My Dad Is Brilliant (My Dad is Brilliant - Nick Butterworth)

Member Name: ButterBear

Product:	My Dad is Brilliant - Nick Butterworth
Date:	08/11/07 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cute Little Book

Disadvantages: None

I bought this book in honour of my other half this fathers day, he has a bit of a complex over being a good dad and thinks he's failing so this was the perfect little book to give him from the kids. Now I know it's a kids book but it seemed a great way to reassure him that the children think he's great and to get him reading the occasional bed time story to them.

"My dad is brilliant" is published by Walker Books and written by Nick Butterworth, famous for such childrens books as "One snowy night" and "Percy the park keeper" It is a 12 page paperback book featuring fabulous illustrations and large bold print, perfect for early readers. It is aimed at 2 years and above for reading ability but is great for bed time stories in general.

While the story is pretty basic, a series of statements declaring what Dad is brilliant at "he's as strong as a gorilla" it perfectly sums up the hero worship many children feel towards their Dads. With one sentence per page accompanied by a matching illustration we see that yes Dad might attempt these things we think they're so great at but in reality aren't all that good at it after all, for example "and he can juggle with anything" sees Dad seemingly doing a great job of juggling but look to the side of the page and you see several dropped objects bouncing off the floor. Its a sweet little book as it shows that it doesn't really matter if he can do all those things as long as he gives it a go and the kids will love him no less for dropping the odd juggling ball.

The illustrations are nicely detailed and colourful but set against a perfectly white background meaning you dont lose the image of Dad attempting running, singing, baking etc in a fussy background. The white pages also allow the basic text to stand out well making it extremely easy to read, this is great if you like to read your bed time stories in a dim light, you wont need to strain to see the words.

Now I know this book will not be appropriate for everyone, a lot of Dads are no longer in their childrens lives or are perhaps not the most brilliant of fathers. I was lucky that my Dad(after a rocky start) did turn out to be brilliant and my husband is doing a pretty good job too so what better way to let him know than a gift from the children, something they can share together saying "we think you're brilliant Dad"

The book is available in both paperback and hardback from book stores, book clubs and online. RRP starts from £4.99, Amazon sells the book from as little as 1p (used, not inc' p&p)
Other Titles-
My Mum is fantastic
My Grandma is wonderful
My Grandpa is amazing

I think this is a really nice little book, the story is not too complicated making it easy for youngsters to follow without getting bored, the bold text is fabulous for when your little one is learning to read although they may need a little help with the longer words. The quality of the book is good although I would recommend getting the hardback version if you're going to let your toddlers loose with it, we all know what destructive little beings they can be!

Both the kids love reading the book and Christopher even enjoys trying to copy what is being done in the pictures, he does a better job of it then when his daddy tries though! It's one of my other halves favourite books to read them because he gets to talk about how brilliant he is, perhaps I should get him the "My Mum is fantastic" version so I can hear how wonderful I am for a change.

"It's great to have a Dad like mine, it's brilliant!"

Summary: A great ego boosting book for dads reading bedtime stories.