By Melinda Hardin
A small boy explains that his soldier dad is a superhero, just without the cape, because his hero wears camouflage and boots instead.
A little boy walks you through why his dad is a superhero. He doesn't have a cape, but he wears armor. He can't fly, but he rides in helicopters. He can't turn invisible, but his camouflage comes pretty close. Line by line, a child measures a real soldier against the heroes he already loves, and the ordinary dad comes out ahead every time. It's short, it's proud, and the pictures are bright and gentle. There's a companion book, Hero Mom, that does exactly the same thing for a soldier mother, if that's the parent who's away in your house.
It gives a child a way to feel proud instead of only sad. For a very young child who can't yet picture where a deployed parent goes or why, 'my dad is a kind of superhero' is a frame they already understand and can repeat at school when someone asks. The superhero language does the explaining so you don't have to, and it lets your child stand a little taller about the whole thing.