Fiction - African American, Fiction - General & Miscellaneous, Fiction - Occupations, Fiction - Family Life

Daddy Goes to Work

Name: Daddy Goes to Work
Author: Jabari Asim
ISBN: 9780316735759

by Jabari Asim, Aaron Boyd

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Overview

A young girl accompanies her father to his office, helping him throughout the day.

Synopsis

A young girl accompanies her father to his office, helping him throughout the day.

Sheilah Egan - Children's Literature

In this gentle, endearing story, a young African-American girl spends the day with her father helping' him in his office. His obvious devotion to and involvement with his family (he makes French toast for breakfast, her favorite of "all the breakfasts Daddy makes") serves as a wonderfully subtle role model for all fathers. Boyd's watercolors give life to the rhyming text, as in the opening scene when the eager to be "off to the office" girl awakens her parents, it is easy to see the father's lifted eyebrow and the cat's surprise at her early morning exuberance. The text and illustrations are full of the details of daily life; we watch the progression from home (via subway) to the office with a lunch break (at a street vendor's cart) and a walk in the park, the afternoon meeting where the daughter displays her father's charts, to the close of the day as the father praises his daughter for her help and she is proud of the work they have done together. Consideration for others, essential good manners, work ethics, and the unfolding sequence of a day's events (so closely reflecting a good story's requirements of beginning, middle, and end) are a natural part of the storyline and beautifully reflected in the illustrations—no moralizing or heavy tone mar the insertion of these life lessons. Teachers will be happy to see pie charts, graphs, and other examples of math principles at work in daily life—even the hopscotch drawing in the park is clearly numbered for the youngest observers to recognize and name. The views of family, work, and city life are as important as the wonderful relationship of the individual father and his daughter—all essential parts of the fully realized whole' encompassed in this picture book. 2006, Little Brown and Company, Ages 4 to 8.

About the Author, Jabari Asim

Jabari Asim is a poet, critic and playwright who works as a Senior Editor at the Washington Post Book World.

Aaron Boyd's illustrations have been published in a number of children's books and magazines.

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Editorials

Children's Literature

In this gentle, endearing story, a young African-American girl spends the day with her father ‘helping' him in his office. His obvious devotion to and involvement with his family (he makes French toast for breakfast, her favorite of "all the breakfasts Daddy makes") serves as a wonderfully subtle role model for all fathers. Boyd's watercolors give life to the rhyming text, as in the opening scene when the eager to be "off to the office" girl awakens her parents, it is easy to see the father's lifted eyebrow and the cat's surprise at her early morning exuberance. The text and illustrations are full of the details of daily life; we watch the progression from home (via subway) to the office with a lunch break (at a street vendor's cart) and a walk in the park, the afternoon meeting where the daughter displays her father's charts, to the close of the day as the father praises his daughter for her help and she is proud of the work they have done together. Consideration for others, essential good manners, work ethics, and the unfolding sequence of a day's events (so closely reflecting a good story's requirements of beginning, middle, and end) are a natural part of the storyline and beautifully reflected in the illustrations—no moralizing or heavy tone mar the insertion of these life lessons. Teachers will be happy to see pie charts, graphs, and other examples of math principles at work in daily life—even the hopscotch drawing in the park is clearly numbered for the youngest observers to recognize and name. The views of family, work, and city life are as important as the wonderful relationship of the individual father and his daughter—all essential parts of the fully realized‘whole' encompassed in this picture book. 2006, Little Brown and Company, Ages 4 to 8.
—Sheilah Egan

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-In a rhyming text, an African-American girl tells about spending the day with her father at his office. After she and Daddy ride the subway together, the youngster meets his coworkers, helps him write memos, and holds the posters for a presentation. At midday, they head outside for a bite to eat and a walk through the park. At five o'clock, it's time to call Mom and tell her they are on their way home. Unfortunately, many of the rhymes sound forced, the rhythm is sometimes awkward, and the word choices don't always ring true for the narrator's age. The double-page watercolor illustrations effectively depict the child and her parents, as well as scenes of the city and Daddy's workplace. Boyd portrays the multiethnic cast nicely for the most part, but falls down in his rendering of some of the background characters, who look unfinished, and a laptop that has too many overly raised keys to appear even remotely realistic. While this picture book may fulfill a need in some collections, the uneven writing and artwork prevent it from being more than a marginal purchase.-Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An urban father takes his young daughter to work. The story is told in the first-person voice of the unnamed little African-American girl, who is already standing over her parents' bed when the alarm clock goes off at seven a.m.-she can't wait to see Daddy's office. He makes a nice breakfast of French toast before the duo sets off on the subway. Bright watercolors, employing a broad palette and full of precise details, depict many highlights of the day's adventure: meeting all of Daddy's coworkers, getting lunch at a food cart on a street in Chinatown, watching Daddy give a sales presentation in the conference room. Pictures effectively evoke the day from start to finish. Unfortunately, the lackluster text, full of awkward rhymes, is not up to the quality of the illustrations and contributes little. Read the pictures and skip the words. (Picture book. 3-6)