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 to pretend to cry. 

We finally get to the bottom of why Dan does what he does and digs what he digs. You dig? Listen to find out, but know that he loves creating characters and worlds and ends our conversation where it began:  in empathy and kindness. Good stuff.

Check it out.

If you liked this episode, check out these:

Dan Yaccarino parte uno

Our first Dan Guest:  Dan Gutman Part One and Part Two

Our other groovy plaid patterns episode:  Pinkalicious

A House with Books

Grapevine Public Library

Keller Public Library

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 for ice cream. They also discuss I Am a Story, An Octopus Followed Me Home, The Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau, City Under the City, One, Two, Grandma Loves You, and Willa's Wild Life. There's even some mid-century modern and Yac Man—uh Pac Man (AKA Gabo Gabo in Italia). Check it out.

And this is only part uno. Stay tuned for part due next week when we'll talk about even more books! And reading. And parenting. And stuff.

If you liked this episode, check out these:

Our Very first episode, The Giving Tree

Our first Dan Guest:  Dan Gutman Part One and Part Two

For Greek mythology geeks like us:  Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief: Voyage to Vegas with a zebra, tin cans and 7 layer dip

A House with Books

Grapevine Public Library

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 sensible shoes (sensible black shoes, I can't trust this writer at all, can I?), and David and Mike play a new game show:  Guess which baseball movie this is!?! There’s a school that has silly kids and a mean teacher. And even she is human after all. (Hmmm, sounds like a teacher I meet in room 27, or was it 26, hmmm).

Mike discusses the legend of Kelly Dean and the Great Experiment of Jelly Bean, but you need to read the book to find out about the ladder.

It’s a fun ride of a fun book with two fun guys, hold the mushrooms.

If you liked this episode, you’ll love these:
Dan Gutman

What??? More Dan Gutman

Big Words for Little People

And many more.... if you can find them....

Mike and David struggle with the calendar but successfully locate Danny and the Dinosaur in David’s attic, aka Narnia. This "50sy" classic features a dinosaur that fluctuates from "row-house sized" to "lamp-post thin". The Dads explore the Syd Hoff-ance—the 27-year gap between sequels—and David’s 2055 "heaven" debut.  They close with "killer" jokes about —nope, note telling and still not telling.  Happy reading!

Mike and David have a rockin’ conversation about Sandra Boynton’s Going to Bed Book. WARNING: The animals do something CRAZY before going to bed!! You were warned. And they will they will rock you(r kids to sleep)!

Mike and David deal with grammactical (sic) errors, math is hard, and politics? (No). There's also an epiphany about a hippo—hippiphany?—about who—whom?!—is brushing their teeth. No buts about it, these animals are wild!

If you liked this episode, check out these:
Who was Laura Ingalls Wilder: Cliff's Notes and Spoiler Alerts

Say it ain’t so, Mo

Richard that’s so Scarry

And don't forget to check us out on youtube:
@DadsOnBooks

This episode in video

And check out our friend if you need a bookmark while reading Frankenstein:
Dun Dealgan Media

You can email us at [email protected]

In our first ever year-end wrap up, Mike and David talk about a book they didn’t necessarily love, but then discovered that they loved a lot about it and then discovered in an epiphany kinda way that they DO like it as David did some inadvertent research. 

Mike and David's neologism du semaine: (new word of the week): Millustrations!

Speaking of which, it's a great book for encouraging young boys to read because there are a ton (millions?) of very fun illustrations. Check it out. 

And if you liked this episode (or even if you didn’t) you’ll LOVE these:

Fancy Nancy and the Case of the '80s Throwbacks

Frog and Toad  are similar.

We’ve got not one, but two (2) Dan Gutman episodes!
Part One:  Where are Dr. Carbles Marbles! and where's my Pfeffernusse?
Part Two:  Carbles Marbles, Castro's Astros

And life wouldn't be complete without video, so check us out our YouTube channel:

@Dads-on-Books

And finally! You can email us at [email protected]

Happy New Year!!

