Campout! Raj And The Best Vacation EVER! by Sebastien Braun

 

DAD AND I ARE GOING ON A TRIP. I KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE THE BEST VACATION EVER.

"ARE WE GOING TO ANTARCTICA?" ASKS RAJ.

There's so much equipment to load in the car. Raj helps as they fill the trunk and load a roof carrier with camping stuff!. But there's no canoe, and Raj wants a canoe trip.

It's a long way. They play car games. They sing "Wheels on the Bus!" Raj asks "Are we there yet?" several times. But at last they pull into the camp, pulling in right behind a minibus with a bear family inside. The Bears quickly put up their huge tent. Raj's dad has quite a struggle.

"HANG ON. WHERE DOES THIS POLE GO?"

"... TERRIBLE INSTRUCTIONS!... MUMBLE..."

"...THIS IS HARDER THAN IT LOOKS... MUMBLE GRUMBLE..."

The Bears offer help, but Dad declines, determined to do it himself. When the tent is finally done and they crawl into their sleeping bags, Raj decides he really, really has to go to the camp rest room. Dad trips on a tent stay on the way back in the dark.

In the morning Dad grumbles about wet matches when he tries to start the camp stove. The Bears offer to share their breakfast spread, but Dad wants to do it himself. They finally eat cereal for breakfast, and leave for their hike up the mountain. The Bear family pass them on the way up, singing jolly marching songs.

But after lunch, Dad has a surprise for Raj. They rent a canoe and set off down river. The man at Knut's Canoes calls out a warning as they paddle off.

"DON'T FORGET TO TURN LEFT AT THE SIGN!"

It doesn't take a Shakespeare to guess what happens next! It seems if you don't turn left, you will be heading for the waterfall downstream.

Sometimes doing it yourself is a good idea, but when your canoe is heading for a small waterfall, it's good to have some experienced friends handy. The veteran camping experts, the Bear Family, pitches in on the rescue, and all's well that ends with campfire-toasted marshmallows among friends, in Sebastien Braun's story of adventures in the big woods, Raj and the Best Vacation Ever! (Templar Books, 2021).

A nice plug for friendly cooperation, this is a fun read-aloud story of the ups and downs of family camp-outs, and veteran camper kids will doubtless be happy to chime in with their own family campout adventures and misadventures. As Kirkus Reviews puts it, "A sweet and satisfying book about a vacation that goes wrong before it goes right."

For more adventures with Raj, see Braun's first book, Raj and the Best Day Ever.

Dad In the Ring! KID COACH by Rob Justus

KID COACH know what to do with couch potatoes.

He trains 'em, drains 'em. He flips and shreds 'em. He mashes and whips 'em, till they're hot tots, in perfect shape.

But this time the coach potato is Kid Coach's dad.

The path from potato to champion is not easy!

It's a crash course to whip the former couch potato into shape. But KID COACH has the right recipe to shape his dad into a wrestler who will wrangle with...

... BIG guys, BAD guys, BALD guys...

(... and a scary guy with tattoos of
BIG, BAD, BALD guys.)

And Dad, previously known as Couch Potato Man, shapes up and come through to take the top place in the tournament!

But although his win is big, his ATTITUDE is way too RUDE! Sadly, it seems Dad's ego has gotten too BIG for his TIGHTS.

But KID COACH also knows how to trim ego inflation down to size, too, in Rob Justus's just-stepped-into-the-ring Kid Coach (Page Street Kids, 2020). Justus' big and bold comic-style illustrations and wrap-around, "full nelson" text fill the pages with spot art, panels, full-bleed, and two-page action-filled spreads. And Coach and combatants and all are slammin' and jammin" with glee. "The father-son role reversal, along with a healthy plate of potato puns, provides plenty of laughs," says Booklist.

To Thine Own Self Be True: Ninja Boy's Secret by Tina Schneider

NINJA BOY DID NOT WANT TO BE A NINJA.

Sneaking invisibly through trees and over rooftops on silent cat feet and climbing craggy walls like a spider do not make him happy.

NINJA BOY WANTED TO PLAY THE VIOLIN.

He knows that he will fail his ninja exams, and he knows his father, a man who meditates so deeply that he can discern the movement of molecules, will not be pleased.

Ninja Boy does not seek the path of his father. But he does possess the courage of a ninja.

HE SPOKE FROM HIS HEART.

"I WANT TO BE A VIOLINIST."

HIS FATHER'S EYES WERE HARDER THAN GLASS.

But Ninja Boy plays from his heart, filling the house with the joy of his music. And his father smiles and asks him to play another song.

Bravely being true to yourself is the thrust of Tina Schneider's new picture book, Ninja Boy's Secret (Tuttle Publishing, 2019), an oft-repeated theme for parent-and-child differences, but seldom seen in a Japanese ninja setting. Some youngsters will indeed envy the idea of a ninja school where students learn to scale rock walls, vanish into tall trees, and stealthily shift shape into invisibility, and indeed, Tina Schneider's striking black-on-white illustrations are inviting, but so also are her swirling depictions of Ninja Boy's music filling the house with lovely sound. A story of a different drummer who, to mix a metaphor, takes the road less traveled by to be himself.

Tears! Big Boys Cry by Jonty Howley

It was Levi's first day at a new school, and Levi was scared.

His Papa doesn't know how to help him. So he tries to give him courage.

"Big boys don't cry."

And as Levi walks alone to that new school along the harbor road, he doesn't cry. He can be a big boy, he thinks.

But as he walks he sees the tears of a fisherman, hugging his children as he leaves on a long sail.

Levi takes the new streets through a new town, but as he goes, his sees the tears of some people--parents taking their new baby out for the first time, a grandfather with tears of pride, watching his beautiful little granddaughter, a young man proposing marriage, a tough biker searching for his lost dog, a musician moved by music....

