Letting the Child Fly, Kick or Even Crawl in Books

Fathers are noteworthy between the pages of some recently released books as inspiration, adoring daddy and co-author.

Making big news is father Mitchell Siegel. According to Brad Meltzer in his new novel, The Book of Lies, Siegel was murdered (by heart attack, although a gun shot was involved) and that led son Jerry to create Superman with friend Joe Shuster. Oddly, Batman becomes who he is when his father is actually shot, but perhaps that's just a coincidental comic tangent.

Trying to make big news is W.D. Wetherell, whose Soccer Dad is the story of how much he cares about his son and soccer, although it may not always be clear in which order his loyalties actually lie. It's the son's last season of high school soccer and while only college looms immediately, a strong overt tie between father and son is about to be broken.

Still building the tie is Steven Oscherwitz, who with his son Max, created a fairy tale of a snake and even managed, as equally credited authors and photographers, to bring to life Gilbert's Adventure, the story of a snake who is forced to leave his natural home and responds by going out and doing good deeds.

Which sounds a lot like what every father wants for every child.