A Booktrust review of My Dad's a Birdman wrote "This charmingly illustrated, funny, fast-paced, seemingly simple story, is also beautifully tender and profound.

"[1] and Kirkus Reviews wrote "The characters sport silly names like Doreen Doody and Mr. Poop, and Dunbar's colored illustrations, which appear on nearly every spread, evoke Quentin Blake.

"[3] The School Library Journal wrote "A distinguished author's use of birds and human flight as metaphors for love's transcendence over grief and death takes a new form in this comic piece of magical realism" and called it "a fine read-aloud".

[3] The Horn Book wrote, "Almond flies where make-believe and madness converge, where imagination tends toward delusion, offering a stylized treatment of grief that expresses sorrow obliquely.

[6] In 2010/2011 a play based on the book was performed at the Young Vic theatre featuring original music by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.