Dad's Bookshelf: January 2021
It’s a new year! Happy New Year, Dad’s Bookshelf readers! And I have to tell you, things are looking up so far. Especially today. I don’t know about you, but I feel like a great weight has been taken off of all of our shoulders - and I truly have a remarkably palpable sense of hope.
This month I once again have a great mix of new and old picture books that we’ve been loving in our family recently. It’s entirely impossible to predict which books I’m going to share on Dad’s Bookshelf, even for me. That’s because sometimes it’s an older book we get into, maybe even a book that was already in our collection. But if we rediscover and fall in love with a story - there’s a good chance I’m going to share it.
That’s the case this month with Shaun Tan’s spectacular book The Arrival. I’ve mentioned his amazing imagination multiple times on Dad Suggests over the years, and this month isn’t the first time our kids have read The Arrival. But we recently received our own copy as a Christmas gift, and we’ve fallen in love with it all over again.
The other books on this month’s list are newer - but they both fall into that tricky situation of being published first abroad. I’ve actually been wanting to share one of these books for several months now - because it’s hilarious - but it can be hard to keep track of picture books from overseas and whether or not it will be easy to get your hands on them stateside. But I can’t wait any longer! Unfortunately that sometimes means it can be trickier to find it at your local bookshop, but it absolutely never hurts to ask!
And the last book on this month’s list is a beautiful book about the coronavirus pandemic. I know it’s the last thing a lot of people want to think about - believe me - but this one is going to go down in time as one of the very best picture books about the whole situation. Windows finally got a US release this week, and it makes for a spectacular read aloud. Don’t overlook it!
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 Bookshop.org.
The Arrival
Written and Illustrated by Shaun Tan
You could say I’m including The Arrival on Dad’s Bookshelf in honor of our president lifting the Muslim ban and canceling funds for the border wall - but really that’s just a way for me to sneak in another reference to how important this week was again. But The Arrival is about the immigrant experience - and it’s one of the most remarkably original picture books I’ve ever seen.
So much about The Arrival endears it to us, but probably our favorite part is how weird and spooky it is - almost like something out of H. P. Lovecraft. A man leaves his family behind in a dangerous situation - with ominous spiky tentacles waving through the air - to travel to a new, alien world and try to set up a life for them there. But it’s like a literal alien world - with a language neither he nor the readers understand. So the book actually plays out as a wordless picture book - and one of the very best ones at that.
Our son is particularly in love with the friend he makes along the way - some sort of cute alien dog-like creature. I can’t stress enough how valuable this book can be for a conversation about immigration - but it can also truly be enjoyed as a stand-alone, fantasy tale with the most incredible art.
Mini Rabbit Must Help
Written and Illustrated by John Bond
It seems this picture book still hasn’t receive an official US release, but we didn’t have too much getting it imported. We simply couldn’t wait, because it’s the sequel to one of our favorite picture books of recent times - Mini Rabbit Is Not Lost. That book was absolutely hysterical, and we knew we had to get this book as soon as possible.
John Bond’s Mini Rabbit is a an absolute crack up. His character design with one huge pupil is perfection - and it gives us the impression that Mini Rabbit always has some very funny manic energy. And that’s where a lot of the humor comes from - this high-intensity, one-track-mind focus of Mini Rabbit. It’s truly funny and very brilliant.
In this adventure, Mini Rabbit has a letter to help his mom deliver. Like lots of kids, Mini Rabbit desperately wants to prove to be helpful and independent. So it’s a genius combination of this sweet and endearing character who seems to be hyper-focused but is actually generally completely oblivious and it’s marvelous. Not to mention that John Bond’s animals are some of my very favorite designs. This one will bring a smile to your face for sure.
Windows
Written by Patrick Guest and Illustrated by Jonathan Bentley
We recently posted our list of the best picture books about the coronavirus pandemic and quarantine, and Windows made the list even before the US release when we were able to get our hands on it. That’s because this book, originally published in Australia, was also shared to the world in its entirety in a magnificently made video on YouTube.
I stand by my prediction that this book will go down in history as one of the best picture books about the last year. The combination of text and illustrations is perfect. The way that it highlights various children around the world stuck in their homes is brilliant, and provides some much needed empathy during this time. And the moment the granddads show up acting goofy outside the windows is just spectacular.
There’s a lot of hope on the horizon right now for things to get back to normal, both because of the the vaccine as well as our new president’s nationalized plan. But that’s not to say there aren’t more tough months ahead. If schools close for a little longer, and we’re asked to quarantine for a little longer to start the year - I implore you to check out this beautiful book and share it with the kiddos in your life during this time. And I guarantee it will also serve as a special and surreal memory for the rest of your life.
What picture books have you been reading recently? Have you seen any of the books on Dad’s Bookshelf yet? Let us know in the comments!
