Fathers

Italian novelist Umberto Eco wrote, "I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us." This study guide collection gathers texts that explore what it means to be a father and what profound lessons their presence—or absence—teaches us.

The Truth About Forever

by Sarah Dessen

Publication year 2004

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Grief, Guilt, Loneliness, Love, Memory, Shame & Pride, Regret, Nostalgia, Appearance & Reality, Loyalty & Betrayal, Order & Chaos, Safety & Danger, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Death, Coming of Age, Daughters & Sons, Family, Mothers, Fathers, Self Discovery

Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Grief & Death

The Truth About Forever (2004) is a young adult contemporary romance by Sarah Dessen. The novel follows Macy Queen, a teen girl struggling to heal from the tragic death of her father, only to find that the answers lie not in chasing perfection and control but embracing the unpredictable and chaotic joys of life. The Truth About Forever is Sarah Dessen’s sixth published novel and won the 2004 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Urban... Read The Truth About Forever Summary

The Turning

by Tim Winton

Publication year 2004

Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction

Themes Fathers

Tags Education, Education, Modern Classic Fiction

The Turning is Tim Winton’s 2004 collection of short stories set primarily in the small Western Australia town of Angelus. The book won the Christina Snead Prize for Fiction and the Queensland Fiction Book Award. The seventeen linked stories in this collection explore themes of generational change, socioeconomic anxieties, and the lingering effects of trauma using the modes of 21st century realism.Plot SummaryThe stories in The Turning take place over several decades of life in... Read The Turning Summary

The Uses of Enchantment

by Bruno Bettelheim

Publication year 1975

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Literature, Order & Chaos, Mothers, Fathers, Childhood & Youth, Language

Tags Psychology, Fairy Tale & Folklore, Parenting, Love & Sexuality, Philosophy, Philosophy, Literary Criticism, Psychology, Fantasy

The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (1976) won acclaims such as the US National Book Award and the National Book of Critics Circle Award. Its author, Bruno Bettelheim (1903-1990), was an Austrian-born psychoanalyst and public intellectual who worked primarily in the United States. Bettelheim wrote The Uses of Enchantment to persuade parents and educators that the European fairy tale, with all its fantastical and violent content, was a greater aid... Read The Uses of Enchantment Summary

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

by Karina Yan Glaser

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Perseverance, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Guilt, Grief, Joy, Loneliness, Love, Nostalgia, Regret, Hope, Art, Music, Literature, Order & Chaos, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Daughters & Sons, Family, Friendship, Fathers, Mothers, Siblings, Community, Environment, Animals, Food, Place

Tags Realistic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Coming of Age, Urban Development, Special Occasions, Modern Classic Fiction

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The Viscount Who Loved Me

by Julia Quinn

Publication year 2000

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Aging, Death, Loyalty & Betrayal, Social Class, Friendship, Fate, Siblings, Safety & Danger, Coming of Age, Forgiveness, Memory, Daughters & Sons, Childhood & Youth, Love, Literature, Mothers, The Past, Family, Future, Appearance & Reality, Equality, Beauty, Self Discovery, Hate & Anger, Marriage, Loneliness, Conflict, Masculinity, Trust & Doubt, Grief, Femininity, Fathers, Nostalgia, Truth & Lies, Shame & Pride

Tags World History, Regency Era, Romance, Historical Fiction

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The Whisper Man

by Alex North

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Fear, Memory, Fathers

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Dramatic Literature, Crime & Law, Trauma & Abuse, Relationships, Parenting, Modernism, Modern Classic Fiction

The Whisper Man, released in August 2019, is a crime thriller by British author Alex North about the potential resurgence of a serial child murderer known as the Whisper Man and how it entangles various characters in a small town. North claims he got the idea for the book after his son mentioned “the boy in the floor.” Through criminal investigation and the lives of a father and son, North explores the nature of intergenerational... Read The Whisper Man Summary

The Wicked King

by Holly Black

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Power & Greed, Death, Loyalty & Betrayal, Safety & Danger, Siblings, Hate & Anger, Daughters & Sons, Family, Revenge, Fear, Trust & Doubt, Politics & Government, Appearance & Reality, Truth & Lies, Shame & Pride, Conflict, Fathers, Perseverance, Wins & Losses

Tags Fantasy, Romance, Magical Realism, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction

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The Wishing Game

by Meg Shaffer

Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Daughters & Sons, Mothers, Fathers, Literature, Art, Perseverance, Hope, Love, Safety & Danger

Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Magical Realism, Mystery & Crime Fiction

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The Yearling

by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Publication year 1938

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Animals, Fathers, Daughters & Sons, Family, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Classic Fiction, Animals, Agriculture, Grief & Death, Children`s Literature, World History

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings published The Yearling in 1938 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. Maxwell Perkins, who also worked with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, edited the novel. The Yearling traces one year in the life of Jody Baxter, chronicling his family’s hardships as they endure floods, plague, and death—and Jody’s tender relationship with an orphaned fawn. The novel became a bestseller in 1938 and has since been translated into 29 languages. In... Read The Yearling Summary

The Young Landlords

by Walter Dean Myers

Publication year 1979

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Friendship, Perseverance, Race, Coming of Age, Fathers, Social Class, Community, Justice

Tags Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age, Children`s Literature

Walter Dean Myers first published his middle grade novel, The Young Landlords, in 1979. Like most of the 100 books Myers penned before his death in 2014, the story centers on Black youth. The Young Landlords is particularly personal to Myers, however, because he writes about the neighborhood in Harlem, New York, where he grew up, describing the sort of activities and individuals he encountered as a youth. The main character, 15-year-old Paul Williams, pays... Read The Young Landlords Summary

Thicker than Water

by Kerry Washington

Publication year 2023

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Perseverance, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Hope, Love, Memory, Shame & Pride, Race, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, The Past, Family, Fathers, Mothers, Self Discovery, Community, Politics & Government, Art, Fame, Religion & Spirituality, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Emotions/Behavior: Courage

Tags Biography, Arts & Culture

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