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: “Not Quite Narwhal”  by Jessie Sima is all about self-awareness and discovery.  The protagonist - Kelp - struggles to figure out why he isn’t a very strong swimmer, and why he doesn’t seem to be like the other narwhals.  Eventually, Kelp journeys up onto the land after seeing a mysterious “land narwhal” on a cliff above the water.  Kelp realizes that he might actually be a “land narwhal”, or as he comes to find out, a “unicorn”.   I relate to this story in a small way.  I am the son of a Danish immigrant father and an American mother - who seems to have more Danish pride than my father.    I grew up with a lot of cognitive dissonance arising from “survival of the fittest” naked Capitalism and “American exceptionalism”.  I wasn’t able to fully understand that American culture may have been causing me some discomfort until I was able to live in Hong Kong for two years.  For once, I felt like I was surrounded by quiet, cons...