The Dressing-Up Dad by Maudie Smith and Paul Howard
| The Dressing-Up Dad by Maudie Smith and Paul Howard | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: Dressing up delights all round, with lots of costume ideas for your next fancy dress party! | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: May 2017 |
| Publisher: OUP Oxford | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9780192749796 | |
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Danny and his dad both love dressing up! Whatever the event, or reason, they are ready. Indeed, they don't really need a reason, but just happily dress up together at home, or when they go out, as spacemen, a knight and a dragon, sea creatures and wizards...you name it, they can dress up as it! Danny loves having so much fun with his dad, but then one day he does start to wonder what it would be like to have a normal, ordinary dad, and so for his birthday he decides to ask his dad to dress up as an ordinary dad!
This is a lovely story, with bright and interesting pictures throughout and an easy to follow story. The moment when Danny realises his dad is a bit different to other dads is very sweet. Danny is apparently on stage dressed as a lion, and he looks out into the audience and sees all the other 'normal' dads, and then his own, dressed as a lion too, waving at him! When Danny's dad dresses down, as an ordinary dad, things don't quite go as Danny planned. His dad certainly does a good job of greeting all the party guests and serving them cake, but Danny can see that his dad is not having very much fun. And so when his friends ask whether they can be chased by a giant caterpillar, Danny relents, and asks his dad to put on the caterpillar costume, and then everyone has a lot of fun together!
I really liked the additional dressing up character in this story - the dog! He isn't mentioned in the words, but if you look at the various pictures throughout the book you can see their sweet little dog dressed as everything from a chicken to a princess to a dolphin! The pictures are all very well done, with lots of colour and action and things to see. Children will enjoy the variety of costumes, whilst grown ups will sit and ponder the huge wardrobe (and budget!) that Danny's dad must have! It's very clearly written, and it's easy to see what's going on, so it works well as a reading aloud story for groups of toddlers.
The story is simple, but does bring up interesting ideas about what is 'normal', and whether it's best to fit in like everyone else, or just have fun in your own personal way. I've always been keen on dressing up myself (World Book Day is one of my favourite days of the year now I have children at school and can join in their dressing up with them!) so I enjoyed all the many and varied ideas for future potential costumes! It did make me think for a moment, though, about how my children feel about my dressing up! This is fun to share, and a good, lively read.
Further reading suggestion: For more about clothes try The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson or for another funny dad story you might enjoy Daddy's Sandwich by Pip Jones and Laura Hughes. We also have a review of Smith's The Cake, the Wolf and the Witch.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Dressing-Up Dad by Maudie Smith and Paul Howard at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Dressing-Up Dad by Maudie Smith and Paul Howard at Amazon.com.
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