Dads on Books

Mike and David actually do a Halloween episode on Halloween! After doing a Halloween episode in July of last year and not doing a Halloween episode on Halloween the last year, Mike and David to finally get their stuff together with The Soup Bone by Tony Johnston and illustrations by Margot Tomes as recommended by Jasmin or Denise at the Grapevine Public Library. It’s a fun, but a little scary and...

Mike and David recorded this back in July 2025 a perfect month to do a Halloween episode. Now that it’s actually Halloween soon we decided to let you listen again. And since we did this episode, we had Dan Gutman himself on our show!! Links to those episodes at the bottom. Please enjoy and tell all your friends. Happy Halloween.  From July 2025: “In this week’s episode, David and Mike explore the...

Mike checks in, live from a hotel room in Boston. David holds down the home studio. They dive into the 1963 picture book classic, Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell. The dudes share early childhood reading memories, examine Norman Bridwell’s iconic line-and-wash watercolor art style, discuss the perks of being a huge red dog (and the hazards of digging up full-grown trees), and deliver a...

This week we go way way back. This classic book is older than Mike. This gritty book is older than David. This shiny new book almost as old as David’s parents! It’s older than World War II. Wheut? There are beautiful drawings of suburban sprawl long before it was a thing and before “ Rose of houses that are all the same and no one seems to care…” 🎵 🎶 Thank you, The Monkees. A great story with al...

The Dads return to a classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, Illustrated by Felicia Bond.  Is it really a classic? It was written after Mike and David were kids, but it was written during the 1900s even during the Cold War. We’re gonna call it a classic. It’s also our first recording on location! Mike and David recorded this one outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York...

This just in. It's another classic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett , illustrated by Ron Barrett . The Dads visit the town of Chewandswallow. Your read that right—one word, one giant word. It's a super fun book in which the weather is SPOILER ALERT!! not raining men, but raining food! Sound delicious? It most certainly is, but, casual listener, do not fear. Problems arise, conflic...

We're back... with part two of our wonderful conversation with Victoria Kann, author of the newly released S nickerdoodle and the absolute classically classic, Pinkalicious , as well as many of its sequels and spinoffs. Last week we talked about snickerdoodle, which by the way was published just last week! Check it out ! We also talked about Pinkalicious , Purplicious , and many more. the spinoff...

We have yet another author guest! It’s Victoria Kann, yes, she of Pinkalicious fame! We talk about the Pinkalicious origin story (spoiler alert:  April Fools!) and how she came up with the title’s design. Victoria talks about her early days as a freelance graphic design artist:  a collage of work, if you will. And as always, we talk about her illustration techniques. And, as always, it’s very cool...

It’s Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall and Mike and David take a trip back to their childhood, OK not their childhood but at least the era of their childhood.  While neither read it as kids, but one of them may have read it to their kids. You must listen to find out. The book is kind of clever, silly, fun, and even a bit dated, but in a good way like a good old...

It’s only our second graphic novel, and boy was it graphic! And novel. And second! It’s The Secret Coders written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Mike Holmes , the first in a six-book educational graphic novel collection. Mike and David bring on the cowbell for the first time. And the last? It's educational. (Just a little. Just a bit of coding. It’s basic. Not Basic.) It’s a mystery! The Mys...

In this episode, Mike and David decided to go to another B2 BB episode, a.k.a. Back to Board Books with I Want my Hat Back by Jon Klassen. It’s a cute, fun book and David figured out that it was a SPOILER ALERT!—bear. Whaaaaat? I know right!! There all kinds of fun animal illustrations:  animals being curious and animals being nice and even animals being helpful. And the mystery of the missing hat...

Did you know that Shrek! was based on a book called Shrek! ? Neither did we. And not just any book, but a book called Shrek! And Mike was all, "we totally have to read this book one day." Well kids, today is the day... Well, it’s not the day that we read it—that was a few days ago... And this is not the day that we recorded it—that was also a few days ago. But TODAY is the day that the episode abo...

In a very special back to school episode, the Dads discuss I Need a NEW BUTT! (Originally published in the U. K. as I Need a New Bum , but America!) by Dawn McMillan. Probably not found on many Summer Reading Lists, butt enjoyable none the less. Also this is the Dads’ first battery powered book, which gets to 88mph in no time and takes the Dads on a trip down memory lane and going back in time to...

