Daddy & Dada

Inspired by the authors’ daughter, this straightforward tale details different family structures from the first-person perspective of four-year-old Rumi, whose light-skinned family includes two fathers and a younger brother, plus a dog. Brockington and Webster write spare prose: “Daddy and Dada told me that families come in all shapes and sizes./ Two dads./ One dad and one mom./ Two moms,” one spread reads, as attendant families each gather on a beach. In a cartoonish dot-eyed style emphasized by bold, flat colors, May digitally illustrates a cast of varying abilities, ages, skin tones, and partner pairs eating ice cream, playing sports, and getting musical, as well as finding family among friends. Without employing a narrative arc, this book straightforwardly illustrates a range of families. Ages 4–8. (May)