Dads Read Too

JER: “ The Vanishing Lake ” by Paddy Donnelly revolves around a mystery with, potentially fantastical, explanations.  Meara’s grandfather lives near Lake Loughareema, which vacillates between a small mountain lake one day and dry lakebed the next day.  Meara wants to get to the bottom of the mystery, but her grandfather’s ideas seem a bit too far fetched.  I mean, how would sheep wool completely soak up all the water or how many narwhal horn holes would it take to drain the lake, ReAlLy?!?!? It reminds me of my one of my favorite “ This American Life ” podcast episodes - “Lights, Camera, Christmas!” (episode 728 - 25 DEC 2020) - the Mutchlers have “a family mythology of Santas that had its own logic, with many Santas and a family elf named Jeko”.  I love magical realities, and I love creating games with my kids, such as: “Monster Lollipop” where I wait at the bottom of playground slides and entice my girls down the slide with promises of different flavors of lollipo...

JER:  “So Many Gifts”  by Anne Marie Pierce  is a bit out of season for February, but when I found it at my parents’ house on a trip to Utah with Lake - I instantly loved it.   It perfectly describes the way I want to think about Santa Claus and Christmas.  Primary Theme: a dream that “all would [receive] gift[s]”  Secondary Theme: passing on kindness to others Summary: the books envisions the origin story of Santa from a “very long tine ago, in a place I can’t remember”. There was a person who wanted to instill the joy of discovery in children, to make them laugh, and they wanted to make sure that as many children as possible could be rewarded with laughter.  But Santa soon realized that they would need “helpers”, and all the children who had received gifts in the past worked to help Santa develop “endless supplies of fantasy and myth”. We all are “Santa”, and we can keep alive the kindness that generated from one kind person. ...