Lots of fun as the Dads talk about The Story of the Wooden Coin, our first Christmas book—well, the first Christmas book at Christmas time. David dances on rhythm whatever that means; Mike chose the Hanukkah book, so, naturally, since David is Catholic, Mike chooses the Christmas book—wait, what?! Also, it’s our second episode in a row to reference Lake Placid 1980. A season of Miracles. 

Warning! There might be some verklemption (verklempting?) and other issues with no tissues.

If you liked this episode, you will SO love these:

All About Hanukkah, Channukah, AND Khanukkah

El Deafo: Friends and graphic novels (pics, rabbits, and 4 shadows)

Where are Dr. Carbles Marbles! and where's my Pfeffernusse?

And life wouldn't be complete without video, so check us out our YouTube channel:

@Dads-on-Books

AND, if you love Dads on Books, these people are pretty great too! Follow the links for more information about them and how to donate.

Robert and Carol Hildreth

Little Elves of Love 💕 

Shiners of Chicago

In our first holiday episode—well, at least our first episode on a book about a holiday around the same time that the holiday that the book is about falls—anyway here’s our first book about Hanukkah: All about Hanukkah by Judyth Groner and Madeline Wikler, illustrated by Kinny Kreiswirth. 

Everything you wanted to know about Hanukkah and so much more! Among other things, David doesn't start at the beginning and eventually figures it out. Mike learns the origin story of a scene that David did with Mike's wife Kim in the 1900s, and even Mike learns a thing or two about the history of Hanukkah despite celebrating for many years with his family. 

The ultimate debate is resolved: when it comes to latke toppings (sour cream or applesauce?), the answer is…take a listen. 

The episode wraps up with Dad Joke Monday featuring not one, but two Dad Jokes as there are two Dads. So that’s one per dadica. (Latin for “per dad”)

Next week? Our first Christmas episode, well our first one near Christmas. 

If you liked this episode, you’ll love our first one about a Christmas book Olivia Helps with Christmas aka Christmas in May.

Holidays Begin at Home

And life wouldn't be complete without video, so check us out our YouTube channel:
@Dads-on-Books

Holy carp! this is our 30th episode

and at this moment we have 988 listens!!

Mike and David return to short books—board books even!—with Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann, and they are so excited about good and night being two words and the comma in the title!!

The Dads discuss the nods to Goodnight Moon including the ever-present mouse and the ever-present, or almost always ever-present balloon and other mysteries and controversies.

The chat? Mike comes clean, David learns he’s been mispronouncing something for decades. The art? Vibrant palate, beautiful colors and really cool details including nods to children’s literature and even television references.

Check it out.

If you liked this episode, you’ll love:

Goodnight Moon, one of the inspirations of this book.

Good night. Or Good. Day. Or Good Grief, Charlie Brown...

And life wouldn't be complete without video, so check us out our YouTube channel:
@Dads-on-Books

We get to part two of our conversation with My Weird School series (and many many other silly and some not silly books) Dan Gutman. Our surprise guest shows up. Will we find  Dr. Carbles? Or his marbles? Take a listen and find out.

Bonus stuff:  
Dan’s writing tips for young (and old) aspiring writers:

• Start with “what if?” and add imagination. What if Castro became an Astro?
• Get ‘em with the first sentence. 
• Regarding drafts: “pretend to be somebody else while reading what you wrote.“
• Put the draft aside and read it later.

Dan and David try to outdraw each other and we don’t mean in the Jim Paillot way.

We learn what inspired Dan to be a writer (it wasn’t because he wasn’t good enough at baseball, but that didn’t hurt!).

We discover how much he prepared for our book talk —“We start in an hour and—oh crap! We’re gonna talk about Dr. Carbles  losing his marbles! Do I even have that? Do I even remember it?!”

And other fun things. 

If you liked this episode, you’ll LOVE these:

Dan Gutman is a Nutman, Part 1

The FIRST time Ruby joined us it was the whole episode! El Deafo

Dan’s It’s Halloween, I’m Turning Green!

Rappy the Raptor

Rhymezone