DADDY, CAN YOU HEAR ME?
By Thomas Davison
When I was growing up, the children’s books I read had an absence of BIPOC characters. It could have been a representation of the times and more rigid gender roles, but male writers were underrepresented here as well. Here in 2023, I give a hat tip to the amazing Black men who have written books in this genre, men like Anthony Walsh, J. Darnell Johnson, Thomas Davison, Robert Dixon, Jr., and the youngest author I have reviewed, Zephaniah Martin. This week, I have the honor of presenting Thomas Davison’s Daddy, Can You Hear Me? with illustrations by Samuel J. Simmons.
Daddy, Can You Hear Me is told in alternating points of view, first from the thoughts and feelings of the child and then those of the father who is absent. This book speaks so beautifully to children whose fathers, for whatever reason, are absent, such as incarceration or on a tour of active military duty. Though the children and their fathers illustrated come from a diversity of ethnicities, the feelings expressed are universal.
As a father myself, I recognize in this book that what children remember the most are not the material things such as presents, but the quality of the time you spend with them and how they feel when you’re with them. The child’s POV shares memories of Dad and dreams of what could be. The father’s POV speaks words of unconditional love; though he isn’t physically present, his children are always in his heart. Looking back on my own childhood, having a father who was a career military officer, the words in Davison’s book ring true.
Daddy, Can You Hear Me is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Ultimate Joy Publications.
Thank you, Thomas and Samuel, for the love and inspiration you put into this work, and may it have a place in the libraries of many, many families.
W.D. Foster-Graham
W.D. Foster-Graham is a native son of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received a B.A. in psychology from Luther College, and he was an original member of the multi-Grammy-Award-winning ensemble, Sounds of Blackness. He has also been recognized by the International Society of Poets as one of its “Best New Poets of 2003,” is a guest writer for journalist/author/entertainer Wyatt O’Brian Evans.
