Heroes For My Daughter

3.5 Stars

A compelling concept with a lot of heart behind it. The book presents as a sort of counterpart to one of the author's other works, Heroes For My Son.

Heroes For My Daughter is made up of 57 two-page spreads of real life individuals or groups, some widely known and others more obscure, who've all left some indisputable mark on history. The layout consists of a black & white picture, a tribute explanation, and a quote. Seven blank, lined pages at the back encourage readers to write down their own personal hero's story, and leaves a designated place for said hero's picture. The author ends the collection on a personal note, including tribute sections dedicated to his grandmother, mother, and wife. As with its related book, Heroes For My Son, the general layout and excessive smallness of right-side font tends to give it more of a coffee table book feel than children's book.

For readers seeking a book with an all female cast to inspire their daughter with, I wanted to clarify: this isn't that sort of book. If The Three Stooges technically count as 3 men, then this work contains at least 16 specific male heroes--plus however many were involved in the hijacker resistance on United Flight 93.

Speaking of Flight 93... Arguably the most stunning portion of this book is dedicated to them, on a very personal note from the author. Because the flight that went down in a field was only twenty minutes from Washington D.C., where it was intended to strike either the White House, or more likely, the U.S. Capitol building. The Capitol building where the author's wife, then 8 months pregnant, was working.

This book is very closely tied to Heroes For My Son. Perhaps a little too closely--as there is exact cut-and-paste overlap in several of the hero bios between them. Mahatma Gandhi, Lucille Ball, Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln, and Teri Meltzer at the very least. Although, it is difficult to tell if there are more, as the heroes are listed in no readily discernible order and there is no appendix at the end to aid in searching for them. (And yes, you will note this paragraph of my review is essentially a cut-and-pasted replica of one I used in the aforementioned related book. It seemed only fair.)

For this reader, most concerns with this book are ultimately a matter of format and delivery rather than content. I think more exclusive books called Heroines For My Daughter and one called Heroes for My Son may have been more effective. Or perhaps a simple consolidation between the two called: Heroes For My Children. Regardless, larger print and clearer organization would certainly benefit later editions.

On the whole, a worthwhile read. And potentially a good starting point to prompt more thorough researching of some of these inspiring figures.