• George Washington: taking a bite out of life
    Feb 16 2026

    Did you know that George Washington had fake teeth? We did, too. Did you know it was a problem his entire adult life? Neither did we. Did you know he didn’t have wooden teeth? Neither did we. Did you know that he led the Continental army to win the Revolutionary War? We did, too. Just seeing if you’re paying attention. Good job.

    While this episode of Dads on Books is just as fun as all the other ones, we decided to celebrate Presidents’ Day with a little bit of learning and a whole lot of fun.

    Check it out, and hold onto your dentures. It’s gonna be a bumpy night.

    And if you liked tghis one, you'll LOVE these:

    Dan Gutman's episodes: Part 1, Part 2
    Dan Yaccarino's episode: Parte Uno, Parte Due
    More fun water color Mrs. McTats and her House Full of Cats and Guess How Much I Love You?

    Some of our favorite places to get books:

    A House with Books

    River Forest Public Library
    Grapevine Public Library
    Keller Public Library

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    31 Min.
  • Pete the Cat is wearing a hat or Valentine’s Day is phat
    Feb 9 2026

    In their very first Pete the Cat episode, Mike and David talk and talk and talk about being home alone—aaaaaaaarrrrg!!!—and snow and sleds and Ace the friendly hardware place and lightbulbs—the new college major and, one more thing... oh yeah! the book!!

    Pete the Cat--Valentine's Day is Cool has a lot of meaningful memories for Mike and his girls and none whatsoever for David's, but they both loved the book. In a role reversal, Mike actually has the book with a poster: missing, some Valentine's Day cards: AWOL, and stickers: gone, I tell you! David, on the other hand, read the "book" by "watching" a reading of it from the Lollipop Animated Book series on YouTube. Welcome to 21st century reading, how can I help you?

    The book is a lot of fun, but David notices the word "love" is never really said. Mike points out that love comes in many different forms for many different people or cats. And bus drivers. And facilities managers. And crossing guards. Happy National Crossing Guard Day--February 10!! OK, State Crossing Guard Day in Texas where David is. You'll have to wait until early May in Illinois where Mike is. Because it has to thaw?

    As we celebrate Valentine's Day, enjoy this this super fun, super silly, and even a little poignant book about empathy for other people— and cats— a common and important theme in our friend Dan Yaccarino's books. (the empathy, not the cats)

    Check it out.

    If you liked this episode, check out these two:

    Dan Yaccarino parte uno and parte due

    A House with Books

    Grapevine Public Library

    Keller Public Library

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    33 Min.
  • Dan Yaccarino parte due (mille): Willa, Oswald, Every Friday, and friends
    Feb 2 2026

    Mike and David are such fans of the Dans, especially Dan Yaccarino author of Piccolo, they had to split their awesome, fun, super conversation in two—due!—episodes.

    This time the Dads and the Dan talk about stories, books (The Luna Sisters) and of course, mid-century modern. Even though they post every Monday, they read and talked about Every Friday. They laughed, they cried, they promised not to pretend to cry.

    We finally get to the bottom of why Dan does what he does and digs what he digs. You dig? Listen to find out, but know that he loves creating characters and worlds and ends our conversation where it began: in empathy and kindness. Good stuff.

    Check it out.

    If you liked this episode, check out these:

    Dan Yaccarino parte uno

    Our first Dan Guest: Dan Gutman Part One and Part Two

    Our other groovy plaid patterns episode: Pinkalicious

    A House with Books

    Grapevine Public Library

    Keller Public Library

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    30 Min.
  • Dan Yaccarino on Sorrento, Piccolo, and Jacques Cousteau, parte uno
    Jan 26 2026

    Mike and David continue their celebration of Danuary with their second author guest Dan Yaccarino which means all of their guests are either daughters or Dans. They had so much fun, this is only part one!

    Dan and the Dads talk about Dan's latest book, Piccolo and its celebration of Dan's Italian heritage and its themes of putting others before yourself and the importance of gelato. That's Italian for ice cream. They also discuss I Am a Story, An Octopus Followed Me Home, The Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau, City Under the City, One, Two, Grandma Loves You, and Willa's Wild Life. There's even some mid-century modern and Yac Man—uh Pac Man (AKA Gabo Gabo in Italia). Check it out.

