⭐️ Kirkus Starred Review
⭐️ School Library Journal Starred Review
⭐️ Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review
2020 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard
Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2021
Kirkus Review Best Picture Books of the Year
NYPL Best Books of the Year
Written and Illustrated by Katie Yamasaki
Norton Young Readers, 2021
About This Book
Katie Yamasaki’s newest picture book is an intimate and tender story of the love between a father and a daughter.
Dad wakes early every morning before the sun, heading off to work at the bakery. He kneads, rolls, and bakes, and as the sun rises and the world starts its day, Dad heads home to his young daughter. Together they play, read, garden, and—most importantly—they bake.
This lovely, resonant picture book was inspired by muralist Katie Yamasaki’s work with formerly incarcerated people. With subtle, uncluttered storytelling amplified by her monumental and heartfelt paintings, she has created a powerful story of love, of family, and of reclaiming a life with joy.
Dad Bakes was inspired by the incredible work of places like Homeboy Industries, Osborne Association, STEPS to End Family Violence, Women & Justice Project, Re-entry Rocks, and On the Rise Bakery in Detroit. Thank you to all of these groups, and many others, for their partnership on this project and through the years.
“Dad Bakes tells the simple and spare story of a father getting up early to go to work at a bakery before returning home to teach his daughter how to bake. “We mix, / we knead, / we roll,” says the young narrator. But when she tries to get a peek at the rising loaf, her father tells her to wait. “The bread needs peace,” he says. As night falls, he presents her with a loaf in the shape of a teddy bear.”
“The book’s backmatter tells the story of Yamasaki’s involvement with formerly incarcerated parents and their children, a vantage that informs the reading and rereading of this story. But for Yamasaki, it was crucial that the father’s time in prison is never mentioned in the story itself; the reader sees only the tenderness with which the father treats his daughter as he makes his way through a single day. “I want the reader to have a chance to just get to know the dad, just as a dad and as a person,” she says.”
Read the full Kirkus Reviews Feature by Johanna Zwirner here.
“A loving father bakes at work and at home to make a life for his child and himself. Under a full moon, Dad wakes and walks to work. Streetlights glow as an elevated train passes, and the Rise Up Bakery beckons with its warm light. Inside, Dad works side by side through the night with racially diverse bakers of different ages, returning home in the morning. While he rests, his capable child keeps busy till it’s time to wake Dad. Together they make bread and share in small moments while waiting for the dough to rise—reading, gardening, playing dress-up and soccer. At last they enjoy the teddy-bear–shaped bread on their rooftop before Dad tucks his little one into bed. These peaceful vignettes weave a picture of love and devotion, of parenthood and childhood enjoyed to its fullest. Heartfelt painterly illustrations offer a much-needed depiction of the diversity of fathers. Here, Dad is of Asian descent with a shaved bald head, brown skin, and an abundance of tattoos. Yamasaki’s simple text is accessible to even young readers. Her author’s note also brings a new dimension to the story, as she dedicates it to families affected by incarceration and the organizations helping them to rebuild their lives. Subtle hints that incarceration is a part of the main characters’ past are in the opening, wordless spreads, showing the child reading a box of letters from Dad.” - Kirkus Reviews 2021
Read the full review from Kirkus Reviews here.
“Richly saturated, dynamic paintings showcase expressive, inclusive community, and intricately detailed spreads offer plenty to pore over in this meditative tale centering the significance of daily rhythms as well as familial and community love. Back matter includes an affecting author’s note, including links to organizations that support formerly incarcerated people and their families.” - Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review
Read the full review from Publisher’s Weekly here.
“Laced with themes of community, identity and love, author-illustrator Katie Yamasaki’s picture books offer sensitive, nuanced stories in an accessible format—a description that also fits her work as an internationally renowned muralist. Inspired by her work with formerly incarcerated people, Yamasaki’s latest book, Dad Bakes, centers a father, his daughter, and the loving relationship between them. PW spoke with Yamasaki about her path to illustration, her work with communities impacted by incarceration, restorative justice, and more.” - Publisher’s Weekly 2021
Read the full Q&A interview by Sarah Yung from Publisher’s Weekly here.
“From the moment readers open Dad Bakes, by Katie Yamasaki, they are drawn in by the warm relationship between parent and child. The title is cozy. So is the book. And it is about baking together. But there’s so much more going on—this father has served time, he’s clocking in some pretty early baking shifts with skills he may or may not have learned in prison, and he seems to relish every spare minute he can spend with his daughter. The very few words and realistic commuting scenes befit the era when we’ve all learned the separation between essential workers and everyone else. With the text, no matter how spare, there is also the subtext.”
Read the full interview by Kimberly Olson Fakih for School Library Journal here.
Read a full Q&A interview by Christine Lively from We Need Diverse Books here.
Purchase here.