Heroes for My Daughter

Listeners should have a box of tissues handy for this brief audio production in which Meltzer presents 60 noteworthy individuals whom he upholds as heroes for his six-year-old daughter, Lila. Meltzer opens by announcing that he will be reading the book to Lila with her right there in the studio, so she chimes in to say hello (and makes a brief appearance later as well). What Meltzer lacks in skills as an actor he makes up for in passion as a father seeking to broaden his daughter’s world. Every mini-biography rings with his enthusiasm as he elucidates what he admires about figures such as Susan B. Anthony, Christopher Reeve, Julia Child, and Rosa Parks. There are a couple of emotional moments when he relates more personal heroes, like the ninth-grade teacher who first recognized his talent as a writer, or the passengers on United Flight 93 who refused to let hijackers crash their airplane into Washington, D.C.—where Lila’s mother had been on her way to work at the U.S. Capitol. The second disc contains a 67-page PDF with photos of every hero mentioned in the book and additional pages for printing and journaling about the listener’s own heroes. A Harper hardcover. (Apr.)