Customer Reviews

My Little Girl

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just finished reading My Little Girl by Tim McGraw and Tom Douglas to my three girls, ages 3, 2, and 1. It was the kind of book I expected from a celebrity author that depended more on the name to sell the book than the content. However, despite my disappointment with the story line, I must give kudos to the illustrator, Julia Denos. The illustrations were GORGEOUS and MADE the book, in my opinion. Denos' use of vivid colors and expressive faces brought the characters to life and made me fall in love with little Katie, for she reminded me of the adorable faces my own daughters wear.

As far as the story line goes, it was strangely disjointed. It jumped from one day to another and one scene to another without logical transition. I had to check several times, thinking I had skipped a page as I was reading it aloud. The IDEA behind the story, however, is a beautiful one, of a daughter and daddy spending the day together, just enjoying each other's company.

So... did my daughters enjoy the book? Because my girls are so young, they're much more interested in the story the pictures tell anyway, so they liked examining the illustrations and asking questions about the dog:)

My Little Girl by Tim McGraw and Tom Douglas is a winner-it truly deserves ten stars!
What a perfect book for fathers and daughters to read together. The well written story catches you from the beginning with print in ice cream colors and real life illustrations-no perfect little princess here! Katie's choice of apparel and pig-tailed hairdo are exactly what a modern day princess would look like. Kudos to the illustrator Julia Denos.

I love the part of the story with Katie's phrase "love you more". It's such a simple little phrase, yet so meaningful. " Love you more" is what my granddaughter always ends her good-byes with whether on the phone or in person. I also liked bedtime with Katie's daddy telling a real life story where Katie gets to add the story parts she knows .

As a former kindergarten teacher each student in my class made "An Important Book" about the fun things they did with their parents. Almost always they remembered moments plain and simple just like the things Katie and her dad did in the book. I would have loved sharing this book with my students to help spark their writings and illustrations.

The greatest gift you can give a child is time spent one-on-one, experiencing the things you do together. Hats off to Tim McGraw and Tom Douglas for reminding us that kids only need spending time with a parent to create lasting memories. It's a must-have book for every daddy with a little girl.

I've never done a book review but I thought I would give it a try. So I signed up to be a Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger. They send me a book, I read it and post my review on a consumer site and on my blog. I get to keep the book. Fair enough.

The book I received is a wonderfully illustrated book called, "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw and Tom Douglas. When this book arrived in the mail and my 8 year daughter saw the cover she insisted I had to read it to her. We sat down right after dinner and I read to her in my best interpretations of the characters voices. She listened intently to the sweet story of a father and his daughter enjoying time doing "nothing in particular". They find time to dance and talk about imaginary cloud formations. I think my daughter loved the drawings but not the text/dialogue of the story.

The words did not seem like the kind you expect to hear from a young princess talking to her father. "Daddy, swing me all the way over the sun!" does not sound like anything I have ever heard from my daughter.

The story is simply and easily told: a Dad and daughter day of doing nothing in particular, but having fun just doing those things together.

While the story idea is nice and is something we taught our daughter--that "doing nothing" can be a very special day--the story itself was a bit too sappy sweet for my taste. I'm sure there are super lovey dad's out there, but for most women that I have known, this was not the case. Given that as my guideline, this book may not be for every Dad and daughter, especially if the child in question is old enough to wonder why her dad isn't like the one in the book. Furthermore, it just didn't feel "natural" to my mind.

One minor point that niggled at me was the dog. I couldn't understand why the dog's odd (un-child friendly and not read-out-loud friendly) name was included. McGraw family dog? Douglas family dog? It just felt out of place and baffled me.

The art work was lovely! Bright and flowing water colors and very real and personable looking characters. I was enchanted by it. Ms. Denos did a fantastic job. She deserves 5 stars for her art, and I wish there was some way to rate illustrations alone. Without her art, this would have only been a 2 star book.

I honestly think that they are planning on using Tim McGraw (and Faith Hill's preface) as the selling point for this book, and got the feeling the book was more about them (how much they love their children and family life) than it was about a general dad and daughter.

This book takes on an important subject that we as parents often forget; the importance of spending time with our kids. Tim makes the point that "quantity time" is more important than "quality time" to our kids. They may enjoy going to Disneyland, but what is most important is that you are spending time with them.

That being said this book was difficult to read because of the layout and lack of transition from page-to-page. The story does not lead the reader from one scene to another. The dialogue seems to be there just to give the characters something to do.

The layout of the words made it difficult to followthe story. I am a big fan of books like The Stinky Cheese Man... and Squids Will Be Squids, which use different font sizes and creative layouts all the time. But the layout in those books accentuates the chaotics and odd stories. The layout here seemed to be more of a distraction.

All in all, this is a nice book and my daughter and I enjoyed reading it. It was not overly emotional (like I had expected), but it was nice. I would still recommend it to other dads to read to their little girls.

