I love the way this book provides a counter-narrative to the popular refrain of the absent black father. But not only is Lola's father present, he is actively participating in her literacy development. He even creates a story for Lola that effects her more than any other stories that she reads. The sparkle that her dad's story sets off in Lola's imagination is reflected all the way into the end pages at the beginning and end of the book. This father-daughter relationship is as magical for Lola as it is real to her. This book allows students to see a model of aesthetic reading and to see a loving, intellectually stimulating relationship between a black child (a girl in this case) and this child's black daddy. I recommend a read aloud to give all students, no matter their reading capability, access to this book. Show all the pictures, but linger at the end of the story and bring in the sparkle of the end pages. Be ready for some students to tell their own stories about dads, moms and family, and insert other loving adults into your students' internalizing of this story. Some of them will not have fathers to speak of, but they do have some loving adult in their lives who can take them to the library too...even if that person is you at your school's library. This simple story describes how Lola gets books from the library and how each book triggers her imagination to pretend and invent games, which she plays with her friends. I really liked the fact that her father takes her to the library and reads to her, though her mother does read to her once. You don't always see fathers fulfilling this role. I also liked the end, where Lola and her father are reading a book with a familiar illustration that readers will recognize, though the story they're reading is never named. And if you don't get the hint from the 2-page spread where they're reading the book, the very last picture should give it away. Nicely done, with bright illustrations, and appropriate for preschool and early elementary children. Recommended!
What do You think about Lulu Loves Stories (2009)?
Pair with "Where the Wild Things Are" for storytime. Read this first.
—jaysnan
An excellent example of how books inspire children.
—stav
