Dangerous Book for Boys
I read a book review in the Wall Street Journal on a new book entitled, The Dangerous Book for Boys. The book had been a hit in England and Australia but HarperCollins was unsure about its viability in the US. They initially ordered just 90,000 copies for print in the US. Over 400,000 copies have now been sold and next month, it is the feature book at Barnes & Noble for Father's Day. At the rate it is selling, it is estimated it will sell 4 million copies in America. Why?

The book purports to aim itself at a very un-book friendly audience - 10 year old boys and tries to answer the question: What do boys need to know? It includes instructions on how to skip a stone, fold a paper hat, make a battery and hunt and cook a rabbit. It also includes a description of the Battle of Thermopylae but also how to play Texas Hold-em poker and how to use the phrases Carpe Diem and Curriculum vitae.

Here is the irony and here is where it ties into this entire blog and most everything i've been trying to articulate...

"The unapologetic message is that boys need a certain amount of danger and risk in their lives, and that there are certain lessons that need to be passed down from father to son, man to man. The implication is that in contemporary society basic rules of maleness aren't being handed off as they used to be."

"The book is also aimed at Boomer dads, who nostalgically yearn for a lost boyhood of fixing lawn mowers and catching snakes with their fathers - even if that didn't really happen as often as they think it did."

One dad bought it for his son and suspected it would get lost behind his PSP and iPod. The boy took to it immediately, demanding that his dad test paper airplanes into the night even missing American Idol. He added "That's the good news. The bad news is that he now expects me to build him a treehouse."

Isn't that what we all long for? A dad that is involved in our lives? A dad that shows us how to do things? A dad that bestowes on us a masculinity that can only be taught?

Why else would 4 million American men buy a book like this? It taps into something deep within each man - that need for a father. Who put that need into man? The Holy Father - he put that deep need into each of us - the need for a father that is willing to move into our lives and have a real relationship with us.

Some men are lucky - they have fathers that stay involved in their lives, that show them how to fish, how to build a treehouse, how to hunt, how to fix a lawnmower, how to deal with tough situations at work, etc. Others aren't so lucky - their fathers, perhaps so wounded by the absence of their own dads - are completely "taken out" and incapable of engaging their sons.

That need we all feel is there for a reason. God put it in us. He so desires a living, vibrant relationship with you. Talk to Him. Share your struggles, your dreams, your fears and your hopes. He knows. He cares. He loves you.

Soar!