The Menstuff® library lists pertinent books concerning fathers and daughters. Books for fathers and sons, fathers in general and single fathers are listed separately. See also Books fathers-single, parenting-general, parenting-single, relationship, ritual-initiation, sexroles and issues on fathers & daughters, fathers stories.
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Alworth, Sharon and Bonnie Birnam Letters
to Fathers from Daughters: A pathway to healing and
hope. A touching, inspiring and ultimately healing book of
writings from real people. Composed of letters and poems that
depict brief snapshots of women's relatonships with their fathers
with an overall tone of gratitude, or of valuable lessons learned,
often despite difficult circumstances. An opportunity for
daughters to say things left unsaid, things they may or may not be
able to voice face to face, whether through difficulties
communicating or because of circumstances surrounding the
relatinoship; and, to promote healing and offer hope to not only
those who contributed, but to all those who read this book and are
touched by others' journeys. www.lettersforhealing.com,
WyattMacKenzie, www.wymacpublishing.com,
2007, ISBN 978-1-932279-74-0 
Bartle, Nathalie
& Lieberman, Susan, Venus in Blue Jeans: Why
mothers & daughters need to talk about sex. Sage advice
& practical strategies for guiding girls toward womanhood.
For generations, mother and daughters have struggled to say the
right thing - or have said nothing at all - when the time has come
to discuss sex. This book brings refreshing hope and guidance for
every mother (and good information for fathers) who has been
undone by such questions as "What's French kissing?" or who has
agonized over their daughter's newfound interest in boys. In this
wise and radiant book, the author tackles some of the toughest
topics of sexual education: What do girls know about
sex? When is the right time to begin talking with them
about sex? How can parents get the conversation
right? Today's teenagers face enormous pressures to
become sexually active: by age nineteen, more than 50 percent of
American girls have had intercourse. From billboards to
cyberspace, society is awash in sexual images. Parents assume that
teens possess abundant sexual knowledge, but information gleaned
from the media or the teenage grapevine can be woefully
inaccurate: many teens list AIDS as the only sexually
transmitted disease; others assume they can't get pregnant "the
first time". We need a new dialogue for this generation of young
women. Adolescent girls crave information, but they may be too
afraid or embarrassed to ask for it. Parents can encourage
conversation, correct misinformation and stress the importance of
relationships and of a young woman's values. Houghton Mifflin 1998
ISBN 0-395-84172-0 Buy
This Book!
Berry, Carmen Renee & Lynn
Barrington, Daddies & Daughters. The moment a
father holds his infant daughter for the first time, a special
bond is formed that will shape and mold them both from that point
forward. As the first significant man in his daughter's life, he
plays a unique and potent role in developing her self-image. In
later years, how she perceives herself as friend, lover, wife,
mother, and colleague, is in large measure a result of the love
and acceptance she saw reflected in her father's eyes as a child.
Drawing on stories from across a wide spectrum of individuals and
families, told both individually and in tandem, this touching
volume explores the heartaches, joy, and frustrations that
comprise this complex, primary emotional attachment. www.LynnBarrington.com
Simon & Schuster www.SimonSays.com
1998 Buy
This Book!
Bouris, Karen, The First Time: What parents
& teenage girls should know about "losing your
virginity". As Ann Landers has been saying for years, the more
young people know about sex, the better their chances of staying
out of trouble. These stories illustrate how important it is for
young people to learen about the physical, emotional and social
ramifications of sex, to be able to talk about these things among
themselves and with knowledgeable and understanding adults before,
and after, the first time. This book reveals the emotional truth
about sexual initiation by sharing stories from women of all ages,
races, and walks of life. By encouraging a dialogue between
parents and teens, the book gently guides us in our understanding
of this complex experience and gives us a blueprint for healthy
sexuality. Conari Press, 1995 ISBN 0-943233-93-3 Buy
this book!
Brennan, Christine, Best Seat in the
House: A father, a daughter, a journey through
sports. From the best-known and most widely read woman sports
columnist in the United States comes a remarkable memoir of a
father and a daughter, the story of a girl who would turned her
love for sports into a trailblazing career. The author grew up in
Toledo, Ohio, spending her summers playing with the boys on her
block, memorizing baseball statistics, accompanying her dad to
countless baseball and football games, and falling in love with
everything about sports. While other girls were playing with
Barbie dolls, she was collecting baseball cards and listening to
the radio for the play-by-play accounts of her favorite teams.
