Dear Boys: Letters to My Grandsons

Pushcart Press founder Henderson (Cathedral) offers guidance to his twin grandsons in this kindhearted if somewhat thin collection of letters that draw on his journal entries, youthful anecdotes, and the work of writers including Mary Oliver and T.S. Eliot. “This is the message I wish my grandfather had written to teenage me,” Henderson writes, noting that he came from a line of “stoic and quiet” men. Discussing his faith, the value of time spent in the wilderness, and the transformative power of love, Henderson comes across as part Boy Scout and part rebel philosopher—a child of the Cold War who loves God and has lived long enough to put a failed marriage and a drinking problem in his rearview mirror. Often, Henderson’s keen intelligence and humility rescues the collection from triteness; he’s aware that younger generations need gentle guideposts, not strict doctrine. Still, he struggles to make fresh his skepticism toward technology and his regret over the “morbidly ill planet” he’ll leave behind. In the end, however, his mission to preserve family history and open conversation about his own shortcomings serve as reminders that intergenerational dialogue is both possible and necessary. Readers will be charmed. Agent: Paul Bresnick, Bresnick Weil Literary. (Dec.)