My Daddy and Me [Paperback]

Jerry Spinelli (Author), Seymour Chwast (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2006 | Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

I can’t wait for my daddy to come home from work. There are so many things to do!

In a loving tribute to fathers and sons, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli and New Yorker artist Seymour Chwast join talents to celebrate the very best moment of the day: when daddy comes home.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli's first picture book stars a flop-eared young pup who loves to spend time with his father when he gets home from work. Little wonder! Dad has plenty of energy at day's end for playing the harmonica, wrestling, planting tomatoes, making gingerbread men, and even for household chores: "When the house breaks,/ we have to fix it./ My job is to carry/ the toolbox/ and hand Daddy the hammer./ He says I'm his best helper." On the rare occasion, his dad is too pooped to play: "But never, ever is my daddy too tired/ to sing me a lullaby/ when it's time/ for bed." Seymour Chwast's thickly textured, color-saturated paintings of the goofy dog pair render the affectionate father-son bond tangible. Young children will surely be comforted by this warm, simple tribute to Dadkind. (Preschool) --Karin Snelson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-Spinelli's first picture book tells a simple, warm story of the activities shared between a canine and his offspring. The tale opens with the pup anxiously awaiting his father's return from work and anticipating all the things they'll do together. When Daddy arrives, briefcase in hand and newspaper under arm, he swings his son onto his shoulders, and then lets him pretend to drive the car to Kalamazoo, right there in the driveway. The two wrestle on the living room floor, make cookies, plant tomatoes, and work around the house. And at the end of the day, no matter how worn out Daddy is, he's never too tired to sing the youngster a lullaby. This father is just about as close to perfect as a child could imagine. The childlike art and the bright palette make the yard and house seem quite homey, with squares, stripes, and checkerboard motifs on furnishings and walls lending textural detail to the large paintings. An appealing read-aloud.
Leslie Barban, Richland County Public Library, Columbia, SC
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Dragonfly Books (December 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553113038
• ISBN-13: 978-0553113037
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 0.2 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #986,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Growing up, Jerry Spinelli was really serious about baseball. He played for the Green Sox Little League team in his hometown of Norristown, Pennsylvania, and dreamed of one day playing for the major leagues, preferably as shortstop for the New York Yankees.

One night during high school, Spinelli watched the football team win an exciting game against one of the best teams in the country. While everyone else rode about town tooting horns in celebration, Spinelli went home and wrote "Goal to Go," a poem about the game's defining moment, a goal-line stand. His father submitted the poem to the Norristown Times-Herald and it was featured in the middle of the sports page a few days later. He then traded in his baseball bat for a pencil, because he knew that he wanted to become a writer.

After graduating from Gettysburg College with an English degree, Spinelli worked full time as a magazine editor. Every day on his lunch hour, he would close his office door and craft novels on yellow magazine copy paper. He wrote four adult novels in 12 years of lunchtime writing, but none of these were accepted for publication. When he submitted a fifth novel about a 13-year-old boy, adult publishers once again rejected his work, but children's publishers embraced it. Spinelli feels that he accidentally became an author of children's books.

Spinelli's hilarious books entertain both children and young adults. Readers see his life in his autobiography Knots in My Yo-Yo String, as well as in his fiction. Crash came out of his desire to include the beloved Penn Relays of his home state of Pennsylvania in a book, while Maniac Magee is set in a fictional town based on his own hometown.

When asked if he does research for his writing, Spinelli says: "The answer is yes and no. No, in the sense that I seldom plow through books at the library to gather material. Yes, in the sense that the first 15 years of my life turned out to be one big research project. I thought I was simply growing up in Norristown, Pennsylvania; looking back now I can see that I was also gathering material that would one day find its way into my books."

On inspiration, the author says: "Ideas come from ordinary, everyday life. And from imagination. And from feelings. And from memories. Memories of dust in my sneakers and humming whitewalls down a hill called Monkey."

Spinelli lives with his wife and fellow writer, Eileen, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. While they write in separate rooms of the house, the couple edits and celebrates one another's work. Their six children have given Jerry Spinelli a plethora of clever material for his writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a place on any school or community library picturebook shelf, August 13, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Daddy and Me (Hardcover)

Fathers and sons are celebrated in Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli's latest, joining with graphic designer Seymour Chwast to celebrate the time of day when Daddy comes home to be with his kids. Dogs are the characters representing father and son in this whimsical survey which arrived too late for Father's Day mention, but which deserves a place on any school or community library picturebook shelf.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The fun and the practical things about daddie., September 29, 2009

By 

Steven "BookDads.com" - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Daddy and Me (Paperback)

My Daddy and Me
In My Daddy and Me, Newbery medalist Jerry Spinelli has written a book in praise of both the fun things and the practical things about daddies. The two characters in this joyous book are a brown-and-white doggy daddy and his boy doggy. The book opens as the little doggy waits for his daddy to arrive home from work. When daddy arrives home with his briefcase and newspaper, the little doggy runs out to meet him and the fun begins. They play hide and seek, then magic show, and the little doggy gets to pretend to drive his daddy's car. But they also bake cookies together, plant tomatoes, fix the house (little doggy's job is to carry the toolbox and hand Daddy the hammer), and Daddy even gives little doggy a haircut.

In short, even though Daddy likes to play with his son, he also does the practical jobs of keeping a household and raising a child. This sets My Daddy and Me apart from other children's books that celebrate daddies for playing with their children but often leave out the other roles of being a parent. The roughly painted scenes gives the book a childlike and friendly feel, and My Daddy and Me ends on a note both sentimental and realistic: "Work makes daddy tired. Sometimes he's too tired to play tag with me or to stand up straight. But never, ever is my daddy too tired to sing me a lullaby when it's time for bed."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for Dads & kids!, June 14, 2007

By 

L. Miller - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Daddy and Me (Hardcover)

We first saw this book at the library and loved it so much we had to buy it for Daddy & kids. It is a perfect description of a Dad's love for his kids. The Daddy dog & little dog are so cute. A great gift idea!