Levi sheds a tear himself, as he approaches his new school, but nevertheless he goes inside and is welcomed by his new teacher and class. His day is good, and Levi has no more tears of fear.

But when he returned home Levi was surprised.

Papa had tears in his eyes.

There are many kinds of tears, Levi learns--tears of fear and relief, loss and joy... and yes, pride.

And Levi and Papa shed a few tears of understanding together, in Jonty Howley's unusual first-day-of-school story, Big Boys Cry (Random House, 2019). Beginnings are hard for young children, who haven't experienced so many endings and beginnings. Tears can be brave as well as fearful, and Howley's gentle story of emotions set in the frame of a first-day experience has a lot to say about natural emotions--at any time of life. Illustrator Howley's quaintly stylized seaside town, a setting where sea and land come together, is a perfect location for this story of endings and new beginnings and the courage to face them. Says Kirkus Reviews, "A compassionate story that encourages openness and honesty about emotions."

What's Up, Little Nutbrown Hare? Guess How Much I Love You? HERE I AM! (Finger Puppet Book) by Sam McBratney

Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare were playing hide and seek.

It was Little Nutbrown Hare's turn to hide, and he knew the best place to hide--in a hole in the tree. Big Nutbrown Hare pretends to search everywhere, until...

... Suddenly Little Nutbrown Hare pops his long ears and little pink nose out of the hole.

"HERE I AM!"

Little Nutbrown Hare giggles.

It's SO much fun to surprise his papa when he pops out. And it's still his turn!

Little Nutbrown Hare squeezes between some big rocks. He hides in a bunch of tall flowers, in some bushy weeds, and among the new green ferns. Papa never seems to see him until he pops out of his hiding place.

Finally he scrunches his long ears down behind a big log. Papa's search seems hopeless.

All this hiding and seeking had Big Nutbrown Hare exhausted!

It's about time for the final Big Reveal in Sam McBratney's latest father-and-son adventure, Here I Am!: A Finger Puppet Book: A Guess How Much I Love You Book (Candlewick Books, 2018). With its perennially charming soft illustrations by artist Anita Jeram, this latest  in the beloved best-selling Guess How Much I Love You? series, there's a furry long-eared little hare here who pops up to surprise his patient papa every time in this new toy-and-movable board book--the perfect Easter basket filler, sweet, but with zero grams of sugar, to delight youngsters, one that may inspire an Easter hide and hunt of its own.

For the youngest, there is also McBratney and Geram's companion interaction finger puppet book, Guess How Much I Love You: One More Tickle!: A Puppet Book.

Into the Light! The Jamie Drake Equation by Christopher Edge

I hear a beep from my cell phone. I see the low battery icon. Mom will start to worry if she can't get hold of me. I look around and my eyes fall on Professor Forster's laptop. A USB cable dangles emptily.

With a quick glance over my shoulder, I plug the cable into my phone. But as the USB connects with the familiar three-note sound, I see a pop-up appear on the phone's screen:

DATALINK CONNECTED
INCOMING TRANSMISSION FROM
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
DOWNLOADING TO DEVICE.

Oh, no. Panicking, I make a grab for my phone, yanking the USB cable out.

Jamie Drake lives on Planet Earth, the only one in our solar system in the "Goldilocks Zone," habitable for humans. His dad is an astronaut at the International Space Station, about to launch laser-powered nano-drones toward the star Tau Ceti to probe for intelligent extra-terrestrial life on a planet in its orbit, and Jamie's whole school is avidly awaiting watching his famous father in dramatic style do it all on television.

Jamie's got it made for popularity in sixth grade. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, first, Jamie can't do his math homework, a whole page of pre-algebra equations. And then his mom tells him that she and his father are planning to divorce--just as soon as he returns to Earth. It's all too much. His father is a celebrity, in orbit on the International Space Station. But Jamie can't help resenting his dad for being where he is and who he is, and for not being what Jamie needs at that time. He's too unhappy to concentrate on math. His life is a mess. But when he runs out of his house, holding back tears, something happens....

Jamie grabs his battered cell phone and heads out for walk, ending at a supposedly closed public observatory. But the door is open, and Jamie's curiosity is aroused. He meets up with a private SETI researcher inside who is quietly using the telescope for her own search for extra-terrestrials. She explains that she's waiting for a download from the Hubble telescope, and while she's taking care of some "technical difficulties," Jamie decides to charge his phone, plugging it into a USB port on her computer. What happens next is something that, despite his father's work, Jamie could never have imagined.

I hear a buzzing sound. It's my cell phone. I look at the screen. Then I see it. At the corner of the screen is a new icon. It looks like a golden spiral and it seems to spin in time with the phone's vibration. I try to drag it out of the way, but it won't move at all.

There's a strange tingle in my finger. A number appears. 0

Then another number appears, followed by another and another.

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377....

Yes, it's a Fibonacci sequence from an alien intelligence probing to see if it is in touch with an intelligent lifeform on Earth. Not only is Jamie enabled to do his math homework, but the screen reveals that the alien he calls "Buzz" is a member of the Hi've, beings who have had to leave their own plane of existence and become pure energy by "swarming into the light."

And when a sudden massive solar flare strands his own father hopelessly in space, Jamie has no hope beyond following Buzz's instructions to save his father.

"YOU MUST STEP INTO THE LIGHT. LIGHT IS ETERNAL.

It's a crackerjack of a premise, in Christopher Edge's The Jamie Drake Equation (Delacorte Press, 2018 Am. Ed.). Despite its au currant theory and technical devices, this middle reader science fiction book has much in common with the plot and theme of Madeleine L'Engle's classic A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet), as Jamie must call on his own courage and inner light, and with the guidance of his own ET, travel through time and space to save his father. Like Meg Murray, Jamie Drake is a real kid with real concerns who follows his own heart into a plane of existence he never dreamed of, all the while grounded in his love of his earthly family and life. Author Edge skillfully draws young readers into the storyline, seamlessly melding both science and spirit. "With solid science and believable family conflicts, this will be very satisfying to readers whose wishful thinking can suspend disbelief," Kirkus Reviews reports.

Daddy Love! If My Love Were a Firetruck by Luke Reynolds

If my love were a firetruck,
Its sirens would flash all night!

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways," said the poet, and in Luke Reynolds' If My Love Were a Fire Truck: A Daddy's Love Song (Doubleday and Company, 2017), his "Daddy's Love Song" counts up the ways a father loves a child in big, strong metaphors. He loves as loudly as a trumpeting elephant, echoing across the landscape, as bright as a blazing rocket soaring out of sight, as loud as a race car's "vroom," as loudly as a brass band's "boom."

He protects his son like a knight's shield fends off a dragon, like a bear's big hug that lasts all night long.

But after all that daddy love, with its clash and bang and roar and vroom, it comes down to a sweet snuggle, one in which they both fall gently asleep, with the boy resting on his father's chest, cuddling his firetruck as he falls asleep, with the moon at the window.

It's dream time now.
I'll meet you there.

My love for you
Goes everywhere.

And isn't that just how a parent loves a child, to the moon and back? Lucas Reynolds' rhyming text makes good use of his manly metaphors, but ends with a warm and tender closing, skillfully illustrated by Artist Jeff Mack, who handles both the mighty images and the sweet affection that boy and father share. This is a heartfelt and heartwarming bedtime story especially for dads that lets fathers show just how they feel. Says the Wall Street Journal's reviewer, "Luke Reynolds offers extravagant metaphors for paternal affections . . . a series of tenderhearted comparisons matched with colorful, exuberant pictures by Jeff Mack."

Father Knows Best: Dad and the Dinosaur by Gennifer Choldenko

Nicholas was afraid of the dark outside his door where the giant bugs lived, and the underside of manhole covers.

His dad was not afraid of anything.

Little Nick wants to be like his Dad, brave and daring, and he has a secret that helps him be that way.

I needed a dinosaur.

Nick has a little toy T. Rex that gives him the fearless nature he desires. When he clutches it in his hand, he feels the power of a dinosaur within.

When Little Nick had his dinosaur in his pocket, he was just as brave as Big Nick.

With his little plastic talisman in his pocket Little Nick courageously climbs to the top of the rock wall. At a a soccer game, he tucks it inside his sock and charges fearlessly down the field, scoring a goal against the rival team's goalie, nicknamed The Gorilla.

But after the game, Nick discovers that his dinosaur is gone. He searches the field until Mom makes him leave for home. Nick's not hungry at dinner, and when he goes to bed without his dinosaur under his pillow, even the dark in his own room seems full of fearful things like those giant bugs in the bushes and the octopus-tentacled terrors under the manhole.

And when Dad comes home late from work, he hears Nick, still twisting and turning in his bed.

"Bad dreams, buddy?" Dad asks quietly.

Nick whispered, "I lost my dinosaur.

He's the brave one. Not me."

"Let's go find him then," said Dad.

There are many things Dad could have said at that moment, sensible things, like "You can look for it in the morning," or "Don't be silly. It's just a plastic toy". But he didn't. What he said was the absolutely right thing at the right time, in Jennifer Choldenko's insightful salute to fatherhood, Dad and the Dinosaur (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2017).

In a late-night expedition that Dad describes only as "guy stuff" to Mom, Little Nick learns from Big Nick that all guys get scared sometimes, and that just goes with the territory. Newbery winner Gennifer Choldenko's sensitive narration tells the sweet story of what dads do best, and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat's usually bold and avant garde style is muted in his warm illustrations of an ordinary Everyfamily, with more sober and ominous dark tones to evoke Nick's frightful imaginings. Santat also utilizes a huge, shadowy T. Rex overlay on his pages as a sort of reassuring spirit animal that confers a dose of courage when Nick needs it. As Publishers Weekly puts it in their starred review, "Dads get it... being brave takes work and ... a dinosaur." And having a good dad helps, too.

Gennifer Choldenko earned her Newbery Medal for Al Capone Does My Shirts (Tales from Alcatraz), (read my review of her complete Tales of Alcatraz novels here), and Dan Santat took his Caldecott for The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend. (read review here).

And Don't Call Me Junior! Thunder Boy, Jr. by Sherman Alexie

"I HATE MY NAME!

MY NAME IS THUNDER BOY. THUNDER BOY SMITH. THAT'S MY REAL NAME.

MY MOTHER WANTED TO NAME ME SAM."

Thunder Boy's name is hard to live up to. His dad looms larger than life in his eyes, a strong, powerful man with a booming voice whom everyone calls Big Thunder and who calls his son Little Thunder.

Little Thunder loves his dad, but he wants to make a name for himself, one that fits him well. He daydreams about new names that suit him.

He is brave, at least, he tries to be, so maybe he could be called NOT AFRAID OF A THOUSAND TEETH! He can climb a mountain. His name could be TOUCH THE CLOUDS. And he dreamed one night that his parents were the Sun and Moon, so maybe his name could be STAR BOY! He loves to dance at pow-wows. His name could be DRUMS, DRUMS, AND MORE DRUMS.

All those names sound a bit too grandiose, though. He remembers teaching himself to ride his little bike when he was three. Maybe he earned the name GRAVITY IS MY BEST FRIEND, or even MUD IN HIS EARS.

But in the Native American tradition, there are times when a new name is given, and somehow Dad seems to understand how his son feels.

"SON, I THINK IT'S TIME I GAVE YOU A NEW NAME, A NAME OF YOUR OWN."

National Book Award winner Sherman Alexie carefully crafts his story, building tension as Little Thunder seeks a new name that honors his father but feels like his own, in his just published Thunder Boy Jr. (Little, Brown and Company, 2016), and his wise father comes through the with perfect pairing for them both.

Artist Yuyi Morales, winner of the American Library Association's Pura Belpre' Award, (for Just a Minute!: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (Pura Belpre Medal Book Illustrator (Awards)) skillfully uses contrasting colors and perspectives to convey the way Little Thunder sees his dad as a monumental force of nature and as a loving dad who helps his son find his own best name. The New York Times Book Review calls Sherman's story " ...a story that feels both modern and timeless, a joyous portrait of one boy's struggle to (literally) make a name for himself in the world, and Kirkus Reviews adds, "An expertly crafted, soulful, and humorous work that tenderly explores identity,culture, and the bond between father and son."

The Apartment: Weekends with Max and His Dad by Linda Urban

Dad was sitting in the orange armchair, ukulele in his lap. On the big TV was a movie, Big Bad Blues. The movies Max liked were action movies. This movie was a documentary, which meant nobody did anything.

Blue was another word for sad, Max knew.

"He should sing about pizza or rockets or car chases," said Max. "He'd be happier."

"Maybe when you feel bad, you can sing things that you can't find words to say otherwise," said Dad. "Maybe songs can help you sort through the sad or the bad or the uncomfortable."

Max knew about being uncomfortable.

It's uncomfortable visiting Dad on the weekend in his new apartment. Since the divorce, he's visited Dad at Grandma's house, which is fun, but Dad in an apartment makes Max feel sad, too. There's only one orange armchair and a television set in the living room. All the rooms are white. Even everything in the kitchen and bathroom is white--except the bedroom that Dad says is Max's. It's blue. It has blue curtains with football helmets, and the blue bedside lamp looks like a football helmet. Max isn't sure he likes blue best anymore.

What Max was feeling was like somebody was sitting on his chest.

Max had liked the Detroit Lions last year, when he was in second grade. He still liked the Detroit Lions now, but not as much.

"All set, sport?" asked Dad.

"I'm not a sport," said Max. "I'm a spy."

Things have changed for Dad and for Max. Max is into The Sneaky Book of Spy Skills and his action figure Stevicus, and Dad is trying to learn to play blues on his ukulele. There's no place for Max to sit except for the wood floor, which inspires his own blues song.

"I'm sad because my butt hurts. I've been sitting on the floor.

If I don't find a couch soon, baby, I won't come here no more."

But Dad is trying. He agrees to play Agent Cheese to Max's Agent Pepperoni. He swaps the lamp and curtains for red ones and offers to re-paint Max's room. He reads the sneaky skills book, and in disguise as spies he and Max go out for Ace's Restaurant for the Country's Best Bacon and Pineapple Pancakes, and the two shadow a mysterious man in the yellow shirt, giving Max a chance to teach Dad how to take sneaky spy photos. Then Dad leads Max into Ineeda Furniture, where together they choose a sofa named Olle.

Dad tells Max he is practicing to play his ukulele at the local open mic night, but then he points out that Doctor Spin's Club is not exactly kid-friendly. Max sees that sad guitar-man look on Dad's face and he feels blue when he thinks that maybe he's the reason Dad doesn't go. Dad assures him that the real reason is that he's not quite good enough for prime time. But on the next weekend Max meets the upstairs lady, Mrs. Tibbett, with her dogs Peggoty and Barkis, who lets him walk them in the park. Max confides his dilemma to her, and Mrs. Tibbett helps him plan for a surprise open mic party in the apartment for the next weekend.

The party is big success, with neighbors Mr. Polaski and his accordion and little Estelle on kazoo, but the next weekend brings a new problem. Max brings his best friend Warren along so that they can finish their animal habitat projects together. But Max forgets to bring the clay porcupine his mom helped him make and the shoebox, markers, and other materials to the apartment. But Dad, Warren, Ace, and Mrs. Tibbett pitch in to brainstorm last-minute substitute materials, and Max suddenly realizes that the somebody-sitting-on-his-chest feeling is gone.

Some days were house days and some days were apartment days. But both were home.

Award-winning author Linda Urban's latest, Weekends with Max and His Dad (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), achieves some surprising depth of understanding in this story of a father and son adjusting to a new family situation, with some pain and changes for both of them. Into the humor of this beginning chapter book, Urban brings poignant touches of insight by her well-drawn characters as Max and Dad make Max a new home away from home. Illustrator Katie Kath provides plenty of black-and-white drawings which evoke the emotions shared in this excellent short novel for the not-quite-middle reader set, one with a warm but realistic look at what it takes to make an apartment home.

He's the Man! Tad and Dad by David Ezra Stein

My Dad has big, buggy eyes, strong legs, and a huge mouth.

He sings in a loud burp that echoes across the pond, and I love him.

As soon as I could wiggle, I swam everywhere with my dad.

Even though Tad is but a tadpole, Dad praises his little one's swimming. But when it's time to go to sleep, Tad suddenly shows that he can jump right out of reach.

And when Tad is put down and Dad makes his way to the muddy shore to sleep, he is surprised to find there's a wiggly little critter who follows him to his bed.

Then Tad grows a leg! Dad is even prouder when Tad grows a second leg, until, that is, he notices that in bed Tad can now wiggle and kick! Tad practices his jumps all day, and Dad's eyes are bleary and his legs are weary from loss of sleep.

"Tad!" said Dad. "When you jump on my bed, I can't sleep because you are always wiggling and poking, kicking and croaking."

Tad feels bad. He didn't know he was a terrible bedfellow. That night he moves out, telling Dad he's going to sleep by himself like a big frog.

But now Dad can't sleep. He wiggles and pokes, and kicks and croaks.

"FROG-BONE IT!" Dad croaks. "I still can't sleep."

With a small splash, Tad is right there.

"I think I know what you need, Dad!" said Tad. "A little company."

