Author Leah Henderson and illustrator E. B. Lewis were inspired to create this ode to fathers by the words of George Floyd’s daughter after his horrific murder in the summer of 2020. In an author’s note, Henderson explains: “‘Daddy changed the world’ were not only words of truth, but words that encapsulated a 6-year-old child’s awareness of the lasting imprint her father’s life would make.”
B. Lewis’ gorgeous, warm, detailed illustrations depict dads of varying ages from different ethnic backgrounds loving, teaching, guiding, and inspiring their sons and daughters. In loosely rhyming text, Henderson relates how dads meet their children where they are emotionally, answer endless questions, help them to navigate a world ripped apart by injustice, teach truth, speak joy and comfort, and talk about the past and future. The struggle for racial justice shapes the book’s words and illustrations: “Daddy speaks UNITY. / Daddy speaks TRUST. / When he says, ‘Equal,’ / he demands it for each / and every one of us.”
Recommended for children ages 4 to 8, Daddy Speaks Love offers Christian parents and others who nurture children an artistic avenue to celebrate the fathers in their lives, to acknowledge the love of our Father in heaven for his people and the creation, to talk about God’s command to treat all people equally—and how, in doing so, the world will become a more just and beautiful place as God intends it to be.
(Nancy Paulsen Books)
About the Author
Sonya VanderVeen Feddema is a freelance writer and a member of Covenant CRC in St. Catharines, Ontario.