English / USA
A card for my father
Thornhill, Samantha
(text)
Clement, Morgan
(illus.)
Oklahoma City, OK: Penny Candy Books, [2018]. – [62] p.
ISBN 978-0-9987999-6-4
Outsider | Prison | Father | School | Longing
Reading age: 6+
White Ravens issue: 2019
Penny Candy Books is a small publishing house with a growing list of hand-picked books. One of their core aims is to “… [reflect] the diverse realities of the world we live in…”. Founded in 2016, their output includes imaginative picture books, exquisite poetry anthologies, such as “H Is for Haiku” and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy”, and stories about uncomfortable but socially relevant topics. One such book is “A Card for My Father”. Young Flora hates all the buzz about Father’s Day. How is she supposed to create a special card or attend a picnic for a person she doesn’t know anything about? Whenever she dares to ask her mom about her dad, she receives nothing but frowns, tears, and silence. Where is her father and why has he never visited his daughter? The touching text of this slim volume doesn’t reveal that Flora’s dad is in prison, yet the expressive cartoon-like illustrations eventually give a hint on the last page. This topical book provides a much-needed incentive to discuss imprisonment – but also absent fathers in general – with young readers.