My Dad, My Hero by Kacey Hoysted

A loving salute from child to military parent

Kacey Hoysted has created a thoughtful resource for the military family with My Dad, My Hero. This short rhyming picture book is about a kid whose dad might be in the army base or away on duty, but his love bounces around the walls of his home. The kids might miss you, Dad, but they know what you’re doing for them and they look up to you; that is the kind of endearing book My Dad, My Hero is.

It sets the tone and captures the feelings of loved ones everywhere, waiting for their military parent to get home. Talk about a relatable situation. The pride is emanating off of these pages, and the book itself even becomes an artifact in the home that parents will love years and years down the line thanks to the interactive feature in the back of the book.

Directly after the rhyming narration, there are empty spaces for little ones to write letters to their military parent and paste a photo of them in there. By including this, Hoysted turns this book into something families will want to keep forever—not only the child having their own personal image to return to but for the parent, years down the line, when they’re missing their used-to-be little one or want to feel those immeasurable pangs of parental love.

The rhymes are simple and straightforward, not telling a story but speaking with love and appreciation for military parents everywhere. They might be gone right now, but they’re heroes to the loving family they have waiting for them at home. By staying fairly general, the book represents the feelings of kids all over. 

However, the rhymes can feel a bit forced at times, and the same concepts are repeated despite the text being so short. We probably could have benefited from some storytelling or specificity to make these scenes more immersive and understood on an emotional level. The illustrations aren’t really adding to the story either. They are simple and stiff, almost resembling some early-century computer programs, and making it feel like we just aren’t given enough content to love.

My Dad, My Hero is a picture book that will resonate with those families who beam with pride for their military parent or partner. It does a great job of instilling the type of feeling you want in your military home: an appreciation for the hero who might not be there physically but whose love is with them always. It inspires pride for mommy or daddy and makes kids feel seen and looking forward to when they’ll come home next.