Daddy Speaks Love

Leah Henderson (leahhendersonbooks.com) also wrote the picture books Mamie on the Mound and Together We March, as well as the middle grade novels The Magic in Changing Your Stars and One Shadow on the Wall. She mentors at-risk teens in self-empowerment, business, and writing, and is on the Highlights Foundation faculty and a committee for We Need Diverse Books. She is on the faculty of the Spalding University MFA program, and lives in Washington, D.C.E. B. Lewis (eblewis.com) is the acclaimed illustrator of more than seventy picture books, including Dark Was the Night (by Gary Golio), Each Kindness, The Other Side, and Caldecott Honor book Coming on Home Soon (all by Jacqueline Woodson); Preaching to the Chickens (by Jabari Asim); and several Coretta Scott King Award winners, such as Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman and The Bat Boy and His Violin. He taught art in public schools for twelve years, and currently teaches at the University of Arts in Philadelphia. He lives in Folsom, New Jersey.

"This celebration of dads centers on their involvement, open minds, and activism toward a more equitable world. Each spread features a vignette pairing lyrical lines . . . with an artful watercolor painting depicting one of a rich variety of activities dads engage in, such as welcoming a newborn, hiking, nail painting for boys, encouraging resilience, telling stories, identifying role models, and learning about history—in particular the history of systemic racism and activism, adding a hopeful note for a better future. Lewis' realistic paintings feature all kinds of dads, with the vast majority being men of color. . . . Each scene's evocative portraits meaningfully capture the expressions of children and dads, as well as the environment, in stunning detail." —Booklist"Inspired by six-year-old Gianna Floyd’s words about her father, George Floyd, in the wake of his murder, this picture book centers the loving relationship between fathers and children. Narrating from an unnamed child’s perspective and employing the refrain “Daddy speaks,” Henderson completes the phrase with a range of qualities in turn—love, truth, joy, comfort, learning, and more—using poetic prose. . . . Evocative washes of watercolor by Lewis present realistic portraits of children and parents of varying skin tones participating in indoor and outdoor activities, including hiking in the woods, baking in the kitchen, visiting a museum, and attending a Black Lives Matter rally, effectively depicting a paradigm of fatherhood." —Publishers Weekly