A Special Kind of Love - Hardcover

Boxes might seem an odd medium for expressing love, but for the emotionally reserved father in this touching story, they're just the ticket. Boxed in by his inability to articulate his feelings for his son, he transforms boxes ("Big boxes. Round boxes. Small boxes.... All kinds of boxes!") into kites, castles, bird feeders, go-carts, airplanes and any number of other wonderful things to enchant a small boy. This sensitive tale, an Australian import by a first-time author and illustrator, unfolds in spare prose set against a sweeping backdrop of comical illustrations brimming with energy. King's deft cross-hatching and other distinctive uses of ink refine his casual watercolors, and a childlike sense of play informs his compositions. To show "small boxes," for example, he has Dad adjusting the lens of a microscope; the airplane is the same kind Snoopy flies to fight the Red Baron. The book's sweet, satisfying message will resonate with preschoolers, whose own parental bonds typically form the sum and substance of daily life. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

There's more to this exploration of a father-son relationship than is suggested by the dreary title. The boy loves his father, and the father loves boxes. From these he makes castles, airplanes, and other toys--vehicles for expressing his love to the boy. Readers are told that the neighbors think the father is strange, but he doesn't seem so odd in either text or pictures. The prose achieves a heartfelt simplicity; there is a suggestion of discovery, as if the father (and the author) is understanding the truth of his love for his son along with readers. Indeed, King's first picture book is so sincere that it's hard not to imagine an autobiographical element, as if the book--and not boxes--is the means for the expression of love. The illustrations are endearingly soft and a bit sentimental, like the story itself. (Picture book. 3-7) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.