MY DAY, YOUR DAY

Ten parents and their preschoolers experience parallel days, from their good-byes in the morning to their hellos in the afternoon. On opposing pages, we see a child on the left and a parent on the right. A little girl builds with blocks at day care, and her father, an engineer, makes a building using bigger blocks. A young boy plants seeds with a teacher and so does his scientist mom with a lab assistant. One preschooler creates in arts-and-crafts while his artist mother creates for a gallery opening. A daughter reads at school while her journalist dad reads at work. Circle time is cleverly juxtaposed with meeting time. While reading this book, children can clearly see the similarities between what they do at preschool and what their parents do at work. Ballard’s full, round characters show youth in the children and the breadth that comes with age in the parents. After a full day, parents and children happily greet each other and are ready to go home together. This will have parents and little ones cuddling up to read and discuss their similar yet distinctly different days. As the flap says, “How you spend your day matters.” Hear, hear. (Picture book. 3-6)