The Bench

by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, Christian Robinson (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A mother’s watchful eye is meant to keep a family safe. It will also catch the sweetness and genuine love in life’s little moments. In her thoughtful picture book debut, Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, touchingly illuminates the ever-changing relationship between fathers and sons. Collaborating with the incomparable Christian Robinson, who artfully uses watercolor painting for the first time, Meghan has created a celebration of modern parenthood. Constructed over many virtual calls, The Bench, a love letter to all fathers, has a timeless feel that will be treasured for generations to come.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’s first children’s book, The Bench, beautifully captures the special relationship between father and son, as seen through a mother’s eyes. The book’s storytelling and illustration give us snapshots of shared moments that evoke a deep sense of warmth, connection, and compassion.

This is your bench
Where you’ll witness great joy.
From here you will rest
See the growth of our boy.

In The Bench, Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, touchingly captures the evolving and expanding relationship between father and son and reminds us of the many ways that love can take shape and be expressed in a modern family.
 
Evoking a deep sense of warmth, connection, and compassion, The Bench gives readers a window into shared and enduring moments between a diverse group of fathers and sons—moments of peace and reflection, trust and belief, discovery and learning, and lasting comfort.
 
Working in watercolor for the first time, Caldecott-winning, bestselling illustrator Christian Robinson expands on his signature style to bring joy and softness to the pages, reflecting the beauty of a father’s love through a mother’s eyes.  
 
With a universal message, this thoughtful and heartwarming read-aloud is destined to be treasured by families for generations to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593434512
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	06/08/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	91,707
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 12.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD410L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, is a mother, wife, feminist, and activist. Through the nonprofit work of the Archewell Foundation, she and her husband are committed to activating compassion in communities across the world. She currently resides in her home state of California with her family, two dogs, and a growing flock of rescue chickens.
 
Christian Robinson received a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor for his art in Last Stop on Market Street. He is the author and illustrator of the picture books Another and You Matter, and he has illustrated many more, including Milo Imagines the World, Carmela Full of Wishes, and the Gaston and Friends series.

Editorial Reviews

2021-06-09
The titular bench, in several iterations, becomes a touchstone fixture in the lives of several father-and-son pairings.

The text is related in the voice of a loving partner who is mostly off page as they address the father figure who appears in every picture along with his son. In all but the first and last pictures, which depict a White, redhaired, bearded man and his offspring, each father-son pairing is different, as is the bench and its location. Some benches are clearly in public places (a park, a bus stop), while others are in what appear to be residences or backyards; most are ambiguously situated, allowing readers to reach their own conclusions as to where each father-son pair is. What is constant is the love between them, whether the tutu-clad father and his similarly attired son, both with light brown skin, using a bench to stretch; the Black father and babe enjoying a sun-dappled nap; or the Sikh father cheering his son’s soccer exploits. While Robinson’s painterly illustrations are characteristically beautiful, the text from Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, is less accomplished. Written in abcb rhyming quatrains, it often struggles for rhyme and scansion, sometimes to tortuous effect: “You feel happiness, sorrow / One day be heartbroken. / You’ll tell him ‘I love you’ / Those words always spoken.”

A heartfelt if rocky read-aloud. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews