Books 2

The third of the four books came today. It's called "My Dad's a Hero" by Rebecca Christiansen and Jewel Armstrong. One of whom is a teacher and the other, a military spouse. I think this is my favorite of the three. It's less of a tear jerker than the others as it focuses more on Daddy's military tasks and less on him being gone. The first page is a copy of the cover, except there is no dad and it instructs you to paste a picture of their Dad there. Each page lists something Daddy must do and then says, "...but that's not what makes him a hero." Then finally the last couple pages go like this..

"There are many hero words like save, help, build, and bravery. The most important hero word is sacrifice. Sacrifice means to give up. My Dad gives up some birthdays, some holidays and some other fun times. My Dad sacrifices his time with me and my family to help those in need. This sacrifice is what makes him a HERO. I love my Dad very much. I am willing to sacrifice time with him because I know he is helping so many other families. This makes me a HERO too!"

Then there is a page just like the first one, but it says, "I am a hero," and instructs you to put your child's picture there. The books never uses the word deployment, so this works even if you're dealing with TDY's. It is upbeat and age appropriate for little ones. Like the others, it never mentions war, guns or fighting. The illustrations are very cute and cartoony. There are three dads that rotate through the pictures; one is dark haired, one is blond and the other is African American. They are even all together on one page as they ride in a parade. I think most children will be able to relate to one of them since they are not very detailed. The blond one reminds of a 'King of the Hill' character. He's Boomhauerish, but Mason pointed to him right away and said "That one's my Daddy!"
A super cute book and a must have for military brats!