Customer Reviews

My Father Knows the Names of Things

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The concept behind the book is sweet and true (if slightly patriarchal, like Adam naming the animals with God); to children it must seem magical that parents know the names of things with such specificity, yet without more wit or humor (the art could pull more weight here), it kind of fizzles. The book hits me as a product written to the Father's Day market, rather than a story written to children.

Not too sure what exactly to say about this book. It rhymes sometimes, but then stops and it gets awkward. The book isn't a story but more of a chant that this boy's dad knows the names of everything they see. However, the boy isn't going to tell us the names of the things in the book either - it's a big secret I guess! It would be much more enjoyable if it did rhyme, tell the names of particular things that are both mentioned and illustrated, and overall, be more inclusive of the reader. Really, it's not that great of a book and honestly, I cannot recommend you spend your money on it. It's just an, "oh, that's all there is to it?" kind of book once you've read to the end. Didn't care for the illustrations at all in this one - just a bit too bland and noninviting. Kids didn't care much for it at all. Just no story, nothing there that grabs their attention or their imagination. They wanted to put it down immediately because they wanted something that actually tells a story and held their attention. Sorry, but can't recommend this one.

I am buying this book as a father's day present after reading it in the library. The book's illustrations feature a father and son and is written from the son's perspective. The father knows so many names for the color blue, the different names for clouds when they go flying, all kinds of insect names, and so on. My husband is just that kind of guy. We have friends who would use my husband for a life line if they were on that millionaire game show. I can't wait for Father's Day to see his reaction when he reads it with our boys.

This book follows a father and son as the father tells his son all the names of things. The book's text is a pleasing rhyme, and the pictures are engaging. It's a cute idea, but I don't think the book lives up to the idea's promise.

My biggest complaint with the book is that the rhyme tells the reader,

My father knows the names of things,
Each bird that sings,
Their nicknames, too,
He knows the names of dogs
And cheese
And seven words that all mean blue.

But if you notice, the book doesn't tell you what any of those names are. This book would have been much stronger and more interesting, if the text incorporated some actual names of things. Tell me what those seven shades of blue are! The book might have been even cuter if we were given indication that the father made up some names in Seussian fashion.

Now for the results of my focus group. Amazon lists this book's target age-group as 4 to 8. I read this book to my 4-year-old daughter and my 6-year-old daughter. The 4 year old said she liked the book a lot and gave me a hug (I'm assuming the hug was because she identified me as being a father who knows the names of things). My 6 year old said the book was "just terrible." My conclusions from this very unscientific focus group--the book will not have a lot of rereading value. Kids will tire of this book quickly, and it will sit on the shelf, while the classics get all the action. Feel free to interpret my focus group differently.

There is nothing to read in this book. There is no story and the illustrations are not interesting or colorful enough to capture the interest of a child. The acclaimed author must have done an experiment: "Lets see if they would publish such a worthless work just because I submit it." Well, they did.

The read-aloud rhythm of this book is very, very good. The great thing about Dad is, he knows stuff that Mom doesn't even know he knows.

In our family, Dad knows how to whistle through a blade of grass.
He knows what the dog is dreaming about.
He knows why brown sunglasses are the best.
He knows stuff about meteorology.
He knows how and why to set the camera aperture.
He knows how to lay on the bottom of the pool for a long time.
And so much more.

Dads are full of surprises. All Mom has to do is hush for a while, and Dad becomes a one-man show.

This book has sweet illustrations. Simple, enjoyable book.

This is quite a nice children's book, portraying a slightly fantastic relationship between a boy and his father. I suppose all boys look up to their fathers who seem to know everything and seem to be able to do everything. And this book celebrates that wonderful, though sadly fleeting, time.

It's a fun book, filled with colorful pictures and gently rhyming text that is just right for a 5-6 year old reader. My little reader enjoyed this book, and I did too. Three cheers for the world seen by a child!

I don't have kids this young, but I got this for my nephews and nieces who are all under the age of 6 and I thought this would be perfect for them.

All in all, they love this book. They like the pictures and the kids tend to gather around whoever is reading to them. Personally, I think it is because kids love books like this in general and there is nothing about this "story" that stands out as groundbreaking, but the kids loved it and kept them entertained for a while so I'm happy with this.

I like the illustrations of this book, the story is not that good and realistic is not bad but I think you can find other books more realistic, a father not always know lots of things like the one on this book.

I got this book thinking it would be a nice Father's Day gift for my husband who is a father-to-be. Only ... he didn't know the names of some of the things the book supposes that he should know. Therefore, I can't see him reading this to our baby with too much pride. My husband's quite intelligent (a lawyer even), but he doesn't know the names of all the birds or dog beeds or cheeses or bones in the body. Maybe there's someone out there that does know these things, but I think this book would get read more if it featured things a little bit more realistic. The illustrations are pretty and the idea is good, but it just sort of falls short of universal.