Dads on Books

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!!”!...

How do we start the last episode of our first season? With our first RL Stein book: Goosebumps: Monster Blood ! Is it the first or the third or the 30th of the Goosebumps series? Mike tells us, David doesn’t listen and tries to figure it out, and then David figures it out! Speaking of first or third, in this last episode of season one, there are many firsts! First R. L. "Jovial Bob" Stine Book. Fi...

Mike and David have a wonderful conversation with author Linda Harkey award winning writer of many wonderful books from Story Monsters . The Dads talk about her latest book, The Case of the Missing Pink Piggy , a wonderful mystery that might get you a little misty-eyed. Just a little. Like pack rat size. No, smaller. It’s a fun tale of VFDs—What’s a VFD you may ask? You’ll have to listen to find....

Mike and David sure love stinky books and books with slime mold, so Stink and the Attack of the Slime Mold by Megan McDonald, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds is the most logical choice for their next book. And not to reveal too much, they both really really really really liked this one! In the story, a boy named Stink decides to feed and grow his science experiment mold at home. What could possib...

In another Back to the Basics (and Board Books)  or BB(BB) episode, Mike and David dish on one of David's favorites, Each Peach Pear Plum. Mike's opinion?  "It's one of David's favorites." Why did David like it so much? Is it the nursery rhyme characters or lots of neat "I spy" details that David certainly noticed when he read it to his girls? Or is it, that it's illustrated in his favorite art me...

zAnd now part two of our talk with Alan Katz , author, poet, father, and really awesome guy. There's more jokes and what if we talked a poem called, "What If" and fun stories about about legal name changes and identity confusion with other writer. (Don't worry, no one got hurt) Alan shares more of his writing rules inlcuding (but not limited to) "Everything you do, any job you pick, is going to in...

Thanks for indulging our April Fool's Day episode. Now back to the real stuff with the real Alan Katz , author of 1 or 2 or 52 books, and, to quote Alan, "twelve of them are good." We disagree. The other 40 R2. There's lots of jokes, especially, "What does this doodad do, Dad?"—the ultimate dad joke!!—lots of laughing, but—SPOILER ALERT!!—some deep stuff too. Alan shares some of his writing rules...

WHOLEY COW, BATMAN!  THIS COW SMELLS LIKE... Fill in the blank for a chance to be live with Clean Slate Dave.... & Mike. Ut oh... Spagetios???OMG]] OMG.. is this for realsies???? Wheut?

We are fresh off a St. Patrick's Day Eve recording of The Day the Crayons Quit in our first episode where Mike and David are in the same continent in the same state in the same city in the same house in the same room in the same chair—Okay, wait. That's a little weird. There were two chairs and two Dads, but one room. And many, many, many...many crayons. (And some more crayons.) And definitely che...

This episode has it all! Stripes: the two dads read about them, they talk about them, David even wears them. There are specialists, experts, the carnival outside Camilla's house replete with news, people, hotdog, vendors, and other shenanigans, chicanery, tomfoolery and silly high jinks. Warning: there is some darkness, and a touch of "the scary," but the story is so much fun and the art is beauti...

We had so much fun with Chris Grabenstein , we had to split it in to two parts! Chris regales us with tales from his book The Crossroads , and how he can tell a story in 35 words. He talks about his “yes and life“ and how he deals with the “mad magazine voice" in his head“ that led him to a career in radio where he got to be wacky and crazy and learned from his good friend Jim Patterson to "throw...

DoB welcomes our third author and first non-daughter, non-Dan guest! None other than the perfectly paraphrasing prosaist of Ms. Pennypickle’s Puzzle Quest multiple award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Grabenstein . We get to the bottom of the meaning and pronunciation of his name (nom de plume); how he writes; and how his writing was influenced by his experience in improv (...

Mike and David are moved by the inspiring story of Ruby Bridges, a six year old, black girl who was integrated into New Orleans public schools in 1960. After David learned of her story through Fr. Mike’s (no relation) homily at his girls’ Catholic school, they decided to pick not one, but two books about Ruby Bridges to read and talk about:  The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles and  Through M...

Did you know that George Washington had fake teeth? We did, too. Did you know it was a problem his entire adult life? Neither did we. Did you know he didn’t have wooden teeth? Neither did we. Did you know that he led the Continental army to win the Revolutionary War? We did, too. Just seeing if you’re paying attention. Good job. While this episode of Dads on Books is just as fun as all the other o...

In their very first Pete the Cat episode, Mike and David talk and talk and talk about being home alone—aaaaaaaarrrrg!!!—and snow and sleds and Ace the friendly hardware place and lightbulbs—the new college major and, one more thing... oh yeah! the book!! Pete the Cat--Valentine's Day is Cool has a lot of meaningful memories for Mike and his girls and none whatsoever for David's, but they both love...

Mike and David are such fans of the Dans, especially Dan Yaccarino author of Piccolo , they had to split their awesome, fun, super conversation in two—due!—episodes. This time the Dads and the Dan talk about stories, books ( The Luna Sisters ) and of course, mid-century modern. Even though they post every Monday, they read and talked about Every Friday . They laughed, they cried, they promised not...

Mike and David continue their celebration of Danuary with their second author guest Dan Yaccarino which means all of their guests are either daughters or Dans. They had so much fun, this is only part one! Dan and the Dads talk about Dan's latest book, Piccolo and its celebration of Dan's Italian heritage and its themes of putting others before yourself and the importance of gelato. That's Italian...

In our continuing celebration of "DANUARY!!!", Mike and David discuss Danny and Danny’s Doodles— which turn out to be not quite as doodly  or noodley as you might think— plus other fun stuff in a book, that’s oddly doodly, oodly, feudily, silly billy, and even a touch serious. They’ve got everything! There’s mismatched  socks, a string diet where even the tuna is stringy, unevenly short pants, and...