Daddy Island

by Philip Wells

Book Overview

This gentle, lyrical picture book will inspire parent-child play from playtime to bedtime. AGES: 3-7 AUTHOR: Philip Wells has been praised by The Evening Standard as "the foremost performance poet in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1841481971
• ISBN13: 9781841481975
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Barefoot Books
• Length: 24 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.6" x 9.4"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

"Oh to Live On...Daddy Island" --One of the Best Kids' Books I've Read This Year.

Some books bring you to a magical new setting from the very first page. Suddenly, you find yourself--Oz-like--in a strange but fascinating place, that all but compels you to look at things differently. So it is with "Daddy Island," a gem of a book that works for adults almost as well as it does for tots and early grade schoolers. The title page sets the tone, welcoming you with its tropical-island font that instantly recalls windswept shores, exotic island, and cocoanuts (and Dorothy Lamour, for some). Under the title, a young dad in beach clothes holds his similarly dressed son so that their smiling faces are no more than a foot apart. Pulling back, we see that the dad leans against a palm tree. The ocean swells beneath him, and a dolphin rides the small splashing waves. These visual treats grace every page--the longer you look the more you see--and they're integral to this story about love and imagination. On Daddy Island, little boys can safely try out their emotions, and daddies are relaxed and receptive. This little boy explores his feelings by imagining that he is a tree, a storm, a bird, and other island inhabitants. He explores his need to be bigger, stronger, even angrier, and his dad rolls with it, neither critical or so uninvolved that the boy feels frightened. Here's one example of the superlative narrative structure and rhyme: I am a storm on Daddy Osland. I can shout very very loud. ILouder than the rackle of a thundercloud! I am very angry and wild and proud. I am a storm and I'm louder than loud! The illustrations also have a structure to them: Underneath the verse, there is a monochromatic sketch of the boy and his dad, generally showing them at home, but with palm trees and ocean around them. We get an idea of the dad's evening with the boy, and how they play out the fantasies. On the right-hand page, however, we get a full-color treatment that's more fantastic (in the fantasy sense of the word); it's the scene as it might look on Daddy Island. Here, the angry boy rides an animated cloud e.g., it has arms), shouting up at his dad. The dad's image encircles the entire page, his calm face looking down from the sky, and his giant, gentle hands merging with the waves to form a protective circle. In a nod, perhaps, to Dali, the "real life" cat surfs on the dad's guitar, looking with some alarm at the stormy scene. As the day turns to evening, other emotions and associated identities play out, each time illustrated by scenes from home and from Daddy Island. The "bear" on Daddy Island, gets "tired of pushing and shoving, and he notes: "I can feel it when your heart is moving. I am a bear and I'm very very loving. The two wrestle on the couch at home (all in warm brown tones); on Daddy Island, the pajama-wearing boy leads a group of bears, while a sailboat with a heart-shaped hull hugs the shore, beckoning him to bed. There's an idyllic bedtime conclusion, as the young adventurer falls asleep, and Daddy Island becomes part o

Beautiful way for a dad and son to end the day

My son is 2 years old and since we bought this book we've spent nearly every bedtime with this book. He requests it every night.It is beautifully illustrated, and my son digs it when I sing it to him, with a little calypso tune i made up myself.If you're a loving dad, and want to raise a loving son, this is a great way to end each day.