IF I WERE YOUR FATHER

PLB 0-688-15193-0 If I Were Your Father (32 pp.; $16.00; PLB $15.93; May; 0-688-15192-2; PLB 0-688-15193-0): A young boy offers his ideas on parenthood to his father. As the two of them putter around, the boy notes that he would shave with whipped cream, brush his teeth with cake frosting, and take his son fishing on a school day. Both grin their way through the book and through the jaunty repartee: “If I were your father, I’d tuck you in so tight the covers would never come loose.” “But what if I had to go to the bathroom?” “You’d slide out like a letter from an envelope.” This is all very winsome and benign, with the affection so evident on every page that the book is more of a greeting card than a story that moves forward to a natural conclusion. Denton’s airy illustrations are perfectly in keeping with the book’s sweet tone. (Picture book. 3-8)