When a Dad Says “I Love You”

Sometimes fathers express their love through actions instead of words, as several animal parents demonstrate. A rabbit father holds his daughter on his shoulders as a marching band passes (“A dad can say ‘I love you’ by carrying you on his shoulders just so you can see things better”), while a turtle father surveys a woodland landscape, “explaining what the world was like when he was little and dinosaurs still roamed the earth.” And a trio of images shows a dutiful cat reading his daughter’s favorite story “with voices for all the characters. Again. And again.” Sketched in pencil and colored digitally, Bell’s muted illustrations avoid the saccharine, instead homing in on the individual relationships and quiet moments shared between each father and child. Ages 3–6. (Apr.)