My Dad Snores

My Dad Snores by John Williamson, illustrated by Peter Carnavas (Puffin Books) HB RRP $19.99 ISBN 9780143793793

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Narrated by a boy, this picture book story is basically a complaint, written in rhyming text, about Dad’s snoring. Its author is well-known Australian icon and singer-songwriter, John Williamson, who is pictured on the back cover and shown in a picture on a wall in the boy’s house.

Grandpa snores, too, but Dad’s snoring affects the whole house, especially Mum who’s ‘nearly insane/Though she kicks him again and again.’ Throughout the story Dad’s snoring is compared to other loud noises such as ‘an old steam train,’ ‘like thunder and rain,’ and ‘our old school bus.’ When Dad snores through TV shows, ‘we tried a peg on his nose’, but nothing works. The end of the book shows the final solution to the problem – the rest of the family relocating to a tent in the back yard!

Carnavas, who has illustrated so many prize-winning picture books, shows his talent here with pen and watercolour pictures that are lively and fun. No doubt this book will be shown and read to all those dads of small children who keep the family awake at night!