David's Father

 

David's Father

By Robert Munsch

David’s Father was adapted as a long bedtime story for Munsch’s daughter Julie, who was afraid of strangers and wanted to hear a story about a parent and child who didn’t resemble one another (Munsch is white and Julie is not), and thus David’s Father was born.

About

David's father had a very strange beginning. I made this up shortly after we adopted our second child. Her name was Julie and she was five and a half years old when we got her. I used to tell Julie stories every night before she fell asleep and David's father was the longest bedtime story ever. This story was told every night for four months.

Julie kept changing and changing her and asking for different things. She put all the things that matter to her. She wanted to have a little girl who was afraid to go to school because she was afraid of meeting strange people and of being kidnapped. She wanted to have a father who did not look at all like the adopted child because she was brown and I was white.

I told her and told her and told her and told her. It was her very own story and I hadn't told it to anyone else for a long time; And then one day, two years later, I was in the middle of telling stories to several people and said, "Hey, I wonder if David's dad is going to work?" So I tried it and did it.

A little later the publisher heard it and said “Hey, this is a really great story. Let's make it into a book.” So I did.

The last picture in the movie "David's Father," where David and Julie are talking and Grandma's big, ugly leg fades to the side, was actually Michael Marchenko's idea.

I get lots and lots of letters from kids with pictures of David's grandmother and every letter says "Dear Bob Munch: Please write me a book about David's grandmother. I want to know what's happening to David's grandmother." I've never been able to come to a good ending to tell about David's grandmother.

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