Dad's Bookshelf: September 2021
Happy September, everybody! What a great time of year. A little bit of relief from the scorching sun, but not too cold to stop you from doing any outdoorsy stuff you want to do. I personally love fall a lot, partly because of the weather, but mostly because of the proximity to Halloween!
And September is usually a real hotbed for new Halloween picture book releases. But I’ve noticed this year that shipping delays have already pushed back the release dates of several hotly anticipated spooky books, so I’ll save those for October’s Dad’s Bookshelf! There’s nothing spooky on the docket for this month - only a little inspiration and heart and whimsy.
The three books on Dad’s Bookshelf this month are pretty fantastic, and for many of the same reasons that I usually fall in love with picture books. They have eye-catching art - sometimes funny and quirky, and sometimes simply beautiful. And they have messages embedded in them that are inspiring and comforting for kids to hear.
The themes you’ll find below include following your dreams and discovering your gifts, which are both concepts that I’m obsessed with as a dad. There’s also a gorgeous love letter to a working mom and her son, and I really think you’re going to love it. I hope you enjoy exploring Dad’s Bookshelf this month!
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: The books in this month’s Dad’s Bookshelf were provided to us by their publishers, with no expectation of inclusion on this monthly article of the books we’re most excited about. All thoughts and opinions are our own. Some of the links in this article are affiliate links that will lead you to view the books on Bookshop.org and Amazon.
Nerdycorn
Written by Andrew Root and Illustrated by Erin Kraan
Nerdycorn would fit in absolutely perfectly with our recent list of picture books about following your dreams. I’m obsessed with the concept of pursuing your passions and following your dreams, despite what society tries to discourage, and Fern in Nerdycorn is another beautiful role model for kids.
Fern isn’t like the other unicorns. She likes building robots and coding software and reading and 3D printers. She’s a nerdycorn, and sadly she’s teased because of it. Fern is smart, and a good friend, and always willing to help others, but she’s still bullied because she doesn’t fit in. Experiences like this are still unfortunately far too common for kids, so I think every chance to talk about the ridiculousness of society and the importance of kindness and empathy is a good one.
One day, Fern decides she’s done helping those rude unicorns with all of their technical scientific needs - like when their phones or bicycles break. For a while she completely ignores them when they ask for help. It’s honestly an interesting case study, because by the end of the book Fern decides that being herself (a good friend and always willing to help others) is more important than her grudge. Luckily the other unicorns end up changing their tune about science and the way they treat Fern. But I think the beautiful takeaway is how Fern not only refuses to give up on what she loves, but who she is as well.
Milo’s Moonlight Mission
Written by Kathleen M. Blasi and Illustrated by Petronela Dostalova
This book is so easy to fall in love with, and not only if you have a little aspiring astronaut in your house. This is a love letter to a work-from-home mom and her son, and it’s so beautiful and so touching. I don’t want to give away everything about the story, because there’s an incredibly sweet ending that works best if you just read it yourself.
There’s a meteor shower coming up that Milo’s very excited about. In the imaginative games that they play, Milo is the captain of the spaceship and his mother is second-in-commmand. You get to see a lot of imaginative play, but also the tiny bit of disappointment when Mom says she needs to get her work done, or that she has an important meeting in the morning when the meteor shower is supposed to hit.
Milo is incredibly sweet and helps his mom as much as he can around the house so that she has more time to play. And the ending is truly heartwarming and touching. My family also recently woke up at 3:00 a.m. to go watch a meteor shower together, and I like to think it’s a memory they might keep forever. And maybe Milo and his mom’s story will help them remember.
Mister Fairy
Written by Morgane de Cadier and Illustrated by Florian Pigé
Mister Fairy cracks me up. The character design is absolutely hilarious. He’s like a little grumpy elephant fairy and it’s brilliant. It’s the type of character design that makes you pick up a book and fall in love with it before even reading. Who doesn’t love a grumpy curmudgeon like this?
The concept of this book is that Mister Fairy is like a fish out of water. He doesn’t know how he fits in with the other fairies, and it doesn’t appear like he has any particular special fairy powers - like the morning fairies, or kissing fairies, or boo-boo fairies. He feels useless, and, despite his comically grumpy face, we definitely feel a lot of empathy for him as he leaves to find his place in the world.
Luckily Mister Fairy does figure out his specialty - he literally and figuratively brings color and laughter to the world around him with his magic. It’s a wonderful story of self-discovery with beautiful art, and it has a terrific artistic design for the forest animals and fairies that really makes this book stand out to me.
Have you read any of the books on Dad’s Bookshelf this month? What books have you been loving lately? Let us know in the comments!
