When Dad Was Away

Milly thinks her dad is away working, but after she is teased by children in the playground her mum admits that dad is in prison.

Milly is angry and confused. She wonders if it is somehow her fault that her dad has left them.
She sends him drawings and soon she is allowed to visit him. He records a CD of stories and sends it home to her so that she can hear his voice. She goes to a Christmas party at the prison and in the spring her dad is released.

This sensitive story echoes the realities for children of prisoners, the hidden victims of crime, and outlines the work of the charity Storybook Dads. Karin Littlewood's illustrations have a soft, old-fashioned quality.