A very good book to read on Father's Day would be "Ernest and Celestine", written and illustrated by Gabrielle Vincent, from around 1982, but first published in Belgium.
Ernest acts as a capable and caring father figure to Celestine, even though she is a mouse, and he is a bear. This fact is never mentioned outright, though she does call him by first name. There's very spare and economically executed dialogue, which partners well with the earthy watercolors, and I've only just realized now that there's no non-dialogue writing in the entire story. This causes the reader to fill in all necessary details in plot, without noticing its absence, in a nice "Readers aren't idiots" kind of way. Their relationship is sincere, strong, difficult, and timeless, like the overall feeling of the book.
Happy Father's Day, Dads.
Thank you for this post. I was able to recommend this book to my father as well and we were able to bond because of it. I appreciate your decision to post something so appropriate for the day. Keep up the great posts. I definitely appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteMax Gibson
wineandbowties.com
Thanks very much for the thoughtful comment, Max. I also didn't know this, but there are several different sequels to this book as well.
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