This is a book which gives young readers a glimpse of a life that might be unfamiliar but it is also a life that will have links to every school child - after all who does clean your school? And when do they work? What exactly do they do in each school space?
In a well practised routine our story narrator describes how each Friday evening he packs up food in a lunch box and then he climbs onto the back of his dad's motor bike.
Yes I did say lunch box but the pair are not heading out for lunch. Dad works at the boy's school. He is a night cleaner but it takes eleven pages to make this discovery such is the power of storytelling by Karen Hesse. It is Friday night but we can infer the boy goes along because he can sleep in tomorrow.
At 10pm the lunch box is opened:
"Dad leads the way to the courtyard, where we unwrap our egg salad sandwiches, with their triple dollop of mayo and heaping teaspoon of chopped pickle. We take big bites that fill our mouths and chew and chew and chew until there are only crumbs left. And then we chew those, too."
While is dad cleans the library, the young boy reads aloud to his dad until he falls asleep. At 4am the pair head home where they both fall asleep dreaming of better times ahead.
You could pair this book with While you're sleeping:
This book is perfect to read as part of your discussions of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth. Read more about the 17 goals and find links to fabulous books to use here. My post takes you to eighteen posts by my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything along with her splendid and comprehensive Pinterest sets of books for each goal.
If you are looking for a book to share with older students where you can explore different and very effective page layouts Nights with Dad is perfect. You can see inside this book here. And read more about the inspiration that lead to the writing of this book by Karen Hesse.
I have read and enjoyed quite a few books by Karen Hesse:
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