    And this is only part uno. Stay tuned for part due next week when we'll talk about even more books! And reading. And parenting. And stuff.

    If you liked this episode, check out these:

    Our Very first episode, The Giving Tree

    Our first Dan Guest: Dan Gutman Part One and Part Two

    For Greek mythology geeks like us: Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief: Voyage to Vegas with a zebra, tin cans and 7 layer dip

    A House with Books

    Grapevine Public Library

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    30 Min.
  • Danny's Doodles of poodles and oodles of noodles (Karen)
    Jan 19 2026

    In our continuing celebration of "DANUARY!!!", Mike and David discuss Danny and Danny’s Doodles— which turn out to be not quite as doodly or noodley as you might think— plus other fun stuff in a book, that’s oddly doodly, oodly, feudily, silly billy, and even a touch serious.

    They’ve got everything! There’s mismatched socks, a string diet where even the tuna is stringy, unevenly short pants, and sensible shoes (sensible black shoes, I can't trust this writer at all, can I?), and David and Mike play a new game show: Guess which baseball movie this is!?! There’s a school that has silly kids and a mean teacher. And even she is human after all. (Hmmm, sounds like a teacher I meet in room 27, or was it 26, hmmm).

    Mike discusses the legend of Kelly Dean and the Great Experiment of Jelly Bean, but you need to read the book to find out about the ladder.

    It’s a fun ride of a fun book with two fun guys, hold the mushrooms.

    If you liked this episode, you’ll love these:
    Dan Gutman

    What??? More Dan Gutman

    Big Words for Little People

    And many more....
    if you can find them....


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    30 Min.
  • Danny and the Danuary Dinosaur
    Jan 12 2026

    Mike and David struggle with the calendar but successfully locate Danny and the Dinosaur in David’s attic, aka Narnia. This "50sy" classic features a dinosaur that fluctuates from "row-house sized" to "lamp-post thin". The Dads explore the Syd Hoff-ance—the 27-year gap between sequels—and David’s 2055 "heaven" debut. They close with "killer" jokes about —nope, note telling and still not telling. Happy reading!

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    29 Min.
  • The Going to Bed Book: Good sleep habits thru Exercise and Rock!
    Jan 5 2026

    Mike and David have a rockin’ conversation about Sandra Boynton’s Going to Bed Book. WARNING: The animals do something CRAZY before going to bed!! You were warned. And they will they will rock you(r kids to sleep)!

    Mike and David deal with grammactical (sic) errors, math is hard, and politics? (No). There's also an epiphany about a hippo—hippiphany?—about who—whom?!—is brushing their teeth. No buts about it, these animals are wild!

    If you liked this episode, check out these:
    Who was Laura Ingalls Wilder: Cliff's Notes and Spoiler Alerts

    Say it ain’t so, Mo

    Richard that’s so Scarry

    And don't forget to check us out on youtube:
    @DadsOnBooks

    This episode in video

    And check out our friend if you need a bookmark while reading Frankenstein:
    Dun Dealgan Media

    You can email us at DadsOnBooks@gmail.com

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    28 Min.
  • THE Sleepover From the Black Lagoon and exactly almost other silly things
    Dec 29 2025

    In our first ever year-end wrap up, Mike and David talk about a book they didn’t necessarily love, but then discovered that they loved a lot about it and then discovered in an epiphany kinda way that they DO like it as David did some inadvertent research.

    Mike and David's neologism du semaine: (new word of the week): Millustrations!


    Speaking of which, it's a great book for encouraging young boys to read because there are a ton (millions?) of very fun illustrations. Check it out.


    And if you liked this episode (or even if you didn’t) you’ll LOVE these:

    Fancy Nancy and the Case of the '80s Throwbacks

    Frog and Toad are similar.

    We’ve got not one, but two (2) Dan Gutman episodes!
    Part One: Where are Dr. Carbles Marbles! and where's my Pfeffernusse?
    Part Two: Carbles Marbles, Castro's Astros

    And life wouldn't be complete without video, so check us out our YouTube channel:

    @Dads-on-Books

    And finally! You can email us at DadsOnBooks@gmail.com

    Happy New Year!!

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    33 Min.