For Father's Day, Dads Tell Their Stories in Books

(from usatoday.com
by Bob Minzesheimer)


For Father's Day, three books by and for fathers:

Unicorn Executions and Other Crazy Stuff My Kids Make Me Draw by Steve Breen (Skyhorse)

Breen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist whose work has appeared in USA TODAY, The New York Times and elsewhere, found that his three sons (ages 15, 13, and 9) had no interest in his cartoons about health care reform or Egyptian politics, no matter how sharp the political commentary. What they did like was drawings they suggested about mutant zombies, celebrity Cyclops and dangerous unicorns. Universal has bought the movie rights for a comedy based on the book.

Big Russ & Me: Father & Son: Lessons of Life by Tim Russert (Weinstein, paperback reprint

Russert, the host of NBC's Meet the Press who died in 2008 at 58, wrote a 2004 best seller about his dad. "Big Russ" was a World War II veteran who for 30 years worked two jobs without complaint in Buffalo. The 10th anniversary edition includes a preface by Tim's son, Luke Russert, a NBC correspondent, who writes: "Fatherhood was my dad's passion. A day never went by that I didn't know my father loved me."

Papadaddy's Book for New Fathers: Advice to Dads of All Ages by Clyde Edgerton (Little, Brown, paperback reprint)

A novelist and professor who has four kids ages 6 to 30, offers humorous advice on topics ranging from sleep deprivation to "poop, pee, wipes and diapers." Edgertown writes that being a father is "the one important way we live beyond our lifetime," and advises, "Maybe one of the best ways to be a good father is to be a good mother — and to teach that to our sons and daughters."