The Secret Father's Day Present (Paperback)

by Andrew Clements (Author), Varda Livney (Illustrator) "It was the Saturday before Father's Day..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Sarah and James are busy making their best Father's Day present ever. But why do Dad's things keep disappearing? Lift the flaps to find out what his one-of-a-kind present is!

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Paperback: 16 pages
• Publisher: Little Simon (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689833598
• ISBN-13: 978-0689833595
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #949,758 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious Use of Flaps for the 2-4 Year Old Set, May 30, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This book is built around a running gag while two children, James and Sarah, put together a surprise Father's Day present on the day before the grand event. The children decide to collect tokens of ways they can help their father. The only trouble is that they take these tokens away . . . just as their father is about to use the items. As a result, the house and yard are filled with unexpected messes and there's a puzzled father. The pages show the father about to use the hose, tub, trowel, window cleaner, or charcoal . . . and under the flaps a different illustration shows the father taking a pratfall or having an accident when the item disappears or is replaced by something inappropriate (like a dog's stick for a trowel).

On Father's Day, dad opens the door to the parent's bedroom to find a large box in the hallway with a sign on it that says, "For Daddy, open me right away!"

Inside the box are Sarah and James. Also inside are a trowel (with a sign attached that says "free garden weeding"), a hose (with a sign that says "free car wash"), a tub ("free doggy bath"), a bottle of window cleaner ("free window washing"), and charcoal ("free help with barbecue"). The mystery is solved.

"Daddy said, 'I love all your presents, but most of all, I love you!'"

You will enjoy the bright, solid colors portraying simple images of happy situations.

Although the book is very funny, the children are certainly not very considerate or helpful. They don't ask permission, and they can tell that their removals and replacements will cause problems. As a result, the children waste a lot of their father's time. Fortunately, these acts affect his love for them not one bit! I think the book could have been written to overcome this limitation of seeming to promote mischevious behavior (as long as it is in a good cause) and still be very funny. So I graded the book down one star accordingly.

Appreciating your father doesn't have to begin and end on Father's Day. How can you be helpful to your father on other days as well?

Happy Father's Day!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Secret Father's Day Present, June 2, 2000

By	"luciahelena" (Brazil) - See all my reviews

Although the reading level indicated is 4-8 years old, I bought this book to my 2 years old daughter and she loved it. She always smiles when she lifts the flaps and see the reactions of a astonished father who never undestands the strange behavior of his two children. But the most important: the story rescues fundamental values and the real mean of a father's day present or a father's present in any day.