Night after night they rush into their parents' bedroom and Liz would cry out the refrain that gives the book its title: "Daddy, I'm Scared" ($27.95 in hardcover from Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.; also for Amazon Kindle).
With colorful illustrations throughout, the book brings a calming presence to the reader as Liz explains her fear of "the boogieman." "'The boogieman, I thought I defeated him years ago,' Dad said with a serious look upon his face. Mom grinned at the statement and held her laugh in; she didn't want to blow Dad's cover."
"'Describe your boogieman, and let's see if it's the same vermin that I defeated,' Dad said with confidence." Liz: "'He has red stringy hair with huge eyeballs on the top of his head, and it's just so scary!'" "'How'd you do it, Dad?' Lisa questioned. Dad explained, as he takes a deep breath and poses with his hands on his hips and sticks his chest out, 'Well, girls, to make a long story short, I became a superhero!'"
It's your dream, so why not dream you're a superhero? When the monster climbs into the boy's window, the boogieman is surprised when the superhero picks him up and tosses him again and again—until the boogieman promises not to scare little kids again.
"After that, many nights and dreams have passed, and every so often the boogieman would break his promise…, but these were no longer nightmares but adventures!" "'Next time, I'll be Hawk Girl,' Liz said heroically…." From then on, the girls sleep soundly, smiles on their faces.
Teague (@iamsipp45 on Instagram) includes key workbook questions at the end, asking kids to draw their own boogieman—and then to "draw a picture of yourself as a superhero." Adults might want to get out their own pencils.
