By Raissa Figueroa
Clarion, 2023
32 pages
9780358588771
Ages 1-4
“My daddy loves starting the day with me.” On each page spread, a simple first-person statement about what the daddy shown loves doing “with me” accompanies an illustration showing a different Black dad and his young child engaged in the activity the child names. In addition to “starting the day with me,” these activities include eating, playing, discovering, studying, growing, fixing things, and more. Across this lovely, child-centered affirmation of the love between these fathers and children, the illustrations include dads who are young, middle aged, and older; one has hearing aids, one is in a wheelchair. The toddler- and preschool-aged children shown are clearly reveling in the small, everyday moments of love and connection the first-person narrative celebrates. ©2023 Cooperative Children’s Book Center