A Father's Day post for those with fathers far away...
Charlotte Zolotow
illustrations by Marc Simont 1980
Charlotte Zolotow's gentle story is about a little girl who misses her father. We are never told why her father is away or where he is, but we are comforted along with the little girl by the words of her mother.
The little girl's father had been away a long time.
"How do you know if someone far away is loving you?" she asked.
"Do you mean your father?" her mother said, smiling.
"Yes," said the little girl. "If I can't see him, or hear him, or feel his hugs, how can I know he loves me when he isn't here?"
The little girl's mother tells her that when she is lonely she has to stop and listen...for the church bells that she can hear but not see, for the apple in the orchard that falls onto the ground, for the rustle of birds, for a train far away...
"If you listen hard you'll feel someone far away sending love to you."
(Amazon is selling a newer version with a different illustrator. In my opinion Marc Simont's soft pictures from our copy enhance the story perfectly.)
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