Also by this author: The Awkward Dinosaurs, Hard-Working Mermaids
Published by KR Publishing on July 2019
Genres: Children's
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Everyone loves beards, so why not learn about some of the greatest beards in history? From Abraham Lincoln to Mr. T, these quirky illustrations will have you laughing along with the bearded person in your life. This book is about some great bearded historical figures, but it's also highlighting the number one beard in a child's life - his dad's!
Another fun, colorful book from author/illustrator Kellen Roggenbuck! Your young reader will love it, and it makes a perfect gift for new bearded dads!
Calling all dads with beards, here is a book for you. Great Beards of History is a humorous, lighthearted, and yet educational and historical (to an extent…) look at some people with some pretty great beards. Bearded people include:
- Blackbeard
- Abraham Lincoln
- Frederick Douglass
- Kellen Roggenbuck
…Say, this seems all like a ruse just to get Kellen on a list with some of the most famous bearded people of all time. Now, Kellen doesn’t say it’s him but if you look at his author photo and then at the illustration, there’s a pretty obvious connection. For the purposes of Great Beards of History, Kellen is the stand-in for every bearded dad and, you know what, I’ll let him. Although his contribution to history is a bit less pronounced. There’s also my dad. He can do laundry without even sorting the colors.
For every couple of bearded celebrities, the kid-narrator inevitably returns back to their dad, subtly showing the influence of dads (bearded or not, but awkward if not) eclipsing the influence of other bearded people. It’s a cute way of honoring dads, all while gently poking fun at them (but not their beards, never their beards).
One panel that especially stands out is Harnaam Kaur, a female Sikh model who wears a full beard. This inclusion might be a bit controversial among those who see a beard as exclusively a male domain, but the truth is that Kaur is a female with a naturally-occurring beard. And while Great Beards of History includes a dad and would be a great Father’s Day gift, this book ain’t about the dad—it’s about the beard. And Harnaam Kaur has a beard that makes me jealous. So, I wouldn’t get all up in arms about it. Just be prepared to talk about it with your kid.
I know this is a children’s book mostly targeting kids of bearded dads, but I think it’d be a great novelty gift for any bearded person in your life, particularly those that take their beard a little too seriously. (You know who I mean. We all know one.) It’s a wry, clever, and somehow also thought-provoking book on beards.
