Paula knows what to do

Format:

Book

Title:

Paula knows what to do

Author:

Dufft, Sanne, 1974- author, illustrator.

ISBN:

9781772780680

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada : Pajama Press, 2019.

Physical Description:

32 unnumbered pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm

General Note:

"This is a first edition"--Title page verso.

Summary:

"When Paula's father, grieving the loss of her mother, can't get out of bed one Saturday morning, Paula knows how to help him. She paints a picture and takes him on an imaginary journey until he feels well enough to take care of her in turn."-- Provided by publisher.

Subject(s):

Parental grief -- Juvenile fiction.

Care of the sick -- Juvenile fiction.

Imagination -- Juvenile fiction.

Grief -- Fiction.

Genre:

Picture books for children.

Picture books.

JUVENILE FICTION / General.

Fiction.

Juvenile works.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	J 152.4 Dufft 2019	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A hopeful journey into the heart of a child as she heals her father's sadness at the loss of her mother

One Saturday morning, Daddy won't get out of bed. He misses Paula's mom. Paula misses her too, but she realizes that Mommy wouldn't want them to be sad forever. Paula knows just what to do. Taking out paper and paints, Paula creates a world of rolling seas, blue skies, and--best of all--a boat that she and Dad can sail together. And when the wind blows up a storm, Paula knows just what she and Daddy can do about that too.

In this sweet and poignant story about memory and overcoming grief, Sanne Dufft, the author/illustrator of The Night Lion , shows how a child's imagination can find a moment of joy and a safe place to land after a loved one is gone.

Reviews (2)

Horn Book Review

One Saturday Paula wakes to discover her father still in his bed. From his darkened room he tells her, I cant get up just yet. Im sad. Undaunted, Paula know[s] what to do. She paints a picture of a sailboat and invites her father to go sailing with her because Mommy would want us to. Paulas artwork becomes the stage for an imaginary father-daughter sea-set adventure. When their boat hits a storm and is tossed in the air, Paula again know[s] what to do. She turns the sail into a parachute, and father and daughter glide back to earthonly to discover they are in the fathers bed, under the sail (and parachute) of his blanket. This time, Daddy knows what to do. He gets out of bed, makes coffee and hot chocolate, and the two go outside for a walk. Duffts art combines two styles of illustration, with Paulas childlike, primary-color paintings showing the sea-tossed boat and more realistically rendered figures depicting Paula, her father, and the background settings (inside their house and along their imaginary voyage). The text does not gloss over the different ways parents and children can grieve, or how in grief those roles may be reversed. Readers are left with thoughts about the therapeutic ability of art to express emotions and create healing spaces for the imagination to work through loss. julie hakim azzam July/Aug p.106(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

When a young girl's father is too sad to get out of bed, she paints him a picture and the two go on an imaginary adventure together.It's Saturday morning, and Paula is waiting for her father to make hot chocolate and coffee, but she doesn't hear him moving around the house. When she discovers he's still in bed, she asks if he's still sad about Mommy and then says, "I miss her too." Paula decides that, to get cheered up, her father needs to go sailing, and so she paints a picture of a sailboat and coaxes him into an imaginary adventure. Author/illustrator Dufft's watercolor illustrations skillfully combine an assured, realistic watercolor style to portray Paula and her father, with a rudimentary childlike stroke to visually highlight the imaginative adventure. Light and shadow are used to great effect to convey moodthe father's bedroom is portrayed as a dim room of grayed color that brightens by story's end. While the final page turn is just so-so (Paula's self-confidence has been well-established throughout, so its resurrection comes as no surprise), ending on an uplifted note both visually and textually reassures readers that both Paula and her father will come through this trying time just fine. Both Paula and her father present white.A gentle, touching story of loss and resilience and of the beneficial role imagination plays, with visually intelligent and well-executed illustrations. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.