Staff Review: “Hero Dad” by Melinda Hardin, Illustrated by Bryan Langdo

When you read children's books or any books for that matter, often you come across a book that has a very specific audience.  The book could be brilliant, but it's only going to appeal to certain families.  It makes the book a hard sell, because one can't promote it through storytime and usually they will just rot on a display shelf. All one can do is try to file that book away for when someone happens to specifically ask for a book on the subject.

Such is the case with the book "Hero Dad" by Melinda Hardin, Illustrated by Bryan Langdo. This story has a very specific target: families with young children who have a family member, particularly a father, serving in the Armed Services abroad. The whole frame of the book is comparing an American soldier to a superhero. For an example, here are the first two sentences: "My dad is a superhero. He doesn't wear rocket-propelled boots-he wears Army boots." It goes on to compare X-ray vision to night vision goggles, super-powered cars to tanks, etc. The book is very short with only about a sentence per page, which makes it great for preschool age. The illustrations are simple and beautiful; kids will get a view of the world their parent is seeing from day to day. Because the book is so tailored to young children, there isn't a ton of content in the story. Hardin doesn't get into the specifics of "Hero Dad's" job entails. There are a few guns in the illustrations, but they are just described in the context of the uniform, not what they're doing.

There are a lot of "I love you, mom/dad" stories out there, but there aren't many books with a military family in mind.  As with every great book that is written for a specific audience, I can only hope it ends up in the hands of the families who need it.

Other Books for Children of Military Personnel:
"My Red Balloon" By Eve Bunting; Illustrated By Kay Life: a picture book about a boy eagerly waiting for his dad to disembark from the air craft carrier he's been serving aboard for several months at sea.

"100 days and 99 Nights: a novel" by Alan Madison; Illustrated by Julia Denos: Middle-Grade Chapter book wherein a girl relates her experiences about life in a military family.

--Kim M., Cliff Cave Branch