"An inspiring story that reminds us of the importance of love, understanding, and the courage to embrace our own stories." - Carol Thompson, Readers' Favorite, Five Stars
Ray Roxby has managed just fine without a dad. Until a letter arrives, no return address, two words at the bottom of the page.
Love, Dad.
He doesn't know what to feel. Not angry, exactly. Not happy either. Somewhere in the middle, trying to work out what you do with someone who was meant to be part of your world but wasn't.
Meeting Matthew is awkward. Uncertain. Full of silences that don't quite know how to end. But with Atlas never leaving his side and friends who show up with both jokes and honesty, Ray keeps going.
Some stories take time to understand, and some people are still figuring out who they're supposed to be. Even Grandma Leila, with all her porch wisdom, can't tell Ray how this one ends. He's going to have to figure that out himself.
A five-star Readers' Favorite award winner, A Father's Return is the second book in the Radical Ray series and one of the very few social emotional learning books for elementary students that handles the complicated territory of absent fathers, returning parents, and the slow, uncertain work of rebuilding trust without simplifying what the child feels or rushing toward easy answers.
For parents, teachers, and school counselors looking for bibliotherapy books for kids navigating family change, books for kids about fathers coming back, or SEL books for older kids that go where most books won't, Ray's story treats the child's ambivalence as the truth rather than a problem to be solved. One of the few chapter books for emotionally sensitive children in grades 3 to 5 that centres a boy's experience of family, forgiveness, and second chances with genuine emotional intelligence.
Perfect for children aged 9 to 12 as a class read-aloud, a school counseling session resource, or a family conversation starter about trust, forgiveness, and what family really means.
Bobbi Chegwyn is the author of the Radical Ray series, a set of social emotional learning chapter books for children aged 7 to 13. An Australian currently based in the US, she spent nearly twenty years studying how people think, feel, and change before writing a word of the series. Radical Ray follows a boy who feels everything and learns, with his grandmother's guidance, to turn big emotions into brave, kind action. The books have earned five-star reviews from Readers' Favorite and are recommended by therapists, counselors, and educators for their honest, unhurried treatment of topics like grief, family change, and emotional sensitivity in children.
