(no subject)

[cahn]

Please rec me books with dads who are major characters (important secondary character is fine) and for whom parenting is an important component of their character, with kids who are older at the time of canon (teenager or above). They don't need to be good parents, necessarily, and they can make horrible mistakes, but they should be (relatively?) non-abusive and clearly love their kid(s).

So far I've got

-Aral Vorkosigan (...I guess he's not super a main character any more, but he casts a pretty long shadow)
-Atticus Finch
-Andrew Wiggin
-Jean Valjean
-Reb Saunders and David Malter
-Van Hohenheim (taking the prize for not being a good parent and making horrible mistakes...)

...this is a much lower percentage of the books we own than I had thought it would be!

Comments

[mildred_of_midgard]

More recs and notes.

I reread When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit tonight and can now say that the father gets as much page time as Charles Ingalls, and in fact the story is about as similar as it gets, given the different setting (1930s Europe): fictionalized memoir depicting the author as a young girl and her close-knit family moving around, adapting to new places, and trying to make money stretch. (No food porn, alas.)

As you can tell by the fact that I read it in one go, it's a short, easy read. The protagonist is 9-11 eleven years old in the book, and her brother about 2 years older, so I think that meets your criteria. The book is aimed at children of about that age, 9-11, and stylistically probably most similar to The Banks of Plum Creek. It's probably the only book aimed at that age range that I constantly reread.

There are sequels, but I didn't really enjoy them. You might, though! Ditto The Giver.

Re Gone With the Wind: Scarlett's a teenager at the beginning when she's interacting with her father, but I remembered that Rhett's child is about 3-5, so she might fall outside the age range you're looking for. If you're into antebellum historical fiction, though, I can't recommend the book enough on its own merits.