This Father’s Day brings a sizable crop of books aimed at the dad. Here’s a sampling:
“Captain Dad: The Manly Art of Stay-At-Home Parenting,” by Pat Byrnes
What it is: An illustrated account of raising children as the chief care provider, aimed at that small but growing fraternity of full-time dads.
Sample: About staying at home, Byrnes writes, "One in 2 (dads) says he'd do it; but only 1 in 163 actually does it. What does that tell you? Exactly! It tells you that, in any sex-related situation, men lie."
More: Read an interview with Pat Byrnes.
“Doing the Best I Can: Fatherhood in the Inner City,” by Kathryn Edin and Timothy J. Nelson
What it is: A detailed, academic look at unwed fatherhood, including interviews of more than 100 men, showing the obstacles facing low-income dads.
Sample: "By examining the unfolding stories of these men's lives beginning at courtship, and moving through conception, birth, and beyond, we come to see that the 'hit and run' image of unwed fatherhood … is a caricature and not an accurate rendering."
“A Dude’s Guide to Babies: The New Dad’s Playbook,” by Richard Jones and Barry Robert Ozer
What it is: A breezy guide to the early years that insists on calling babies "little dudes" and "dudettes."
Sample: "(The book) was born from a panicked conversation between Richard and Barry. Richard, the wily veteran with three little dudes, was trying to console Barry, who'd just gone from DINK (double income, no kids) to adoptive dad of four in the blink of six months."
“Made by Dad: 67 Blueprints for Making Cool Stuff,” by Scott Bedford
What it is: Short on advice and long on do-it-yourself, this is a graphic, illustrated manual for making such projects as the Rubber Band Rocket Car with the sorts of materials that are usually around the house (or easily acquired at the craft store).
Sample: Get your glue-gun ready (and your cardboard, magic markers, paper cups and toilet paper rolls) and build the Spaghetti & Marshmallow Eiffel Tower, the Ratapult, and the Jelly Bean Reward Rocket.
“Norman Rockwell’s Treasury for Fathers,” published by Abrams Books
What it is: One hundred of Norman Rockwell's popular illustrations paired with poems, songs and short stories.
Sample: William Butler Yeats' "A Prayer for My Daughter" and "If" by Rudyard Kipling are among the poetic offerings accompanying Rockwell's memorable images.
Novelist Clyde Edgerton has had plenty of practice fathering over the last 30 years. He shares what he’s learned in the wry “Pappadaddy’s Book for New Fathers: Advice for Dads of All Ages.”
Not so much a guide as a brief amusing tour through one man’s lengthy sojourn in the World of Dad, Edgerton’s book lets readers learn from his two-stage career, first as father of Catherine, 31, with his first wife, Susan, and then as father of Nathaniel 9, Ridley, 7 and Truma, 6, with his current wife, Kristina.
In addition to practical advice — “Install the car seat ahead of time” — Edgerton brings a sense of play that is often missing from the genre.
(And it’s a crowded genre. See an accompanying list of five other books for fathers, out just in time for Father’s Day.)
The author of 10 novels, including “Walking Across Egypt,” “Lunch at the Picadilly” and his 1985 debut “Raney,” Edgerton, 68, also teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, writes songs and plays guitar and banjo.
He recently spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about fatherhood, children and rolling on the floor.
Q. How was your father at being a father?
A. I had average fathering and good mothering. My mother used a combination of smothering and kicking me out into the yard.
Q. How have your fathering strategies changed over the years?
A. I tried to teach (Catherine) piano and I worked a little too hard at it. I couldn't understand why it didn't work. Now I don't even think about teaching my kids piano. I take them to the piano teacher. And as soon as they show a sign of not being interested, I pull back. … I think I tend to be a little more patient and a little more elastic and a little more accepting and little more tolerant than I might have been as a younger father.
Q. Any examples of that?
A. When children don't stand back and let elders eat first, I hold my words the best I can. When everyone in the world comes into restaurants and eats with their caps on, I do what I can to … fume internally.
Q. You suggest some very entertaining games for fathers and children that involve wrestling on the floor: watching Sky Television and telling a Flashlight on the Ceiling Story. Do you offer these because you worry that fathers are too dull to think up their own?
A. That might be true. It's possible. I would love to have a website in which my games were the initial entry and fathers added games of their own.
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