It's Great Being a Dad

Starred review from April 17, 2017
“It’s great being a unicorn,” boasts a pink specimen with a rainbow horn. “Who wouldn’t want to be a unicorn?” Bigfoot and a robot make similar claims, but each creature runs into a snag (“What’s not to like about being a robot? Rain, that’s what!”), requiring intervention. After these beings and others are revealed to be a crew of kids playing in the yard, a resourceful father steps in to save the day. Perry’s wide-eyed, brightly colored fantasy creations wonderfully evoke a pretend-play world where anything can happen but plenty still goes awry, and Bar-el’s (Audrey ) deadpan narrative delivers laughs on every page. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Hilary McMahon, Westwood Creative Artists. Illustrator’s agent: Teresa Kietlinski, Bookmark Literary.

April 1, 2017
The finer points of various jobs are explored in this tribute to...dads?"It's great being a unicorn. I love being a unicorn. Who wouldn't want to be a unicorn?" The bright, cartoon, rainbow-bedecked spread hardly seems like it belongs in a book about being a dad. Ditto the spreads about being Bigfoot, a robot, the Loch Ness Monster, and a "fairy queen ballerina doctor." For each of the characters, there are positives and negatives to their roles. For instance, the unicorn's horn gets in the way of grazing and eating cake off a table, which subsequently gets stuck on said horn. Bigfoot tries to come to the rescue, but it has challenges of its own. And so on. It's not until the magic wand of the fairy queen ballerina doctor is snatched by a "sneaky flying alligator pirate" that dads are even mentioned. A turn of the page reveals a dark-skinned dad standing amid a scene of imaginative play: it's great being a dad, as dads can fix it all. What's not to like? "Sudden makeovers." Perry's gouache and Photoshop illustrations clue readers in only on the final spreads, the kids' clever clothing and costuming choices making their characters come to life. Only one child is white; the rest are various shades of brown, though all have distractingly stylized noses. The title doesn't really match the content, though it may spark readers' own imaginations. (Picture book. 4-8)

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March 1, 2017
Preschool-G At first, this picture book seems to be pure fantasy: it opens with several mythical creatures sharing the ups and downs of their unique features. A unicorn's adorable horn is great until it gets stuck in things. Bigfoot's warm fur is a plus, but the big feet can be a problem. Robots have amazing capabilities but tend to rust. For a fairy queen ballerina doctor, though, there seems to be no downsideuntil a sneaky flying alligator pirate comes along and steals her magic wand. Then dad steps in, revealing that all the magical characters are actually children at play. Dad easily remedies each situation (including encouraging certain little brothers to play nicely). There's a lot going on here, but both text and illustrations work to keep it manageable. The creaturesboth mythical and humanlook as if they were fashioned in clay with google eyes (think Gumby), clearly standing apart from the brightly colored, uncluttered backdrops. Dads, fantasy play, and good behavior: a great combination.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
A string of creatures each brags about its identity ("What's not to like about being a unicorn?") until a problem arises (the unicorn gets a table stuck on her horn, a robot rusts, etc.). Turns out, they're all issues to be sorted out by...Dad. Readers will enjoy this clever twist as cartoony illustrations reveal a backyard where a father oversees the menagerie (of children) at play.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)