Told in the spirited, friendly voice that readers of her
USA Today column have come to love, this book is the
heartwarming chronicle of a girl who came to age as women's sports
were coming of age, encouraged every step of the way by her
beloved father. www.christinebrennan.com,
Lisa Drew Book/Scribner, 2006, ISBN 0-7432-5436-8 
Carlisle, Bob, Butterfly
Kisses: Tender thoughts shared between fathers
& daughters, Bob Carlisle. Several years ago, the
author wrote the song "Butterfly Kisses" to his sixteen-year-old
daughter. It was never intended for release. He was sitting up
late one night reminiscing and took out an old cedarbox full of
photographs. As he began to look at the pictures of his daughter,
he came to the realization that he wouldn't have her under his
roof much longer. The song just poured out of him that night. In
addition to the newfound fame from the crossover success of the
song, he experienced a few interesting drawbacks, too. Like having
truck drivers pull him over and good-naturedly threaten to slug
him while pointing to dents in their trucks from running into
something while listening to the song. Then there are other
reactions to the song that vary from incredibly moving to
sometimes heartbreaking. So, he wrote this book. He wanted men to
read the reflections of other men and their daugthers and to see
their relation portrayed in picture, in a way they could identify
with. That way in the future they'll be inspired to create their
own "Butterfly" memories with that special little girl in their
lives. And if that happens, then the song and the book will have
accomplished everything the author hoped they would. Countryman,
1997
Dodson, James, Faithful
Travelers: A father, his daughter, a fly-fishing
journey of the heart. It has been said that life is what
happens while you're waiting to go fishing. Only weeks after his
eleven marriage abruptly ended in an amicable divorce, the author
decided to go on a fly-fishing pilgrimage west. His goal: to heal
his wounded spirit and explain as best he could the vagaries of
life and love to his beautiful, precocious seven-year-old
daughter. So with his beat-up truck, Old Blue, and his aging
retriever, Amos, he and his daughter set out without plans or
reservations, following where the spirit - and the lure of
America's mighty rivers - leads them, on their way to one of
America's grandest treasures: Yellowstone. He discovers a great
deal about fly fishing, about America and about the special
relationship that exists only between a father and daughter. (I
second that!) Bantam Books www.bantam.com
1998 ISBN 0-553-10644-9 Buy
This Book!
Elium, Jeanne & Don, Raising a
Daughter: Parents & the awakening of a healthy
woman. Following the huge success of Raising
A Son, the authors have turned their attention and
expertise to the challenge of raising a daughter in today's world.
The often conflicting messages to women about women make the
raising of girls sometimes a daunting responsibility. The
continuing struggle for equality between the sexes may appear to
be at odds with the obvious and the not-so-obvious differences
between males and females. Ever-changing cultural and social
attitudes toward women also affect how we treat our daughters.
They help parents unravel and make sense of all this conflictng
information. They address the unique challenge of the
mother/daughter relationship, the confusion experienced by
fathers, and the special needs of single parents. Going step by
step through each state of development, from infancy through the
teen years and into early adulthood, this book is indispensable
reading for new and experienced parents alike. Celestial Arts,
1994 ISBN 0-89087-708-4 Buy
This Book!
Enberg, Karen, It's
Not the Glass Ceiling, It's the Sticky Floor: and other
things our daughters should know about marriage, work and
motherhood. Putting family first in an ambitious,
career-minded society can be a very difficult, an even passe,
decision. Young women contemplating marriage, motherhood and work
need a helpful guide to understanding and meeting the challenges
of work and family. Those who have sacrificed career dreams in the
face of motherhood are especially in need of reassurance. This is
the author's urgent call for women to negotiate equality in the
home and for men to understand that motherhood and "housework" are
just as important as breadwinning. In pithy and hard-hitting
chapters, using hilarious and hair-raising personal experiences,
she challeges the studies and assertions of "experts" who fail to
address family issues in realistic, or realizable, terms. She
offers fresh points of view and advice for women on youthful
decision making, parenting, handling teenagers, finance and much
more. Emphasizing a feminie individualism and forecasting the
highs and lows of family/work life, she sets a blue-print for a
new kind of duty structure. Prometheus Books, www.prometheusbooks.com
1999 ISBN 1-57392-745-7 Buy
this book!