Caldecott artist David Ezra Stein's Tad and Dad (Penguin Group, 2015) is a fine story of a father frog who learns that sometimes kids grows up faster than their parents like. Stein's illustrations are classics, done in blackline and dabs of watercolor that have a bit of a retro feel to them, in full-bleed double-page pond views or spot art with a watery wash of a pond water hue. Just right for Fathers Day and "A wonderful bedtime or froggy-themed storytime read," says School Library Journal with a ribbitt!

Covert Ops: Spy Guy: The Not-So-Secret Agent by Jessica Young

This Spy Guy is a long way from sly.

Clad in overcoat and Fedora, he blows his cover when he clomps on the cat's tail.

MMROWRRR!

Creeping under the table with binoculars at the ready, he overturns the table, breaks the lamp, and wakes the kitty.

So our secret agent asks Dad for some inside spying info.

"SHHHHH! IF YOU SEEK TO SNEAK
TRY NOT TO SPEAK!" SAYS THE CHIEF.

But seeking to sneak, Spy Guy learns that his surveillance gear needs a tweak.

Squeaky shoes send him back to HQ for help.

"SPY GUY," SAID THE CHIEF,"GREAT SNEAKERS NEED GREAT SNEAKERS!"

Suitably shod, Secret Agent Man notices ruefully that everyone still seems to be looking at him. The Chief wisely models his favorite disguise--fake bushy eyebrows, glasses, and beard. So Spy Guy goes undercover, covering himself with lots of foliage and slinking stealthily through the trees.

But all that greenery tickles his nose and produces some, um, blowback.

"A-A-A-CHOOOOOOOOO!"

Dad suggests that his little covert operator practice sneaking up on him. But nothing seems to work. The Chief always spots him first. Shedding his black turtleneck and pants, Dad dons his working clothes--dark suit, Fedora, and briefcase--and sets out on his own mission.

Suddenly, Spy Guy notices that headquarters has been bugged all along. There's a spook infiltrating HQ, a stealthy spider dangling from his web who gives him an idea on how to infiltrate the Chief's route. He grabs a rope, climbs a tree, and gets the drop on Dad at last.

Jessica Young's forthcoming Spy Guy: The Not-So-Secret Agent (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) has a lot of fun with the basic covert operator tropes, with Dan Santoso's artwork planting plenty of diversions, the ever present cat and the less obvious spider, who in this story takes the place of the fly on the wall. Author Young's clever rhymes set the scene, and kids will quickly spot the spying spider and love it that the eight-legged covert operator provides the best technique for Spy Guy after all. Santoso's crisp spot-art illustrations, set front and center against bright white pages, are the sleeper stars of this lighthearted spy story.

Double-Teaming: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

OH-H-H-H-H-H-H!
Houston, we have a problem!
I catch him
and slap
the ball on the glass.
Ever seen anything like that from a seventh-grader?
Didn't think so!
Me and JB are stars in the making.
The Rockets full-court-press me.
But I get it across the line just in time.
Ten seconds left.
I pass the ball to JB.
They double-team him in a hurry--don't want to give
him an easy three.
Five seconds left.
JB lobs the ball.
I rise like a Learjet--
seventh-graders aren't supposed to dunk.
But guess what?
SLAM!

Who's Da Man?

Josh and Jordan Bell are twins and the stars of their middle-school team and the pride of their dad, who played with Michael Jordan until an injury knocked him out of the NBA draft, Josh is an inch taller, can dunk when he's not doing his signature slashing crossover to set up his famous three-pointer, and sports long dreadlocks until Jordan wins a free-throw-shooting bet and the chance to whack them off.

On court Jordan shoots free throws at will, sports a shaved head, and specializes in trash-talking, but he switches to sweet-talking when a new girl in pink Converses shows up at the rec center to shoot with the others. Josh is drawn to her, too, but the easy-talking JB beats his time with Alexis, as Josh simmers on the sidelines.

But the two are almost unbeatable together on the floor as their team works their way toward the county finals. But underneath the teamwork, Josh still stews about the haircut and about his brother's fast moves with the new girl.  Now Jordan's got a girlfriend. Heck, even team goofball Vonnie's got a girlfriend.  Josh's anger finally flashes on court when he makes a pass to his brother that almost breaks JB's nose. Then JB passes a note to Josh to hand to Alexis during a math test, and when he's caught with it, Josh has to take the rap for his brother. The coach benches him, which is bad enough, but his mom, who is also the vice-principal, suspends him for the regular season from the team, and Josh has to do hard time from the stands as his brother become the superstar, taking the team to the finals, and with a swagger he leads Alexis to the team's table in the cafeteria every day while Josh eats alone.

DEAR JORDAN

without u

i am empty

the goal

with no net

i can no longer fit.

can you

slash with me

like we used to?

like two stars

stealing sun

like two brothers....

And then, as his mom has feared, something happens inside their dad.  He wouldn't go to the doctor, and then he's in the hospital.  Josh and Jordan  push through their rivalry, but still they show their love for their dad in different ways. Mom texts Josh as he decides to play in the final game:

Dad's having complications
But he's gonna be fine
and says
Good luck tonight.
Jordan says
he still doesn't feel like
playing, but I made him
go to the game to show
support. Look for him and
don't get lazy on your

crossover.

The title of Kwame Alexander's forthcoming The Crossover (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014) is triply apt, a metaphor for a basketball move, for the coming-of-age premise of the novel, and a description of the author's unique style, a hard-driving sports story told solely in poetic form.  Despite the novelty of the narrative, Alexander's blank verse is dramatic, sometimes lyrical, sometimes falling into the rhythm of speech which skillfully delineates all of the strong characters in this novel, giving all of them their own voices. This is a powerful story of two emerging young men and their parents at a crossover point in their lives, one that uses basketball brilliantly to tell their story, but one in which winning the big game is not the end of the story, an ending which will leave readers a bit shaken and yet satisfied.  Watch for this one to take some honors in the awards for books debuting this year, because it's definitely got game--on-court suspense, real-life characters, and a moving narrative that confronts life changes with all the right moves.  Slam-dunk!

