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On My Desk this week: My Father Knows the Names of Things
My Father Knows the Names of Things is a slim volume that tells in a little boy’s rhyme all the amazing things his father knows, like name of fish and bug and flowers. It’s a cute book and does communicate the wonder little kids must have about how much stuff their mommy and daddy know. However, I left the book feeling a bit defeated and underachieving. I know neither the name of all the fish nor all the plants, and not that many constellations. I couldn’t help comparing myself to the dad in the book and wondering if my son thinks I’m all that amazing. I’d have to venture to think that the writer, a woman in this case, may be trying to say that kids are always amazed at how much their dads know, even if it seems to us like so much is unknown, because little kids know so little that we always look wise in comparison. At least that rationalization helped me make it through the day without torturing myself with comparisons to the omniscient dad in the book.
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