Daddy Plays a Mean Guitar

Beneath the rock-and-roll surface of this familial picture book portrait lies something deeper: an empathic exploration of how family members can move to their own rhythms and still thrive together. Mother-son previous collaborators Yolen and Stemple (Crow Not Crow) kick off with an adoring child’s-eye view of a cool musician parent whose nighttime gigs reverberate with his guitar’s “Waaaah, didi-waa-waa, bleep!” After playing in clubs all night, the narrator’s father sleeps while the youth and their mother head to school and work. When the child returns, Daddy is ready for a rambunctious pre-dinner jam session, then begins “cooking up a/ storm And singing a salad song,” so that dinner’s ready when Mama arrives. Vignettes weave in riffs that capture the household’s daily beats: even the young protagonist’s early morning utterance is a “Yawn-yakkety-yawn yakkety yawn.” Colorblock-like spreads by Kheiriyeh (We’re Moving House) read as a medley of cut paper, corrugated cardboard, hand-drawn lines, and splattered textures, while Daddy is mostly sharp angles—ombré hair in spikes, pointy sunglasses—amid domestic scenes. It’s a jovial reminder that every family finds its own groove. Characters are portrayed with brown skin. Ages 5–9. (Jan.)