Fathers and sons

My Two Border Towns

Early one Saturday morning, a boy prepares for a trip to The Other Side/El Otro Lado. It’s close–just down the street from his school–and it’s a twin of where he lives. To get there, his father drives their truck along the Rio Grande and over a bridge, where they’re greeted by a giant statue of an eagle. Their outings always include a meal at their favorite restaurant, a visit with Tío Mateo at his jewelry store, a cold treat from the paletero, and a pharmacy pickup. On their final and most important stop, they check in with friends seeking asylum and drop off much-needed supplies.

Hello, Jimmy!

Jack loves staying at his dad’s house. They have tacos and milkshakes, and make each other laugh. But lately Jack wonders if his dad is lonely when he isn’t there. Then Jimmy arrives. Jimmy is loud and obnoxious, but Dad thinks he’s clever and funny. Jack does not think he’s clever or funny. And he’s starting to wonder if Dad likes Jimmy better than he likes Jack. This beautifully written and illustrated book about the unconditional love a parent has for a child is both heartwarming and reassuring.

The Head Of The Saint

Having arrived in Candeia, Brazil, starving and footsore, after walking sixteen days to fulfill his dying mother’s last wishes, young Samuel takes up residence in an enormous, broken statue of Saint Anthony and finds that he can hear the prayers of the townspeople, despite his lack of faith.

Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 3.

Time Traveling With A Hamster

My dad died twice. Once when he was thirty-nine and again four years later, when he was twelve. On his twelfth birthday, Al Chaudhury receives a letter from his dead father. It directs him to the bunker of their old house, where Al finds a time machine (an ancient computer and a tin bucket).

Flood

Andy Flynn is one of those saved, but his mother and stepfather both die in the flood. Suddenly the only world Andy has ever known is gone and he is alone. Aunt Mona, whom he has never met, takes him to live with her in Halifax, on the opposite side of the country. During the trip, Aunt Mona reveals to him that his father is still alive – and living in Halifax. As soon as they reach their destination, Andy escapes to find his father. Although Vincent Flynn may not be the perfect father, Andy wants to stay with him rather than live with his harsh aunt.

Kite

Taylor loves birds and collects eggs. He has the rare opportunity to enhance his collection when a pair of red kites nest nearby. The only problem is, the red kites are extremely rare – only twenty-five are left in the country. Taylor’s father, a gamekeeper, is under orders from his boss, the landowner Reg Harris, to kill the kites, who are birds of prey and will go after Harris’s grouse population. For Taylor, the temptation also to take the eggs from the kites’ nest becomes insurmountable when Harris actually asks him to do the job, even though it is illegal. Pangs of terrible guilt follow, and although Taylor tells Harris he’s gotten rid of the incriminating evidence, he secretly salvages and hatches one egg. But as soon as the bird is born, elaborate plans must be made to keep its existence a secret in order to save it from being shot during the approaching hunting season.

My Father, The Angel Of Death

Out of the fog billowing from the regions of the Netherworld steps a gigantic, ominous figure dressed in black. A white, skeleton face peers from the long, hooded cloak draping his massive frame, and in one hand, he clutches a wood-handled scythe with a razor-sharp blade. It’s the Angel of Death, the American Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Champion! But one of the most popular wrestlers on Monday Night Mayhem is also Mark Baron, Jesse Baron’s father. Jesse has just started at yet another new school, this time in San Antonio, and he dreads the moment when the other kids in his seventh-grade class learn who his father is.