Beard in a Box grows on you from the get go

Is Beard In A Box the story of a boy who wants a beard or a dad who has a beard? In a tangential way it could be about classic television advertising, but more on that in a moment. Beard in a Box starts with a young boy talking about how cool his dad is. We see images of the dad being active and cool while his son realizes the source of his coolness-his beard!

The boy wonders how he could have a beard. Granted time will take care of that eventually, but you know kids, they want things now and he’s no exception. He draws on his face and tries gluing cat fur to his face until he sees a commercial for Beard In A Box. This commercial is presented in a way that parents of a certain age will recognize immediately and its cheese factor still translates to today’s audience.

He does just what I wanted to when I was his age and ordered it. The Beard In A Box only has seven things in it, but it’s the hope, dream and ‘what if it works’ wonder that make it-and the book work.

The book’s pacing is spot on and starts to accelerate once the box enters the conversation. Prior to that the background is white without much activity as if the boy’s life is missing something……and then blam the infomercial comes on, packs the background with color, full pages of activity, bigger font  and all of the imagination that a young boy can muster.

Bottom line: The beard does not make the dad cool, but you probably knew that already.

Beard In A Box is not a picture book, even though it has lots of illustrations. The ideal age for the book are kids from 3-8. That spectrum will allow them to get into the goofy elements of the book, like the kid shaving the cat for beard hair and other gags that will make young readers laugh out loud. Our 6 year old can read it, but likes it just as much when we read it to him so he can trace the pictures or pick out his favorite beard.

I could grow a beard if I wanted to. It would have shades of red on the side with salt & pepper on my chin. In my mind’s eye I’d look like a bald George Clooney if I decided to grow one. Even if I did that I still couldn’t grow hair on my head.  Sometimes, in my mind’s eye I’d look like a less stout king of middle Earth, with my head full of thin hair and my highlander beard.

The title of this book also brings great memories for my wife and I. Our oldest son was about 4 years old when he was talking about a party game that adults play called ‘pass the beard’. We knew what he meant, had NO idea how he even got that concept, but still play a version of ‘pass the beard’, even though he pronounces it correctly now.

Forgive the personal sidetrack there. Even if you don’t have parallel domestic conversations or stories about beards you’ll like Beard In A Box. For the 3-8 kids who like read along books they’ll really enjoy this silly on the surface book that has heart at its soul.