Your Daddy Was Just Like You

A boy gets a lesson in family history from his grandmother, who helps connect past and present. “When he started school, your daddy said: 'It's hard' and 'Do I have to?' Just like you.” The “like father, like son” idea also extends to the baseball diamond, the time-out chair, and bedtime (“Your daddy wasn't always brave, especially at night”). Walker's smudgy acrylics mirror the soft tone of Bennett's prose, as the boy's father experiences familiar childhood emotions (oddly, the boy himself only appears in the opening and closing scenes). Ages 3–5. (Mar.)