Playtime with Dad by Shen Shixi. Illus. by Zhang Yue

Author Shen Shixi, born in Shanghai, has served on many prestigious literary committees including the Children's Literature Committee of Chinese Writer's Association. Shen's work has received numerous accolades. Illustrator Zhang He is a teacher at the Tianjin Acacdemy of Fine Arts whose work has likewise received many awards. Playtime with Dad (released in December 2025 by Little Steps Publishing, NSW) is a picture book for 6-9 year olds that is the delightful result of the collaboration of author and illustrator.

Playtime with Dad is a warm and cheerful story. Mao Mao introduces herself on the first page... " My name is Mao Mao and I'm four years old. I LOVE playing games with my Dad." From then on one sentence repeats throughout..."When I want to... Dad becomes..."  Children will enjoy the repetition and the prompting of the question...what next and what will Dad do? The book finishes with sleep, a new day and the question... can we do this all again? Dad transforms from a beleagured business man in blue to a vibrant, happy, playful Dad. 

The double page images blend perfectly with the text. Soft, crayon wash style pictures bring out the joyfulness of Mao Mao and her dad. Each drawing contains considerable detail for the young reader to spot with real life tied up in the stream of Mao Mao's swirling imagination. There are two other little characters who make regular appearances on most pages- a little tan and white dog and its puppy. They enter into the various role plays with great gusto and are another parallel storyline to look out for.

Playtime with Dad, through the use of the refrain, encourages children to build rhythm, memorisation, vocabulary and sentence structure. It invites participation and observation of elements through its engaging text and illustrations. The predictability promotes calm and a feeling of mastery in young readers and the recurring sentence anchors the plot.

Playtime with Dad is a charming picture book that will leave readers smiling.

Themes: Role play with dad, Imagination, Adventure.

Wendy Jeffrey