From School Library Journal
PreS–Linocut illustrations in soft, appealing colors depict fathers returning home to their children at day's end. Animals, including a rabbit, ladybug, dog, and bird, are reunited with their offspring in their homes in a hollow tree, under a log, in a birdhouse. One child is also reunited with his sailor father returning from the sea. Mothers are never shown or mentioned. Though the bug flies, the rabbit hops, and the fish swims, there's no movement in the static pictures. Each shows the dad on one page, with one or two sentences of minimal text, facing his youngster on the other. There's not much child appeal here, but the book may reassure some children that their fathers will return home.
Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
As the sun sets, a ship moves across the water. Meanwhile, “the fathers are coming home.” The fish father swims back to his little fish; the bug father flies back to his little bugs. Words and pictures show the rabbit, daddy longlegs, dog, bird, snail, and pig returning as well. Lion “lives alone, so he comes home to himself.” When the ship docks, a sailor father returns to his little boy. In an age when picture books for young children too often drip with I-love-you treacle, Brown’s text treats a child’s love with the dignity it deserves. The story establishes a comfortable pattern, then breaks it just a bit before bringing the simple tale to a happy conclusion. With bold lines and mainly flat colors, the striking illustrations, “rendered as linocuts” in the publishers’ words, use line, form, color, and texture effectively to create a series of compelling images with a retro look. A fine choice for reading aloud. Preschool-Grade 1. --Carolyn Phelan
