The adventures of boys, men and at least one daughter

REVIEWS BY HOWARD SHIRLEY

All fathers share one thing in common: They began as boys growing into men, and that journey never truly ends. Just in time for Father's Day, here are four books that explore this journey through the adventures of childhood, the community of sports and lastly through the eyes of a daughter coming to understand the man her father is.

Boys will be boys

Reading The Dangerous Book for Boys by brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden is like coming across an old trunk in an attic. The book is full of forgotten treasures, tantalizing challenges and bits of history, science and adventure sure to stir the hearts of boys. It's not a book you read in order, but a wonderfully jumbled collection of surprises. There are instructions for folding "The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World"; building tree houses, go-carts and electromagnets; making and shooting a bow and arrow; speaking Navajo; finding north with a watch; and on and on. Mixed in are tales of great battles; the adventures of explorers, fighter pilots and mountain climbers; primers on grammar, Latin, astronomy, insects and trees; along with advice on everything from first aid to talking with girls—the sort of things, say the Igguldens, that every boy should know. The style is delightfully man to man, as though the authors are imparting secrets of the brotherhood of man to those who wish to join the ranks. Fathers will enjoy this as a memory of their own childhood—or even as a chance to try some things they didn't learn themselves. And as for boys, I can't think of anything better to "hide" casually on a shelf for a boy to discover on a boring, rainy day—it's sure to spur once again the adventure that is growing up.


As for those adventures, which ones are more significant to a boy than those at summer camp? For years, if anyone asked me what my happiest moments were, I'd have recalled summers spent in a stretch of wood, field and rustic buildings nestled in the North Carolina foothills, safe in a haven of boyhood whose call has lingered to this day. That same call spurred 33-year-old Josh Wolk to return one last time to the beloved camp of his youth. Cabin Pressure: One Man's Desperate Attempt to Recapture His Youth as a Camp Counselor is Wolk's humorous account of his life in a cabin with 10 hormonal 14-year-olds, a science teacher turned mountain-climbing god, a 67-year-old Peter Pan and an aging extreme kayaker who thinks anyone who won't jump off a 25-foot-high bridge into a Maine river can't possibly be a real man. Wolk's writing is fluid, funny and compelling, and his observations of human foibles—whether in the campers, the counselors or himself—are spot-on. More often than not, I saw my own camp experiences mirrored in Wolk's account, and once again found myself traveling back to my old summer home—a trip every man secretly longs to take.


Hello, sports fans

Sportswriter Jim Gorant takes readers on a different trip in Fanatic: 10 Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die. Gorant sets off on a one-year mission to experience 10 signature sporting events—the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the Masters and Wimbledon, among others. What makes people endure subfreezing temperatures to watch the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field? What sort of community arises in the small city of RVs inside the oval at Daytona or the shaded stands of Churchill Downs? Questions like these turn Gorant's story into far more than simply a description of sporting events. Instead, he has combined an engaging travelogue with a study of human nature and a tale of internal exploration. Along the way there are moments of true friendship, excessive bacchanals and the discovery of what sports really mean to the fans, far beyond the momentary heroes and soon-forgotten scores. Fanatic is a worthwhile exploration of both sport and life.


Going home again

Journeys of discovery aren't only about men, as fathers of daughters know full well. Carolyn Jourdan's Heart in the Right Place is just such a journey, one that comes not from leaving home, but from returning to it. A Washington, D.C., attorney and the personal counsel to a powerful U.S. senator, Jourdan enjoyed living in an important city filled with important people. But when her mother suffers a stroke, Jourdan fills in "temporarily" as the receptionist for her father's storefront health clinic, where she encounters "the People" on a daily and even nightly basis, from hypochondriacs to accident-prone farmhands—and in so doing, rediscovers where her heart truly lies. Heart in the Right Place is an absolute delight of a book: warm, funny and written with great heart and understanding. It is alive with characters who are as unbelievable as they are real—and their reality reveals how community, family and friendships build connections that run much deeper and matter far more than all the high-power deals, plans and programs of politicians and lobbyists. In the end, Jourdan discovers not only herself, but a new respect for her father and the meaning his life has in a place she forgot was home.


Howard Shirley is a writer and father in Franklin, Tennessee.

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