Dear Chandler, Dear Scarlett: A Grandfather’s Thoughts on Faith, Family, and the Things That Matter Most

Former Arkansas governor, presidential candidate, and current Fox News talk show host, Huckabee (A Simple Christmas) puts his trademark folksiness to use in a staged set of “grandpa’s letters” to his one-year-old grandson, Chandler, and baby granddaughter, Scarlett. He hopes the two children will establish a “personal relationship with the Creator of All Things” and tells Chandler and Scarlett to be kind, especially to the less fortunate. He discusses love and marriage, the environment, and even creativity in decent, heartwarming ways, constantly referring to himself as “grandpa” for effect. In one pleasant chapter Huckabee makes the convincing case that pets, especially dogs, “make us better humans.” He endorses patriotism and military heroism. Huckabee’s down-home style attracts a loyal crowd from agrarian pietists to Tea Party activists. Here, nothing complex tugs at Huckabee’s reassuring, anodyne thoughts, though that is likely a limitation of the form. However, he affirms values that are worth reiterating, even if he does so in treacly ways, and his easy-to-read essays will reinforce his admirers’ fixed ideas. Agent: Frank Breeden, Premiere Authors Literary Agency. (Nov.)