SIDE BY SIDE: A Celebration of Dads

This weekend I'm exciting to share the release of new picture book that celebrates dads. 
I've included notes about my own dad in posts here and here, and I've written about him (and mom) in other posts and venues. I consider the blessing of my life to being raised by two parents who were steady and loving anchors and guides throughout my childhood and beyond. 
There are plenty of kids who still grow up with that blessing. Plenty of others are growing up with dads who offer positive influences and interactions in their children's lives, even if not able to do so full time. The amount of time spent together pales in comparison to the quality of time spent, so this book also applies to those men who step up and assume the mantle of dad in a child's life. 

Phaidon, 2019

My first impulse with any books by  Caldecott winner Chris Raschka is to rave. When it comes to reviewing, though, I force myself to be more objective. 
The subtext of the title, SIDE BY SIDE: A Celebration of Dads, says it all. Each three-page-turn-stanza of this poetic celebration is a story unto itself. Each sequence suggests an extended experience, a pair of loving lives. With minimal words, not rhymed but perfectly chosen and paced to reveal the roles on both sides, we join the the father and the child as they interact in a variety of activities. A range of ethnicities, genders, and settings underscore the universality of these relationships.
Use your imagination to picture these examples: 

Horse and rider

Queen and jester

Side by side

Mountain and climber

Dreamer and doer

Side by side

Now, try your best to view your mental pictures as interpreted by Chris Raschka: vibrant colors, loose and flowing swashes of color, soft edges, movement and action, expressive faces, and shifting perspectives on the page. The tall but narrow trim size provides ample room for soaring kites and scaled dad-kid images. The end papers are a delight: opening papers display the dad/kid hats from the interior, while final end papers do the same with the paired pairs of shoes from the interior stories.
From cover to cover, from head to toe, from scene to scene, this is a winner. I can hardly imagine a child or parent who would not embrace (literally, embrace) this book. It is an ideal gift book, of course, but it is equally suited to day-to-day reading and circulation in classroom, libraries, bookstores, families. 

When reading about Raschka's inspiration for this book it reminds us, too, how adult children can use picture books as gifts to our own parents to say what our own words never seem to do as well.

This is a rave review, right? 

Yes, it is, and it is well-earned.

A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.