What Do You Call Your Dad?

LoveReading4Kids Says

I found this book in Australia, but I hope the review will still be of interest to people, because this is a lovely book, that deserves wider recognition. Each double-spread has a simple four-letter verse in English, describing a child’s life around the world, with the final word being the word for Dad in the language of the child. A simple premise, but by the end of the book, children have encountered 13 words for Dad, and the final few pages give cultural and linguistic context.

The illustrations are cololourful and engaging, and the international spread of countries and languages mean that children will not only recognise themselves visually, but also linguistically. The rhyming format creates a beautifully low-key pronunciation aid here – putting “carve” and “Aab” together pre-empts the notice on pronunciation at the end. Linguists might argue about the extent to which some scripts and spellings have been represented, but this is a lovely book to introduce a simple concept of different languages around the globe to a wide audience, including classes that don’t have a significant group of multilingual children, and, as such, is a lovely start to building awareness of language diversity at this age.

Sabine Little

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