WHITE, Andy (text) Anita Lester (illus.) My Daddy’s Got Tattoos Vivid Pub, 2014 unpaged $19.95 pbk ISBN 9781925171112
One quarter of Australians over the age of 20 are ‘inked’ so a picture storybook about a much-tattooed family is timely. This is Andy White’s debut children’s book and tells of a small boy’s love for his father.
‘My daddy looks different to some other Daddies’ is its opening line and shows the boy against a grey sea of possible fathers. Turn the page and you enter the vibrant world of a young man who has embraced body art with gusto (he also papers his walls with ‘cool’ music posters). The characters on dad’s arms and torso dance and wriggle when he moves his muscles and they intermingle with bedtime stories as father and son snuggle up together.
The illustration style possibly reflects a child’s view of a parent who may (in the eyes of others) seem unconventional but the use of colour is not always attractive. Incidental tattoo designs throughout the book show how life’s events can be told in pictures – Dad’s story can be read in his arms. This is an inclusive book that relates directly to families questioning the validity of body art, as the boy says, ‘everyone looks funny to someone’. For ages 4+.
reviewed by Liz Anelli