For Dads: My Dad by Steve Smallman

SOME DADS DRINK SODA AND GIVE YOU A SLURP,

AND THEN LAUGH OUT LOUD WHEN YOU DO A BIG BURP!

Some dads are tender and gentle, snuggling and cuddling, or picking you up when you just have to cry. But sometimes they can be silly, jumping with you in puddles, and making a mess of what they're cooking. Dads can seem like giants and then put you way up on their shoulders to make YOU feel even bigger.

Steve Smallman's sweet and simple couplets sum up the various sides of dads--grumbling and grumping when they can't put up the tent just right, but making up for it by being the best in the world at reading funny stories, in his new My Dad (Good Books, 2012). Illustrator Sean Julian makes his Daddy Bear big and warm and fuzzy, with obvious glee in his eyes when he gets in on the kid fun like the big kid he sometimes is, using colorful characters under the bluest of blue-sky days for a father-and-son playdate, even utilizing a vertical gate fold to show how tall Little Bear feels way up high on Daddy Bear's shoulders.

A loving tribute to the best in dads and to the best of dads, perfect for a toddler to share with Dad on Fathers Day.

Whose Reality Is It, Anyway? Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie

"In the real world there are no levels, only difficulties."

Luka's mother Soraya means well when she delivers her down-to-earth warning to her video-game-loving son, but her wisdom is ignored in the premise of Salman Rushdie's latest, Luka and the Fire of Life: A Novel (Random House, 2010), a sprawling novel which can be as tediously tantalizing as the video games it mocks with its fantastic characters and twisting levels.

Fourteen-year-old Luka's father, Rashid Khalifa, is known to the family as the Shah of Blah for his storytelling, his endlessly convoluted fairy tales of the World of Magic, but when Luka's curse upon a cruel circus master comes back to strike his father down in a deadly sleep from which he cannot be wakened, it is those magical tales, those eternal riddles planted in Luka's mind, that are eventually his salvation.

A visit to his unconscious father's room one starry night convinces his son that his father is doomed unless he can be awakened. Gazing out his window, Luka is amazed to see a figure which seems to be his father, but when he runs outside, accompanied by his pets--a bear named Dog and a dog named Bear, he finds that midnight doppelganger is a magical avatar which is stealing his father's essence, growing stronger every minute. In his father's warm voice this "Nobodaddy" explains to Luka that his father will inevitably fade from being and that his only salvation lies in Luka's braving the World of Magic to steal the Fire of Life at its center.

Luka's quest is the heart of the novel, a journey through many strange places which evoke Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit, and every other childhood hero quest of literature. In his journey Luka must take great leaps of faith, decipher eternal riddles, acquiring allies, the Insultana of Ott and her flying carpet and two elephant birds with infinite memories, and face down every manner of fantastical being. Winning and expending lives as in his favorite games, he moves up the River of Time to Level Nine, the final confrontation with the restive and half-forgotten gods of history--Norse, Mayan, Chinese, Greek, and the rest, where he suddenly comes to understand a great truth and reveals it to his revengeful foes:

"It's my turn to speak now," Luka hollered. "You see, I know something you don't know about the World of Magic...it isn't your World! It doesn't even belong to the Aalim, whoever they are. This is my father's World. I'm sure there are other Magic Worlds dreamed up by other people. Wonderlands and Narnias, and Middle-Earths and whatnot, and I don't know, maybe there are some such Worlds that dreamed themselves up--but this one, gods and goddesses, ogres and bats, monsters, and slimy things, is the World of Rashid Khalifa, the fabulous Shah of Blah.

And the plain truth is that if I don't get the Fire of Life to him before it's too late, he isn't the only one who will come to an end. Everything here will vanish, too."

Luka wins over the mythological community, but then must face the Aalim, those immortal weavers of the Loom of Days:

"Can't you see it? The calamity of this whole World? Don't you want to save it?" Luke argues. "That's what I'm trying to do."

"It is of no consequence to us whether his World lives or dies," came the reply.

"All things must pass. Only Time itself endures. Happiness, friendship, love, suffering, pain, are fleeting illusions, like shadows on a wall. Only this knowledge is Wisdom."

But Luka fights back with his own very human existential Wisdom:

"Give me a break. The Future is a dream, and nobody knows how it will turn out. The only sure thing is that we--Bear, Dog, my family, my friends and us--we will make it whatever it is, good or bad, happy or sad."

Luka and the Fire of Life: A Novel, companion book to his earlier Haroun and the Sea of Stories, nearly defies description. The multiple-award-winning Rushdie brings almost more to the table--encyclopedic literary history, wordplay, over-the-top magical realism--than the reader here can assimilate into a meaningful whole. Luka's mission is part Nintendo-style gaming, part philosophical allegory, and part a literary scherzo which plays hide-and-seek with the many quest tales of literature.

There is plenty here for readers on many levels to laugh at, squirm through, and ponder over on the way to Luka's conquest, but as Luka's mother points out, ultimately our daily lives still must find a way to deal with those same "difficulties," even when, as Rushdie observes, his young readers, like "Luka live in an age in which an almost infinite number of parallel realities has begun to be sold as toys." As reviewer Mark Athitakis of the New York Times concludes, "The book offers many reminders that those difficulties will be hard to shake, no matter how digitized our unmagical world becomes."

What Dads Do Best! Oh, Daddy! by Bob Shea

I MAY BE LITTLE, BUT I'M AS SMART AS TWO EIGHT-YEAR-OLDS!

I'M SO SMART I EVEN SHOW MY DADDY HOW TO DO THINGS--AND HE'S A GROWN UP.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT MY DADDY WOULD DO WITHOUT ME!

But this dad is smart like a fox! Getting kids to go along with the routines of daily life in a timely fashion is one of the most difficult of parental responsibilities--especially in those little tasks in which youngsters are born experts in stalling tactics.

