When Dad's at Sea [Hardcover]

Mindy Pelton (Author), Robert Gantt Steele (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: 1 and up

Emily's dad is in the military and sometimes he has to leave for months at a time. Emily knows her dad's job is important, but she doesn't want him to leave! Her dad makes her a paper chain to count down the days of his trip.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2–Emily has to deal with a long separation from her father, a Navy pilot, who goes to sea for a six-month deployment. To cope, she tears off a piece of a paper chain every day that he is gone, traces his journey on a map, and communicates with him via e-mail and telephone. With her mother's support and the help of a friend whose father is on the same ship, Emily feels less lonely. Warm text with soft watercolor illustrations results in a sensitive and caring title for those service families who go through long separations from loved ones. However, the Navy reflects the diversity of our country, so it's unfortunate that the book's illustrations don't show it. Still, the book is certainly useful for children needing this type of material.–Pamela K. Bomboy, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Reviewed with Eileen Spinelli's While You Are Away .

Two new picture books portray children whose parents are away in the military. Both pay close attention to how the children feel and how they cope with a long separation, and both speak from the children's perspective and in language a child might use.

Eileen Spinelli's While You Are Away reads like a prose poem in three parts. Three children of different ethnicities narrate their own sections: a little boy whose father is in the Navy, a girl whose mother pilots a "fast plane," and another boy whose Papa drives a "speedy jeep." The children address their parents with their concerns, their questions, and their hopes. Their thoughts are simply expressed and often concrete: one child wonders what his father eats for breakfast, another wraps herself in her mother's sweater. Warm, glowing colors light up the large-scale, softly defined drawings of children in action and reflection. The final, wordless spread shows all three families happily reunited.

In Mindy Pelton's When Dad's at Sea, Emily's father, a Navy pilot, is leaving for a six-month deployment on an aircraft carrier. Each day he is gone, she removes one link from the paper chain he made for her, so that she can mark the days until his return. She misses him, but finds comfort in his e-mails and calls, and she even makes a new friend. The time frame of the story and the use of sensory details create a strong sense of Emily's loss, her slow adjustment, and her joy at her father's return. Steele's impressionistic, delicately colored watercolor paintings sensitively depict Emily and her surroundings.

Since so many communities include families with parents in the military, these reassuring, empathetic picture books will be welcome additions to library collections. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807563390
• ISBN-13: 978-0807563397
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars gentle story of the family of military left behind--, August 15, 2005

By 

Anne from Md "flowerlady" (between the herbs and lilies) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: When Dad's at Sea (Hardcover)

this is a sweet but realistic, gentle story of the child left home-fears, anger at loss of parent, puzzlement, and is handled with good story content and wisdom. I was pleased to give it to my grandson, who sometimes says his Daddy-out at sea- is "sick".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars mother's view, October 12, 2008

By 

Deanna B. Harrison - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Dad's at Sea (Hardcover)

As a mother of a Prowler pilot, I read this book with many tears. I bought it so my son could write a little note in it for his children to read when he is gone. I could tell it was written by someone who was there and could help younger children deal with the separation of their parent.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book for military families (esp Navy), November 25, 2009

By 

Christiana J. Guinard "navywife" (washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: When Dad's at Sea (Hardcover)

My young children enjoyed this book, we read it a lot while their dad was deployed on a ship. The only problem is that the dad is a pilot, so the book shows a lot of things that non-pilot families won't see or deal with. I ad-libbed on those pages, and the kids really liked the book.