No Headline.

Web Extras: Marketplace, Bridal, Headlines by Email, Postcards

No Headline.

Tuesday, June 13, 2000

By Karen MacPherson, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

This Father's Day, give Dad something he can share with the family -- a children's book. Several wonderful new books celebrate the father-child bond.

"Daddy Is A Doodlebug" (HarperCollins, $15.95), written and illustrated by Bruce Degen, is an affectionate look at the special times shared by father and child.

Degen, best known for his illustrations for the "Magic School Bus" books, says he reached back into his memories of times spent with his now-grown sons to write this book. Maybe that's why the book rings so true, despite the fact that, in the book, father and child are insects -- doodlebugs.

As he showed in his classic book "Jamberry," Degen has a talent for taking nonsense words and crafting them into comic verse: "We both eat potoodle chips/ While walking through the zoo./ 'Cause Daddy is a foodlebug,/ And I'm a foodlebug too."

Degen's illustrations are as fun as his verse. With their crisp black lines and vivid colors, the artwork commands instant attention from readers, who will love the energy and humor that Degen packs into each one. (Ages 3-6)

At first glance, "The Secret Father's Day Present" (Little Simon, $5.99) doesn't seem like much of a book. Written by Andrew Clements, this book looks awfully slight, the kind of children's volume you'd purchase at a supermarket instead of a bookstore. And the illustrations by Varda Livney are rather homogenous.

Yet "The Secret Father's Day Present" is proof that you can't judge a book by its cover. Clements' story is actually quite entertaining, focused on two children who cause all sorts of mischief for their father as they attempt to put together the perfect Father's Day gift. Their present is quite ingenious -- the kind many fathers would love.

Livney's illustrations never really catch fire, but they work fine with the book's lift-the-flap format.

All in all, "The Secret Father's Day Present" just may turn out to be a favorite Father's Day book for your family. (Ages 2-5)

Desta is worried about her father. His mother is ill, and he is traveling to his boyhood home of Ethiopia to visit her. But Desta is concerned that her father won't return from the place he still thinks of as home.

In "Faraway Home" (Harcourt, $16), author Jane Kurtz explores the mystical pull of the place we call "home." In eloquent prose, Kurtz shows how Desta learns to appreciate -- rather than fear -- her father's memories of his faraway childhood home.

"Faraway Home" is partly an autobiographical book for Kurtz. Although she now lives in Grand Forks, N.D., Kurtz grew up in a remote Ethiopian village and admits she sometimes still feels homesick.

Illustrator E.B. Lewis' lush watercolor illustrations of Ethiopia are based on his journeys there and portray the color and geographical variety of the African nation. But it is Lewis' emotionally powerful illustrations of Desta and her father that really catch and keep the reader's attention. (Ages 4-7)

Two new books offer lighthearted analyses of how fathers interact with their children:

Dads are great, but they sure have a lot of trouble doing things that regular people find easy. For example, dads can't pitch a baseball very hard, or even hit one very far. Dads also lose at checkers and cards and almost every other game. And dads really need to be kissed good night at bedtime.

In "What Dads Can't Do" (Simon & Schuster, $14), author Douglas Wood and illustrator Doug Cushman team up to offer a hilarious look at fatherhood.

Even young readers will understand that dads really aren't such bumbling fools, but it's delicious fun to have to show your dad how to cook, and it can be wonderfully comforting when it's your father who says he's scared of monsters and has to check under the bed before bedtime.

Cushman's illustrations, which portray the father and son as dinosaurs dressed as humans, are highly amusing. (Ages 4-7)

Author Lynne Jonell also understands the father-child bond, especially the seemingly innate inclination of fathers to roughhouse with their children. In "Let's Play Rough!" (Putnam, $13.99), Jonell gives readers a slice of life they'll readily recognize as she spotlights a young boy playing with his father.

The book opens as the boy sneaks up on his dad, who is sitting quietly reading a newspaper. Suddenly, the boy pounces on his father, pulls his ears and shouts, "Let's play rough, Daddy!" Initially disconcerted, the father eventually joins in the fun, wrestling and tumbling and pretending to be a bear with great big teeth. At that point, however, the boy finds the bear all too real and calls a halt to the game. The two hug, and then just a few minutes later, the boy is ready for more.

Jonell's story is delightful, as are the vibrant illustrations by Ted Rand. (Ages 3-7)

Buy these books at amazon.com

Daddy Is A Doodlebug

The Secret Father's Day Present