Take getting dressed in time for school. With Daddy stealing a harried look at his watch, we see the kid, dressed so far only in his skivvies, cheerfully watching TV while his clothes for the day remain carefully laid out on a chair since the night before. What's a dad to do to move things along without setting off a squabble?

"IS THIS HOW YOU GET DRESSED?" Daddy says, popping into the bedroom with oven mitts on his hands, a bucket on one foot, a polka-dot sock on the other, and a flower pot on his head.

"OH, DADDY!" the kid laughs, and quickly shows his dad how to get dressed properly for school.

When the kid drags his feet about climbing into the car for a trip to Grandma's, Daddy works the same trick, "IS THIS HOW YOU GET IN THE CAR?" he asks, clambering clumsily in through the car's window. Juggling carrots at lunch is another ploy to get the boy to show Dad how to eat his veggies. And just to keep his cover from being blown, Daddy gives the kid a chance to turn the tables: Dad sprinkles the boy with his watering can, which gives the kid a chance to spray his father with the hose to show him how to water flowers properly.

It's all in good fun, showing that good dads know how to use a bit of humor to soften those little life lessons that are the meat and potatoes of upbringing. And when Daddy proves himself totally incompetent in giving himself a hug, the boy demonstrates that he already knows everything there is to know about hugging a funny, sweet Daddy the way he deserves to be hugged.

Bob Shea's new Oh, Daddy! (Balzer & Bray, 2010) uses bright pastel pages to set off his droll comic characters, simple but highly stylized black-line hippos, to illustrate what dads do best, using a bit of humor to get through those necessary routines that are the staples of daily daddying. A joyful and wonderful book for Fathers Day reading and sharing!

Do It with Daddy! Let's Have a Daddy Day by Karen Kingsbury

LET'S GO ON A DADDY DAY.
A TIME FOR ME AND YOU.
TODAY WHILE YOU'RE STILL LITTLE
THERE'RE SO MANY THINGS TO DO.

Karen Kingsbury's Let's Have a Daddy Day (ZonderKidz, 2010) riffs on the format of the folk lullaby, "Hush Little Baby," in which the singer invents the IF-THEN loop, coming up with an escalating series of possible alternative gifts, as in "If that mockingbird won't sing/Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring." Here the papa in question comes up with wonderful activities for a "Daddy Day," beginning with building a fort in their tree, but just in case, he's also got a Plan B.

BUT IF THE RAIN FROM YESTERDAY HAS MADE THE TREE TOO WET,
WE'LL BUILD THAT HOUSE ANOTHER DAY. IT CAN'T BE DONE JUST YET.

SO HOW ABOUT SOME TADPOLES? CANBY CREEK HAS LOTS OF THOSE.
THEN WE COULD HAVE A DADDY DAY WITH SQUISHY, SOGGY TOES.

But what if those tadpoles have already turned into frogs? Well, there's always the lake, a perfect place to play Army rangers. And if it's too hot to chase each other around down by the water, there's always the vacant lot for an pick-up game of baseball in which everyone gets to star. Of course, that vacant lot could now be the site of a new building, in which case.... well, you get the picture.

This daddy is a fount of ideas for what to do on Daddy Day, and in case ALL of those scenarios turn out to be a no go, Dad and the two kids can always get down on the floor for a bit of wrestling or playing horsey on Dad's strong back.

'CAUSE, HEY, WE'RE HERE. WE'RE SIDE BY SIDE!
LET'S DROP DOWN TO THE FLOOR.
LET'S WRESTLE 'TIL WE LAUGH AND CRY
AND SHOUT OUT LOUD "NO MORE!"

SO WHEN YOU'RE ALL GROWN UP AND YOU LOOK BACK UPON THIS DAY,
YOU'LL KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU 'CAUSE WE TOOK THE TIME TO PLAY.

Around Fathers Day it's always good to be reminded that those "Daddy Days" don't last forever. So for fathers looking for a way to observe their day, Karen Kingsbury's motto is carpe diem. Whatever else the kids have in store for you, seize the day and play with the kids for a while. They'll love it, no matter what, as long as you're in the game with them.

Splash Country! Crocodaddy by Kim Norman

Ah, summertime, and the living is easy! What's more fun than a trip to the ole' swimming hole with Dad? Except when Dad declines to dunk his bright yellow swim trunks in the pond, opting for a sunbath on the dock for a while, a guy has to come up with his own excitement. And what's more exciting than a hunt for the elusive crocodaddy, whose shadowy shape can be seen lurking just below the water.

Safe behind the rock I see,
Sly old Crocodaddy, smiling at me.

Fearlessly I step in front,
Captain of the Crocodaddy hunt.

Our hero jumps right in, snagging a triumphant ride on Crocodaddy's back, and thrashing and splashing, the monster puts up quite a fight. But the hunter manages to hang on bravely, and at last Crocodaddy has to use his secret strategy.

Now he turns his head and winks.
Slowly, slowly Crocodaddy sinks.

Let's give it just one more try!
This time as he slithers by,

I discover something new.
Crocodaddy knees are ticklish, too!

As the Crocodaddy hunt turns into a full-fledged water fight, Crocodaddy turns out to be good old Dad, lured into the water by the make-believe fun.

That's how you tame a crocodaddy pet.
You don't need a rope and you don't need a net.

Crocodaddy, Crocodaddy, lies on the dock.
And I'm a chip off the the old block!

David Walker's warm and friendly illustrations show a most pleasant looking croc, decked out in bright yellow trunks which bear a startling resemblance to those Dad is wearing for the swim in the pond. Kim Norman's bouncy rhymes join in to make Crocodaddy a fun way to take a refreshing summer dip with Dad.

Who's on First? Say Daddy by Michael Shoulders

On the day I was born, Mother welcomed me into the world with tears of joy and read me my first book.

