Reviews

Because I'm Your Dad by Ahmet Zappa

traci_mm's review

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4.0

Cute for father and son.

tkruger's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

ljlacourt's review

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4.0

The 29-page book consists of a first-person narrative of a monster dad telling his monster child why he dedicates his attention and love to him. The hairy green, two-horned father appears to be single or live on his own, but still invests his time and devotion to play imaginative games with his child, travel, provide physical affection and provide a home with flexible rules. The book ends with the reason for his parenting style: "...because that's what my dad did for me.", which plays well as payoff if that is the reader's real experience. The illustration style of Santat balances details and simplicity using coloring and shades without any line work, which appeals to children as well as adults. The bond between father and child is especially noticeable in the fact that they are the only monsters in the human world. The child's color, purple, could play well with any gender if it wasn't for that fact that he plays in an all-boys soccer team. It is still a good book for fathers to read to their children, especially if they are not living with mom, and written in a style that is perfect to read aloud.

smoo8830's review

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funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

courte's review

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fast-paced

3.0

dinkaflicka's review

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3.0

My son loves this book, reading it to him as a mom that didn’t grow up with a dad it doesn’t really speak to what I experienced but my son does ask for this book often and his dad is like that. It’s cute, but not my favorite

mdevlin923's review

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2.0

A cute (but sometimes irritating) proclamation of love from father to child.

I'm kinda over the idea that dads being involved in their children's lives means being irresponsible and "cool".

jmitschke's review

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4.0

Love Santat's illustrations.

inkstndfngrs's review

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4.0

LOVE! The monster style is super cute, and I am very much reminded of my niece and her stepdad (particularly the line about monsters being cooler). I think any Geek Dad would enjoy reading this to his kid; boy or girl. I like that the child was androgynous to make it appeal to either gender.

beths0103's review

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5.0

I'm already thinking of the two ways I can use this book as a mentor text:

1) Mother's Day is coming up next weekend. Have students write "Because you're my mom" pieces.

2) This is an example of an entire book using one of Jeff Anderson's infamous AAAWWUBBIS (As, Although, After, When, While, Unless, Before, Because, If, Since) introductory elements. This book can be used to show students how they can correctly use because at the beginning of a sentence so that it's not a fragment.

But let's also look at how downright adorable this book is. After reading it, I have come to the conclusion that Ahmet Zappa is the dad every kid deserves to have. He clearly adores his daughter Halo and it shows through in this tearfully sentimental and also chuckle-inducing story.