This short children's book is the story of a young girl and the day she spent with her father. After dreaming of what the day might involve, she is a little disappointed when she find out that there is nothing special planned. However, as the day progresses and she spends time with her dad doing nothing in particular, she finds that she is enjoying every moment with him.

This story, although geared towards young girls, is also targeted at fathers. The inescapable overtone throughout the book, and stated at the end by the authors, is to promote the importance of father-daughter bonding time. The message lets the reader (the father) know that in order for you to become a more vital part of your daughter's life, one of the best things you can do is to spend time with her.

This book is 100% geared towards fathers and their daughters. It would be virtually impossible to read it to your son, as the storyline and photos are geared towards girls in every way. It is also meant to be read by the fathers, as the story would lose its message a bit if the mother were to be reading it.

Overall, it was a nice little book, with a great message:
Dads need to spend time being with their girls and enjoying that time with them.

The premise of the story is that Katie, a young girl, is going to spend a special day with her dad. She is very excited until she learns that they won't be doing anything in particular. But of course, sometimes doing nothing is the best thing you can do.

While the writing wasn't that impressive, I enjoyed the message behind it. Also, I found the illustrations to be very age appropriate, so don't worry, Katie is not walking around wearing a halter top and high boots.

Some of the scenes reminded me of when I was young and had special days with my dad. In one scene, Katie asks her dad to tell her about when he was a boy. This put a smile on my face because I loved it when my dad told me about his childhood. It took me back to the days when my father would tuck me in at night and tell me stories.

Dad's you have a big part in shaping what kind of woman your daughter grows up to be so don't underestimate that. Positive attention from Dad is something young girls need.

(Review Excerpt From All Diva Blog)

Recently I received the book My Little Girl by Tim McGraw and Tom Douglas in the mail. What a great book to be able to cuddle up and read to my daughter before she goes to bed tonight. The illustrations are my favorite part of the whole story. Each page is bright and very eye catching. Which is perfect when your audience is not even two-years-old yet.
The story itself is sweet. It is about a little girl who gets to spend the whole day with her dad. A very special father daughter day. The little girl has big dreams about what they might do on their day. As it turns out, though, her father has nothing in particular planned. At first the little girl is disappointed, but soon learns that just being with each other is special in and of itself.
There is a special page at the end of the book where you can sit down with your child and write about a special moment you shared with a parent. I can't wait for my daughter to be a little older so that we can pick out a special moment to write about.
I think what makes me love this book are two things. One I want my daughter to remember special moments that she shares with both me and my husband, especially when my husband has to go away on long deployments. Two I like the message that it doesn't take a bunch of money or material things to make a day or even a moment special.
If you have a little girl, I would highly recommend this book. I think it would be a really sweet gift for a daddy to get his little girl and give it to her on a special father/daughter day.

My Little Girl is a picture book co-authored by country music star Tim McGraw and song writer Tom Douglas, and illustrated by Julia Denos. Also included is a forward by McGraw's wife, Faith Hill. The story is about a little girl, Katie, who is so excited because her dad told her they were going to spend the day together, just the two of them, and they would have a "spectacular day". Katie spends time preparing for any eventuality - a ball, a trip to Africa - and is ready with her boots and tiara. When daddy calls to her and tells her they are doing "nothing in particular", Katie is very upset. (The facial expression on this page is classic, I have seen this look hundreds of times from my three little girls) They begin their ordinary day, but pretty soon that nothing in particular day turns out to be wonderful.

The watercolor illustrations in this book are really quite wonderful, especially the color palette, and the adorable little girls face, you just want to pick her up and give her a big squeeze. And the hound dog, which follows daddy and daughter on all of their adventures, is posed so deliciously. It never seems like the illustrators get enough credit, when they are the ones who do the most work, and really set the feel of the book. The story is very sweet, and the message is a good one: that spending time with family is what counts, not what you do together. There is a space at the back of the book to write your own daddy and daughter special moments, and the beginning of the book has a place to write to and from and the date. This would be a good gift for fathers looking for something to buy for their daughters.

The only place I felt this book fell short was in the writing. It did not flow very well, and jumped from event to event with no lead-in. But, writing a children's picture book is different than writing song lyrics. I suppose that when you are writing a song there is less call for details and fleshing out of a story. The body and idea of the story were sound enough. My children did not love this book. They were excited to receive it, and looked through it, asking me to read it immediately. But they have not asked me to read it again, which I found rather surprising.

As the mother of two girls who were once my "little" girls and as the grandmother of three girls, two of whom are still "little," I loved reading this book. I look forward to giving it to the littlest one for Christmas. This children's story is a great reminder of the importance of parents -- and especially dads -- giving time to their children, far more important than any "thing" we might give them. If there is a little girl in your family, My Little Girl by Tim McGraw would be a good book to put on your shopping list.