She said, "This is a book about life--and how wonderful love is."

When Mother closed the last page, she held me close and whispered, "Say Mommy, say Mommy!" She hoped "Mommy" would be my first word.

Baby Bear is a much-loved child, with an extended family just waiting to hold him, read him a story, and teach him his first word. Daddy Bear has his own first storybook ready, one about promises and how daddies make them come true. "Say Daddy, say Daddy," he smiles, hoping that "Daddy" would be my first word.

Brother Bear, Aunt Grace Bear, Uncle Roy Bear, and Grandma Bear all bring their own chosen books to read to Baby, each with its own wonderful message, and each followed by a whispered suggestion: "Say Brother," "Say Grace," "Say Uncle." Even wise Grandma Bear has the same agenda:

When Grandma rocked me for the first time..., she said, "This is a book about families--and how they celebrate our joys and hug our tears away. .... A family's love is forever.

Say Nana! say Nana!"

But when his first birthday rolls around and Baby Bear opens his first gift, he instinctively knows how to satisfy his kin without slighting anyone.

"BOOK!" I said.

"What's that I hear?" Daddy asked.

"BOOK!! I said again.

Everybody cheered. Everybody danced.

"Now," said Daddy, "say DADDY!"

Daddy just won't give up!

Author Michael Shoulders' Say Daddy! (Picture Books) (Sleeping Bear Press, 2008) is a book for Father's Day which sweetly includes the whole family, with their affection and aspirations for the new child among them. Artist Teri Weidner's soft, charming illustrations, from the pregnant couple walking nervously to the hospital to the loving storytime scenes with Daddy, Brother, Auntie, Uncle, and Grandma as the baby grows are the essence of family love. A strong story for Father's Day or for any day in the year.

Michael Shoulders is also the author of V Is For Volunteer: A Tennessee Alphabet Edition 1. (Discover America State By State. Alphabet Series) and D Is for Drum: A Native American Alphabet (Sleeping Bear Alphabets).

Boys to Men: Two for the Guys from Clements and Paulsen

For those guys who couldn't care less about the mushy stuff surrounding Father's Day, here are two funny but honest guy stories, with a bow to the importance of fathers and grandfathers, from two of the best in the business, Andrew Clements and Gary Paulsen.

Andrew Clements' The Janitor's Boy begins with fifth-grader Jack Rankin carrying out a school prank--with a bit of passive-aggressive attitude. Embarrassed by teasing about his father's job as the school's janitor, Jack plants a huge glob of bubblegum on a music room desk, knowing that it will be his dad's job to scrap it off. Convinced it's the perfect crime, Jack, usually a well-behaved student, is astounded to be called into the principal's office before the gum is barely cold. His punishment fits the crime--three weeks of janitorial duty with his dad, John Rankin, cleaning the desk he defaced and then the accumulated gum wads from all of the library and auditorium furniture.

As Jack works out his after-school penance, though, he begins to get another view of his father, not as just a loser in green polyester work clothes, but as a complex and honorable man whose adolescent battles with his own father led him to quit school and enlist in the Viet Nam-era army. When Jack sneaks a key to explore the unknown "steam tunnel" beneath the school, he accidentally locks himself in the underground beneath the city streets and meets a troubled teenager living there who knows more about John Rankin than his son Jack does. Fifth-grader Jack learns about the many people his father has helped over the years and begins to understand a bit more about what it means to be an honorable man.

As in his many popular books, from Frindle to his recent No Talking, Clements unfailingly uses humor and insight to show boys the way to their own coming of age.

Another writer with undisputed mojo in the area of guy stories is Newbery author Gary Paulsen. He has writen serious coming-of-age survival stories like Hatchet, but he's also a pro in the area of humorous novels, as in his recent hit Lawn Boy.

I don't have a clue how all this will end.

One minute I was twelve years old and wondering where I could get enough money for an inner tube for my old used ten-speed. I didn't have any money and my parents didn't have much either.

The next minute, it seems, I've got a business of my own, with employees, and I'm rich.

I'd better explain.

It all began at nine in the morning on my twelfth birthday when my grandmother gave me an old riding mower.

Unable to resist starting up the battered old mower left by his recently deceased and much-missed Grampa, the narrator tries it out on his family's scruffy grass, and as he's making a few passes, trying to dodge the shrubs and his mom's few flowers, he gets his first mowing job from a neighbor. It seems that the regular lawn-care guy has been run out of town for some shady dealings and the local homeowners are desperate for someone to do their lawns on the cheap. Business snowballs by word of mouth, and soon the kid is mowing dawn to dark, eating lunch on the mower, and still falling behind on his commitments.

Enter Arnold Howell, a pudgy, currently down-on-his luck day trader, whose lawn needs a mowing, and who, being in a temporary negative cash flow situation, offers to invest his payment in the stock market. Over a glass of iced tea, Arnold learns that the kid is overbooked and hooks him up with a day laborer named Pasqual who needs work. As business continues to build, Pasqual brings in some "cousins" to do some of the overflow mowing, and before he knows it, the kid finds himself co-ordinating his work force and raking in the profits, which Arnold is happy to reinvest for him. One of Arnold's moneymaking schemes pays off double when he and the kid are shaken down by a seedy protection racketeer and the boxer Arnold has invested in provides some much needed muscle.

By the end of the summer, to the amazement of his unsuspecting but grateful parents, the kid has amassed a small fortune. As his grandmother sums up the summer in her own inimitable way, "You know, dear, Grampa always said, take care of your tools and they'll take care of you."

Paulsen's comic touch is evidenced in the B-School jargon he uses for chapter titles, such as "The Law of Increasing Product Demand Versus Flat Production Capacity" and "Overutilization of Labor Compounded by Unpredicted Capital Growth." Thanks to Grampa and his old mower, this twelve-year-old's first venture into capitalism will keep kids laughing all his way to the bank.