Tell Me a Tattoo Story

By Alison McGhee and Eliza Wheeler

“Parents with or without tattoos will be touched by [this] heartwarming tale about sharing your past with your children—it leaves a mark” (Real Simple).

It’s after dinner and a little boy wants a story from his father. It’s story he’s heard many times before, one etched all over his father’s body. So, dad once again tells his little son the story behind each of his tattoos, and together they go on a beautiful journey through family history.

There’s a tattoo from a favorite book his mother used to read him, one from something his father used to tell him, and one from the longest trip he ever took. And there is a little heart with numbers inside—which might be the best tattoo of them all. Tender pictures by the New York Times–bestselling illustrator Eliza Wheeler complement this lovely ode to all that's indelible—ink and love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781452130750

Alison McGhee

Alison McGhee is the New York Times bestselling author of picture books (including Bink and Gollie), children’s novels (including the Julia Gillian series), young-adult novels (including All Rivers Flow to the Sea), and adult novels (including the Today Show book-club selection Shadow Baby). In addition to being an award-winning author, she is a professor of creative writing at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota.

Book preview

Reviews for Tell Me a Tattoo Story

[jennybeast · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hipster picture book! Awesome!

Actually, quite well done, and a very nice book.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I sincerely do not get the tattoo craze and have no desire to participate, but this book helps me understand just a little as a daddy explains his tattoos to his little boy as they wind down to bedtime. I really love the art and picked up this book strictly to get a little more Eliza Wheeler in my life.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With tattoos having become mainstream body decoration, it's inevitable that we are starting to see kids' books about tattoos. (See also "Mommy's New Tattoo" by Levi Greenacres.) This is a warm and loving story about a Dad who tells his son the stories behind each of his tattoos, from the one inspired by his favorite book to the heart that commemorates the boy's birthday. This is a great early literacy idea: parents can share their own stories about their tattoos or kids can talk about what they know about their parents' tattoos.