skew heteronormative, Lewis’s watercolor artwork is nothing short of masterful and illuminates the text, capturing exquisite levels of detail throughout. The first and last page spreads are particularly captivating and feature a father with his child on a color field background, visually centering the intensity of the love parents feel for their children. An almost dream-like quality suits the poetic narrative perfectly.