Because I'm Your Dad

by Ahmet Zappa, Dan Santat (Illustrator)

Overview

Perfect for Father’s Day and all year round, here is the breakout book celebrating all the silliness and sweetness that a dad can share with a child, illustrated by bestselling and award-winning artist Dan Santat!
 
Because I'm your dad, you can have spaghetti for breakfast, French toast for dinner, and rocky road ice cream in the bathtub!

In a text that's both playful and loving, a father expresses his hopes and dreams for a one-of-a-kind relationship with his child. The book's ending, a moving tribute to the author's father—legendary rock star Frank Zappa—guarantees intergenerational appeal, and award-winning artist Dan Santat (The Adventures of Beekle) brings the fun and endearing scenes to life with whimsical monster characters.

Because I'm your dad, I will do all of these things for you and more . . .because that's what my dad did for me.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781484726617
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	04/12/2016
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	72,099
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	AD450L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Ahmet Zappa is the son of late rock musician/composer Frank Zappa and, as he puts it, "My awesome mother, Gail." Because I'm Your Dad is both a tribute to his happy childhood and a promise to his daughter, Halo. Ahmet grew up with a learning disability and now writes books to help children discover how wonderful reading can be. Through his production company, Monsterfoot Productions, Ahmet has developed several television shows and movies, including The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and he has also collaborated on the Star Darlings chapter book series. He lives in Los Angeles.

Dan Santat is the Caldecott Medal-winning and New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, Are We There Yet? and After the Fall, as well as the illustrator of many other picture books, including Drawn Together and Lift by Minh Lê, The Alphabet’s Alphabet by Chris Harris, No More Poems! by Rhett Miller, and Crankenstein by Samantha Berger. Dan lives in Southern California with his wife, two kids, and various pets. His website is dansantat.tumblr.com.

Editorial Reviews

04/15/2013
A rowdy catalogue of Dad moments gets enacted by a creature who resembles a green ’60s-era Nauga monster and his purple (gender-neutral) offspring, in this picture book from the son of the late Frank Zappa (and a father himself). It quickly becomes clear that this dad is all about noise, mischief, and good times: “Because I’m your dad, I’m going to teach you how to burp like a champion,” writes Zappa as parent and child deliver toothy, wide-mouthed belches; other escapades include rocky road ice cream baths, rocking out on drums, missing school for trips to New York City and Australia, and “sometimes stay up late with me to watch TV.” Throughout, Zappa and Santat maintain an entertaining balance between sweet and goofy, protective and raucous. Ages 1–5. Author’s agents: Jody Hotchkiss, Hotchkiss and Associates, and Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Illustrator’s agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"A rowdy catalogue of Dad moments gets enacted by a creature who resembles a green '60s-era Nauga monster and his purple (gender-neutral) offspring, in this picture book from the son of the late Frank Zappa (and a father himself).... Throughout, Zappa and Santat maintain an entertaining balance between sweet and goofy, protective and raucous."—Publishers Weekly

"Zappa presents a daddy monster who tickles, plays games, plans fun-filled excursions, and offers spaghetti for breakfast and ice cream in the tub.... Young children will probably giggle and warm up to the monster dad, who appears more silly than scary in Santat's exuberant illustrations."—School Library Journal

"Unbashed sentimentality dominates the text in this loving promise from a father to his children.... Zappa wrote this story for his daughter, and it overflows with genuine fatherly affection that he would like to pass on, since his father (avant-garde rocker Frank Zappa) did the same for him."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

K-Gr 1—Zappa presents a daddy monster who tickles, plays games, plans fun-filled excursions, and offers spaghetti for breakfast and ice cream in the tub. He evinces a generally goofy persona that allows for plenty of mud and burping along with cuddles and care. Young children will probably giggle and warm up to the monster dad, who appears more silly than scary in Santat's exuberant illustrations. However, there isn't much story line beyond the list of pledges that the grown-up makes to his child, based, as he explains in the end, on the parenting he himself received. And while the family depicted seems recognizable, it is familiar in a stereotypical TV sitcom kind of way. Purchase if there is a need for additional tributes to dads.—Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT

School Library Journal

Unabashed sentimentality dominates the text in this loving promise from a father to his child. What saves this title from being just a syrupy pronouncement are the characters. Santat has good fun creating scenes for two hairy, horned monsters, the dad pickle green and the child a pleasing purple. The somewhat cuddly pair is comically shown participating in their less-than-ordinary activities like "having spaghetti for breakfast, French toast for dinner, and rocky road ice cream in the bathtub." They play with robots, listen to really loud music, burp like champions and miss school to visit New York to share a hot dog. Readers will smile at the low-key humor in the pictures. The page stating, "Because I'm your dad, you can sometimes stay up late with me to watch TV" depicts the father asleep while the child sits on the sofa terrified by what is on the screen. Warm moments abound, as when little monster is rolled up by her father in a blanket like a burrito or when the dad checks the closet and under the bed for monsters. Zappa wrote this story for his daughter, and it overflows with genuine fatherly affection that he would like to pass on, since his father (avant-garde rocker Frank Zappa) did the same for him. Funny though the illustrations are and loving though the text is, the book falls short due to lack of nuance. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews