Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner)

by Daniel Beaty, Bryan Collier (Artist)

Overview

Winner of a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Medal and the Boston Horn Book Award
 
A simple, powerful book for children, about an absent father and the love he leaves behind


Every morning, I play a game with my father.He goes knock knock on my doorand I pretend to be asleeptill 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316400947
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	12/17/2013
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD500L (what's this?)
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Daniel Beaty is an award-winning writer, performer, educator, and empowerment expert. His works have been shared throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa in the area's of children's and adult literature, music, theater, film, and television. He has performed at The White House and has graced the stage of The Kennedy Center, as well as HBO and BET. His website is danielbeaty.com.

Bryan Collier has illustrated more than twenty-five picture books, including the award-winning Dave the Potter and Fifty Cents and a Dream, and has received numerous awards, including three Caldecott Honors and four Coretta Scott King Awards. He lives with his wife and children in Marlboro, New York. His website is bryancollier.com.

Editorial Reviews

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 narrative never explains why the father has left, allowing Beaty to address parental absence of any kind and speak more generally to the challenges of growing up when the cards seem to be stacked against you. Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream For Me…illustrates W. H. Auden's wise observation that "there are no good books which are only for children."

The New York Times Book Review - Glenda R. Carpio

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 child who has been denied a parent, for whatever reason. In this book they will find comfort and inspiration."—The Horn Book

"A poignant [and] heart-wrenching tale of love, loss, and hope."—School Library Journal

"The desire for guidance encountering life's experiences is told from a small child's point of view with candor, as well as hope...."—Booklist

"The intimate nature of the text and the detailed visual environment are more suited for close sharing than a storytime, but the book's versatility suggests that it will see extended use."—The Bulletin

From the Publisher

"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

"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 child who has been denied a parent, for whatever reason. In this book they will find comfort and inspiration."

The Horn Book

"The desire for guidance encountering life's experiences is told from a small child's point of view with candor, as well as hope...."

Booklist

2013-10-20
A heartfelt effort to transform Beaty's celebrated monologue into a picture book undermines the source material's power, despite the contributions of Collier's stunning collage-and-watercolor artwork. A father and son play "KNOCK KNOCK" every morning, Papa knocking on the door to awaken him and the boy jumping into his arms. Both picture book and monologue open with this recollection and then reflect on the boy's profound loss when his beloved father is suddenly gone; but while the latter text explains that this is due to the father's incarceration, in picture-book form, his absence is unexplained until an author's note in the backmatter. Not only is this potentially confusing and alarming, it also robs the text of one of its most powerful elements: when the boy visits his father in prison and must "KNOCK KNOCK" on the glass between them. In the monologue, Beaty says that he had to learn to father himself and give himself the words his father didn't give to him. In this adaptation, the boy's mysteriously absent father writes a loving letter filled with fatherly advice, but it omits the monologue's lines about fighting poverty and racism and not allowing a father's choices to define the child. Absent the critical back story, this picture book feels incomplete. A valiant effort that falls short of its source's fearless honesty and passion. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews