Raising a son without a father

Real life often colors what authors write. In my case, my memories of raising my young son without a father provided the kernel of true experience in my story JEREMIAH LUCKY AND THE GUARDIAN ANGEL. (www.guardianangelpublishing.com) As far as I know, my son did not ever have a face-to-face meeting with a guardian angel. But it would have helped us both if he had.

In those early years I struggled to provide a decent life on a low paying salary and my son often longed for a father. We tried for communication when he was nine. We initiated a summer phone call with his father who lived over a hundred miles away. D.'s father, who had chosen not to marry when we created our son, did speak with him and promised another call and visit in September. It never happened. My son stopped mentioning his lack of a dad.

We coped. I was the only woman attending a cub scout overnight camping trip with my son. We shot b-bee guns at targets, learned how to shoot with a bow and arrow, fished and sat around a campfire with the other boys and their dads. D. loved our domed tent which we used again on a long car trip to Texas, camping each day at a KOA early enough so D. could swim and I could sit by the pool, drink wine coolers, and read. It was a wonderful, close and bonding time together.

Eventually I married a man with a young daughter and we had a family at last. Two incomes and lots of father/son activities made a huge difference in D.'s growth. My husband adopted D. and when the boy scouts organized a winter camping trip, he and D. sheltered in that domed tent, toasty in quality sleeping bags.

As I think about Jeremiah's story in JEREMIAH LUCKY AND THE GUARDIAN ANGEL, I realize I hoped to give my eight-year-old character comfort from his angel guardian. Jeremiah has a strong, loving mother and a friend, Tommy, with whom he shares boy play that is not only active but creative. Will Jeremiah get a father? The second book has already been written and will be released near the end of 2015.

Three Excellent but Very Different Books

The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow Books). This story is about a seven-year-old boy who is worried about starting second grade. The Year of Billy Miller is a Newbery Honor book and I admit, I usually think of the Newbery books as being for older readers. However, this book is charming in many ways and would certainly be enjoyed by children slightly older. What I loved besides the heart-warming, feel-good story is the characterization. All of Henkes's characters jump off the page and the reader finds herself caring and rooting for all of them: Billy, his little sister Sal, his teacher mom, and his struggling artist and stay-at-home dad, lovingly called "Papa."

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (Candlewick Press). Maggot Moon is a Printz Honor book, brilliantly written, fantastically creative, and possibly the saddest story I've ever read. That said, I am glad I did. Set in a dystopian world reminiscent of Nazi Germany, Standish Treadwell lives with his grandpa in extreme fear and constant hunger. The story moves quickly spinning out a tale of bravery and love. Standish is fifteen, dyslexic and has different-colored eyes. His parents have disappeared. Standish and his grandpa think it is just a matter of time until both of them are taken to a maggot farm. It appears there is nothing they can do until Standish and his only friend Hector discover the moon man.

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman (Balzer & Bray). Readers who loved Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein will enjoy this historical fiction novel set in Munich in the 1930s. Gretchen Muller, age 18, is described as a "pet" of Adolph Hitler whom she calls Uncle Dolf. The story details the early days of the National Socialist Party and its rise to power. Gretchen is nagged by a mystery: was her father a Nazi hero who jumped in front of bullets meant for Hitler or was he murdered by someone he trusted? When Gretchen sees her brother cruelly beat an old Jewish man and then meets Daniel Cohen, a young Jewish reporter, she starts to question all she has been taught. One by one the lies are revealed until nothing but danger remains. Anne Blankman carefully delineates in her closing which parts of her story were added fiction and which were researched historical facts. This is an excellent, important book.