It’s David’s first time to read the world-famous series, Amelia Bedelia ! And what better place to start than Amelia Bedelia and the Baby ! aka Tarnation! That was Plum Fun! Mike read this with his girls when they were young. He (and they) liked it then and he—nope, not gonna do it. Not gonna tell you. Wouldn't be prudent. And David, well he—wait a second. Trying to trick me again? Sorry I’m not f...

David and Mike enter the world of Greek mythology...but first.. December 1978. Dallas, Texas. David's French grandmother, Tia (which is Spanish for aunt, but that's what they called her. And she wasn't really his grandmother, but his mother's aunt by marriage who raised her from 12 years old (his mom was 12, not her aunt, his Tia) hence Tia. Why Spanish and not Tante which is French for aunt? Beca...

Couldn’t wait for part two with illustrator/author Lisa Desimini? Now you don’t have to. Lisa, Mike, and David continue their conversation with some rainy weather, 64 (or 64,000?) crayons, and a culinarily interesting conversation about marshmallows. It’s yummy. We discuss The Fleatastics , Lisa’s “second funny book”, how she came up with the idea, and how she discovered that she’s funny: her edit...

It’s time for another guest! An author? Sort of. Another daughter? Yes, but not ours’s. It’s Illustrator/author Lisa Desimini!!! I mean-ie, we talk about books so why not have people who illustrate and write books, right? Lisa, disseminate de Samini disseminate den't se meany, Desimini is the illustrator and/or author of over 30 children’s books. Mike and David have read a number of them and loved...

Indy’s Pension? Hey, a Raider of the Lost Ark deserves to retire in comfort. Aaaaand in a very special July 4 episode, the Dads celebrate the 250th birthday of our great nation. Mike and David return to the Who/What was/is series to discover what is the Declaration of Independence by reading and then discussing What is the Declaration Independence? by Michael C. Harris. To follow half of the rules...

If this is it Monsters, don't eat broccoli. The Dads judge a book by its cover:  we liked it. So there. Mike did a slight rewrite. He took some liberties with the words nothing major, just a word here maybe a syllable there, and the Dads test the results, they take it for test drive, if you will. It’s a fun read with monsters doing all kinds of fun things—eating trucks and tractors and toys all wa...

It’s the Dads’ first annual “Hey, let’s do a Juneteenth book” book. Or, as Mike put it, “If the world has a day, then we should read a book about it” book. That’s a whole lot of books. We talk about A Juneteenth Jamboree— a super fun “experience book” (we made that up) about celebrating Juneteenth. Spoiler alert: David’s favorite art form: watercolor and ink. Spoiler alert again: the art is beauti...

It's time for another "We picked a book because Mike said so" episode.  In Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema with pictures by Leo and Diane Dillon, the Dads banter on M&Ms, Mars and Snickers and Mars Bars and—boy do they need to sponsor us!!  When they get to the book, David declares, "You can judge a book by its cover." "Sort of." You might think we'll find out why mosquit...

Mike and David read Matilda by Rao—Raold—Roaold—Mr. Dahl. And illustrated illustriously by Quentin Blake. Mike suggested Dahl, and David saw the musical, and the rest is history. Or literature.  And despite the book’s youth, it’s a classic. A fantastic story that has spawned two movies and countless productions of the musical. In fact, it inspired the Dads to come up with a new DoB feature:  B v....

After some forays into classics, very classic classics, historical novels, and other serious books, the Dads return to nutty silliness and qwacky whackiness to lighten it up a little with How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans , a fun and funny book by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mark Fearing. What did we like about this book? Besides green beans?  Oh, let’s see, how about green beans...

Mike and David turn to a classic, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, an historical novel set in the Oklahoma panhandle during the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. David and Mike—well Mike—tells the origin story of how the Dads picked the book, but this is the origin story of all origin stories. It is the origin of the entire original podcast idea. We also continue our feature “Things We Forgot...

Our very first episode of our very second season!!! There's so much in this episode, that we don't know where to begin. The beginning? Why not? David discovers that the tale of Rip Van Winkle is about the tale Rip Van Winkle . We know. He’s a late bloomer. Mike shows us his xylophone thing. He, too, blooms late. And Clean Slate David discovers— SPOILER ALERT — “This IS the guy who falls asleep!!”!...