My Ol' Man (Picture Books) - Softcover

Grade 1-4?Polacco excels at personal narrative woven in words and pictures. Here, she tells the story of the summer her father, a lovable, flimflamming traveling salesman, discovers an ancient rock with mysterious lines that he believes to be magic. Da shows it to young Patricia and her somber brother, Ritchie, who seem convinced of the rock's powers as well. When their father is fired from his job, Ritchie is sure that the rock will help them; in its own way it does. Da writes a story about it and submits it to the local radio station, which then hires him to write stories of magic, hope, and dreams to be broadcast on the air. Returning to the rock to say "thank you," they discover it is gone. It is then that Patricia realizes that the magic had been inside them all along. The sentimental portraits Polacco paints are both intimate and universal?from the interior of Da's car, its dashboard littered with the detritus of a traveling salesman, to the interiors of the house with a wheelchair-bound Grandma, her artistic fingers twisted with arthritis and her hose drooping. So successful is Polacco at communicating through her vigorous words and watercolors that readers know these people and their modest, comforting environment instantly. A tender story that will not only remind readers of the necessity of believing in magic, but also renew memories and spark discussions of their own talismans.?Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 6^-8. Patricia and Ritchie wait every day for their father, a traveling salesman who tells them incredible stories about his journeys--like the story of the magic rock he finds one day on his way home. The stories become serious when Dad loses his job, and it's not until somebody outside the family recognizes the magic in his tales that things turn right again. The humor of Polacco's family remembrance is reflected in the watercolor-and-line illustrations, which help give the story momentum, and the photographs of the author and her family, found on the star-splashed endpapers, will have children gleefully comparing art to actuality. A warmhearted picture book, sentimental conclusion notwithstanding. Janice Del Negro