The Dictionary of Dads by Justin Coe (Otter Barry Books)

I wonder what type of dad is Justin Coe? In this fun and touching book he lists more sorts of dad than I knew existed – from Abracadabra Dad through to Zzzz Dad. The poems cover an awful lot of ground. Some of them are light-hearted but quite a few are very serious (Faraway Dad and Refugee Dad among them). You can search for your own dad in these pages. You can also recognise dads you’re glad you don’t have, dads you know your friends have and dads you’d never really thought about. Young readers will find themselves wondering about what it means to be a father after reading what is a rather good debut by a writer well-known on the performance circuit for his poetry as well as his spoken word theatre shows for young people. Nice, simple illustrations are by Steve Wells. TUC