My Amazing Dad by Ross Collins

My Amazing Dad by Ross Collins
Buy My Amazing Dad by Ross Collins at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Ruth Ng
Summary: A sweet story where it's nice to find the focus being on a dad rather than a mum.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: May 2014
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781471122583
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Snip the little crocodile is worried. He doesn't know what his dad does all day. All his friends seem to have really cool dads. Monkey's dad is super fast at swinging through the trees. Little zebra's dad is excellent at hiding, and Snip's elephant friend's dad is amazing at spraying water higher than the highest tree. Poor Snip doesn't think that his dad can do any of those things.

When Snip goes home he is discouraged, worried that his dad isn't cool like all the other dads, so he asks his mum what his dad does all day long. She takes him for a walk to show him where his dad is, only to find that Snip's dad is a teacher, teaching all the other animals how to do all the amazing things that they do.

This is a sweet story. I like Snip's increasing worries about his dad and what on earth he does all day. It's lovely to see how proud all the small animals are of their fathers. Even though their skills range from being fast to holding their breath under water for a long time, it still opens up the chance to chat about your family, and everyone's skills and talents and careers. The illustrations go well with the story, and their muted, sandy-toned colours work well for the African setting. I like Snip's large, egg-like eyes and his friend Max the monkey is very sweet too.

The only thing I found slightly disappointing was Snip's dad's job! I was expecting his job to follow on from the other animals and be some natural crocodile-like behaviour, but instead he's a teacher! Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a teacher, but it's just that it doesn't sit very well within the story as a whole. I suppose it would have been quite a different story if Snip's dad had been out hunting, perhaps hunting one of the other animals to eat! Still, it's sweet how happy Snip is, and how proud he is of his dad, and it's lovely to watch them go off together with his dad promising to teach Snip how to fish.

Picture books for toddlers do, generally, focus on mothers whenever family relationships play a part in the story, so it's nice that this one is about dads. If you overlook the ending this is a sweet one to share, and a good opportunity to explain the intricacies of your working life to your little one!

Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? by Martin Waddell and Barbara Firth portrays another sweet father/son relationship.

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You can read more book reviews or buy My Amazing Dad by Ross Collins at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.

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