Dad's Bookshelf: December 2020
Happy Holidays, everybody, and I hope you and yours are all having a safe and happy December. This month’s edition of Dad’s Bookshelf features three new picture books that we were very excited about for quite a long time. In fact, two of the three were highly-anticipated sequels to two of our favorite picture books ever made.
We pre-ordered all three of these books far in advance and eagerly awaited their arrival. Neil Gaiman, Jessica Love, and Ben Hatke have all created family-favorite books in the past, and we simply knew we needed their next projects to share with the kids.
And I’m very happy to report that none of them disappointed us at all. Julia and Julián are both still some of our favorite picture book characters ever created, and Neil Gaiman with his master storytelling still has the ability to fire up our kids’ imagination like few others.
This is also the last update to Dad’s Bookshelf for 2020! We’ve certainly had a lot of fun sharing our favorite picture books with you, but I’m sure you can still all join me in wishing good riddance to such a miserable year. Here’s to a much better future in 2021! Happy Holidays and happy reading - and I’ll see you all back next year for the January edition of Dad’s Bookshelf!
Dad’s Bookshelf is a continuing, monthly series featuring the kids books we are most excited about each month. The series is named after the real life bookshelf we have in our home, where I keep all of my favorite picture books of all time. While the books we share on Dad’s Bookshelf are often new releases, it’s also not uncommon for us to be excited about an older book we just discovered.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links that will lead you to view the books’ listings on Amazon or IndieBound.
Julián at the Wedding
Written and Illustrated by Jessica Love
If you haven’t read Julián is a Mermaid yet, you probably need to fix that as fast as possible. The simple and beautiful story about a boy who wants to dress up like a mermaid and his loving, supportive grandmother packs a powerful punch and does such an effective job promoting the important message of being yourself.
Julián at the Wedding continues that same message quite effectively. Julián is attending a wedding between two women, and although we don’t know his relationship to the brides, he is a part of the wedding. But the wonderful things about these Julián books is that they’re about even more than being yourself - they’re also about childhood, and imagination, and the amazing relationship between these kids and the people who love them. There’s a similar wonderful moment to the first book, where you think someone is going to get mad, but they shower their kids with love instead.
Julia’s House Moves On
Written and Illustrated by Ben Hatke
I love the work of Ben Hatke so much. I truly looked forward to the release of his next picture book a great deal, and it’s a tremendous joy to share it with my children. His artwork and his imagination are a true pleasure, and his spectacularly creative creatures often seem to be paired with a surprisingly deep and meaningful story. And Julia’s House Moves On is the most meaningful yet.
This story tackles the topic of the unexpected twists and turns of life. It does a wonderful job of exploring the feelings of having a plan and having the rug pulled out from under you. There’s a nod to the importance of family and friends, and ultimately a comforting, cautious optimism about continuing to sail ahead not knowing what life has in store for us. It’s beautiful and fun and inspiring on the surface, and still somehow heartbreaking just beneath the waves.
Pirate Stew
Written by Neil Gaiman and Illustrated by Chris Riddell
Neil Gaiman gave us the masterpiece of Coraline, as well as one of our very favorite scary picture books - The Wolves in the Walls. He also gave us the very funny, impossibly original, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish. So obviously we keep a sharp eye out for any of his new books for kids.
We went into Pirate Stew completely blind, and, in fact, my 8-year-old son picked it up and read it before I did - which is definitely not usually the case. He saw it sitting on the counter and read it from cover to cover by himself. When I asked him what he thought, he said he loved it, and I said I agreed. And then he asked, “What did you think about the ending?!”
Pirate Stew is a funny and silly adventure story about a pirate babysitter that has the potential to be a very memorable read aloud. For some reason it makes me think of books from my childhood like The Napping House or King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub - silly books with gorgeous, engaging, and detailed illustrations - that ended up sticking in my memory my entire life.
Happy Holidays, everybody! Let us know which wonderful picture books you’ve discovered lately in the comments!
