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About Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream For Me
Product Description Every morning, I play a game with my father. He goes knock knock on my door and I pretend to be asleep till he gets right next to the bed. And my papa, he tells me, "I love you." But what happens when, one day, that "knock knock" doesn't come? This powerful and inspiring book shows the love that an absent parent can leave behind, and the strength that children find in themselves as they grow up and follow their dreams. From School Library Journal K-Gr 3-Beaty tells a poignant, heart-wrenching tale of love, loss, and hope. A boy narrates how every morning he and his father play the Knock Knock game. He feigns sleep while his father raps on the door until the boy jumps into his dad's arms for a hug and an "I love you." One day, there is no knock. Left with his mother, the child deeply misses his papa and writes to him for advice, receiving a moving letter in return. Collier's watercolor and collage illustrations enhance the nuanced sentiment of the text. Following the protagonist's journey from a grief-stricken child to an accomplished strong adult, the lifelike images intermingle urban and domestic backgrounds with the symbolic innerscape of the narrator. As the boy writes the letter and tosses paper airplanes out the window, he glides out on a life-size paper plane expressing his plea, "Papa, come home, 'cause there are things I don't know, and when I get older I thought you could teach me." Author's and illustrator's notes at the end of the book elaborate on the personal meaning of this eloquent story that speaks especially to children who are growing up in single-parent homes.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NYα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. From Booklist Every morning a boy and his father play a game: “KNOCK KNOCK,” says papa, and the boy pretends to be asleep, before jumping into his father’s arms. Then one morning papa doesn’t come anymore. Collier’s gorgeous watercolor and collages begin with rich hues and joyful light on the beginning pages and turn somber and dark as the boy realizes his father is gone for good. Buildings, fabric patterns and wood grains, photographs, and torn paper are delightfully complex, framing the emotional painterly portrayals of a sad and disappointed boy. Children can follow the tromping paisley elephants and paper airplanes as well as papa’s signature hat as the boy grows up and finds happiness. In a rare topic for younger children, Beaty explores the theme of permanent separation from a parent (it could be prison, death, or abandonment). The desire for guidance encountering life’s experiences is told from a small child’s point of view with candor, as well as hope, as he ends quoting papa’s advice to “KNOCK KNOCK down the doors that I could not.” Preschool-Grade 2. --Lolly Gepson Review Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner ALSC Notable Children's Book Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards Picture Book Honor Notable Children's Book in the English Language Arts Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Books of the Year A Huffington Post Best Picture Book of the Year ― - "Bryan Collier's richly textured illustrations and the lyricism of Beaty's text-with its echoes of spoken-word poetry-make this story of bereavement also a story of possibility and beauty." ― The New York Times Sunday Book Review "Challenging but ultimately uplifting, Knock Knock is a thoughtful meditation on grappling with the sometimes uneasy legacy passed down to us by our parents."― The Huffington Post *"By sharing his experience, explained in an afterword, Beaty lends his voice to children struggling with the absence of a parent and the grief that goes with it." ― Publishers Weekly (starred review) "The text, powerful and spare, is well supported by Collier's watercolor and collage art...there is a lot going on in the mind of any chi
