The Paper Kingdom

Written for young children, lushly illustrated, and crowned with a life lesson children and adults alike will appreciate, The Paper Kingdom is based on the author's own childhood experience and conveys social critique in a playful tale. Between the lines of lighthearted, simply scultped prose is a weighty poignancy: Both child and parents wish to protect each other, the parents by using their imaginations to transform a bleak reality into a magical kingdom to cheer their child, and the child by poking holes in that fantasy with increasingly indignant questions. The deeper resonance of this apparently simple story is that the child has awakened to a disturbing reality despite the parents' efforts to soften the blow. Within the fantasy, the caring parents inspire their child to grow up to create a better "kingdom," and child and parents both provoke readers to consider that our actions matter, that we are connected whether we acknowledge those connections or not, and that a little thoughtfulness goes a long way.

When the babysitter cancels at the last minute, Daniel’s parents have no choice but to wake him up and take him to work with them. While his parents clean the office building, Daniel asks when they can go home. Soon, his parents begin telling stories about The Paper Kingdom, a place with a king, a queen, and even a dragon. It’s not long before Daniel’s imagination takes over and makes this unpleasant night become one full of adventure!⁣ This would be a great book to share in the classroom or at home with your own kids.

An OwnVoices treasure - one I've gifted repeatedly since reading it for the first time earlier this year.This story is for every kid who's spent countless nights at work with their parents, watching them toil and labor when they should have been at home resting, having dinner, or watching tv.It's for every kid who's had to grit their teeth and listen to their overworked and exhausted parents being berated by a boss or customer.It's for every kid who's fallen asleep in odd places while waiting for their parents to finish.And for every kid who may have felt torn by the shame or embarrassment of their parent's work and the guilt of knowing it was all for them.That kid was me. And after reading this book with my own kids, we called my mother immediately.

This story is delightful. One night Daniel's parents have to take him with them to clean a big office building. They turn a boring night into an exciting trip to the Paper Kingdom.It reminds me of going with my parents to clean airplanes at night. It reminds of pulling my own kids out of bed to deliver papers in the dark before the dawn.Treasured family memories.

My daughter loved this book - she is almost 7 years old. The imagination and way the story was told and illustrated was amazing, thought provoking, and wonderful.We also loved the fact that this book was wrapped in a labor of love from the author's parents. It was a very evident theme in the book, and it conveys a lovely message to the readers about parental love and the imagination of a parent and child! :)

We have a 3.5 year old. She enjoys the beautiful art and a story about how a child gets to spend so much special time with his parents. She especially likes that the protagonist doesn't have to go to sleep. But she's old enough to know what the parents are doing, she just doesn't understand how their activity is connected to the fantastical universe of dragons and kings and queens. And that's what we love about this book. She's curious and she's asking questions- profound ones. I wish there were a hundred more books like this: moving personal stories about simple things (like parents going to work) filtered through a child's exuberant imagination. Like most great children's stories, Paper Kingdom is the kind of tale that will grow with a child and their capacity to understand and empathize.

This book is magical. My 4-year-old and I both love it. It is a touching story of family. It provides a window into a hidden world of work that we should all appreciate more. The author's note is wonderful. And the illustrations are stunning - the use of light (those somehow super-shiny floors!), and the hiding dragons...I will highly recommend this to everyone I know who is looking for a great new picture book!

Beautiful and moving book based on the author’s life story. Gorgeous illustrations and lovely juxtaposition of a child’s perspective vs adult reality. It doesn’t hurt that there are dragons.