Father’s Day can elicit good memories and bad, love and guilt, as well as a slew of books targeting the event. From the daughter of a famous motivator to the son of pastor, these books offer entertainment, inspiration, and advice.
Julie Norman Ziglar seemed to live her life in the negative, while her father, motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, lived his in the positive. She reveals inner struggles that resulted in years of negativity, as well as her journey to wholeness, in Growing Up Ziglar: A Daughter’s Broken Journey from Heartache to Hope (Guideposts Books, May). Now a motivational speaker herself, Julie Ziglar knows how to both tell a story and live it.
In a world of sound bites, lists, and 160 characters on Twitter, Learning from My Father: Lessons on Life and Faith by David Lawther Johnson (Eerdmans, June) is a welcome change of pace. “We like it because it is a book of quiet wisdom,” says Jon Pott, v-p and editor in chief at Eerdmans Publishing. “It doesn’t shout at you, but quietly explores the deepest questions of life and faith.”
Johnson—Indiana business leader, lawyer, and CEO—sat with his father during the last three weeks of his life. After his father’s death, Johnson remembered the correspondence between him—then a young, confused college student—and his dad about the big issues of faith and life. Learning from My Father is what Pott calls “wise reflections from a father, and wise reflections from a son on what his father taught him. It’s easy to think of this as a book of a father’s advice to a son; instead, Johnson is using what his father says to engage himself with these questions.”
From engaged fathers to absent fathers, the topic of Father Hunger: Why God Calls Men to Love and Lead Their Families by Douglas Wilson (Thomas Nelson, May) discusses the problem of fatherlessness in our culture today, as well as sidetracks into egalitarianism, defiant children, and education. This is a terse, no-nonsense handbook and admonition to fathers from Wilson--senior pastor, multi-published author, and senior theology fellow at New St. Andrews College.
Dads eager to do more than read will find encouragement and help in One-Minute Devotions for Dad by Jay Payleitner (Harvest House, June). This father of five and bestselling author (52 Things Kids Need from a Dad) offers 125 what he calls “coaching sessions” that address issues from how to listen to your kids to teaching endurance. “What About You?” sections turn reading into action for dads eager to take Father’s Day far beyond 24 hours.