Ensler, Eve, The Vagina Monologues. You might think this is
a rather odd addition to a men's library. However, this book
transforms the vision of the "cunt", "twat", "pussy" to a higher
level where it should be, to all men, and especially to men
raising daughters. The author writes, "I was worried about
vaginas. I was worried about what we think about vaginas, and even
more worried that we don't think about them...So I decided to talk
to women about their vaginas." In talking to over 200
women, old, young, married, single, lesbians, college professors,
actors, corporate professionals, sex workers, African American,
Latino, Asian American, Native American, Caucasian, Jewish. At
first, women were a little reluctant to talk. They were a little
shy. But once they got going, they couldn't be stopped. So she
begins her hilarious, eye-opening tour into the last frontier, the
forbidden zone at the heart of every women. This groundbreaking
book gives voices to a chorus of lusty, outrageous, poignant, and
thoroughly human stories, transforming the question mark hovering
over the female anatomy into a permanent victory sign. With
laugher and compassion, she transports the reader to a world we've
never dared to know, guaranteeing that no one who reads this book
will ever look at a woman's body the same way again.
Warning: There is one of the
Monologues in the DVD version, at least, that romances child
molestation. A 24 year old woman plies a 13 year old girl with
alcohol and gets her off. She never sees this woman again, which
supports the predatory nature of the incident. Some adult needs to
interact with their daughter regarding this situation in the DVD
and in life. The act, while meaningful to the girl, and possibly
the first "loving act" she had ever received from an adult, is
still glorifying molestation. Molestation can fulfill the need for
love and caring from an adult man to an underaged boy or girl as
well as between an adult woman to an underaged boy or girl. It's
still child molestation in this country and cannot be justified.
(Cunt: A declaration of independence is a
great companion.) Villard 1998 ISBN 0-375-75052-5
DVD 0-7831-2079-6 
Erickson, Beth, Longing for
Dad: Father loss and its impact. Whether you lost
your father through death or divorce, or you wished he would have
said "I love you" instead of merely being a good provider, you may
harbor unresolved hurt in your soul. This hurt - father hunger -
masquerades as other symptoms du jour like low self-esteem, fear
of intimacy, marital strife, poor work performance, or addictions
to food, sex or alcohol. Learn how to identify, validate and heal
the pain surrounding father loss. By sharing compelling case
studies of men and women and her own personal struggle to accept
her father's death, she guides you through the healing process.
After reading the dialogues and completing action exercises, you
will fill the hole in your soul and emerge from the journey at
peace with yourself and your relationship with your father. Health
Communications 1998 Buy
This Book!
Exley, Helen, The Love Between Fathers and
Daughters. "I know I have my father wrapped around my little
finger, but he has we wrapped around his", says Holly, the
daughter of Charlton Heston. This beautiful collection celebrates
the magical bond between fathers and their daughtres. It's the
perfect gift from one to the other. Exely Publications, 1995
ISBN 1-85015-643-3 Buy
This Book!
Gendler, J. Ruth, Notes on the Need for
Beauty: An intimate look at an essential quality. Beauty
builds bridges and makes connections between the senses and the
soul, between contemplation and expression, between ourselves and
the world. In this wide-ranging and deeply felt book, the author
invites us to reclaim the often misunderstood quality of beauty as
one of the most profound forces in our lives. Drawing on
observations from art and nature, contemporary culture and
personal experience, she looks at her subject in its most generous
implications - not simply as a reflection of surface and image,
but as a pathway to wholeness, integrity, coherence, and
ultimately, to love. Written with curiousity, courage, a
discerning eye and a lyrical sensibility, and illustrated with
evocative line drawings, this book displays the strong personal
voice that has made her previous book The
Book of Qualities, so beloved. It is a work to savor and
to share. Expecially important for fathers of
daughters! Marlowe & Company, www.marlowepub.com,
2007, ISBN 1-56924-292-5 
Glennon, Will, 200 Ways to Raise a Girl's
Self-Esteem: An indispensable guide for parents, teachers and
other concerned caregivers. Everyone in a young woman's life -
from her parents and teachers to her friends and classmates - has
the ability to bloster or break down her self-esteem. And while
eudcators and parenting experts have discussed how vital to a
girl's healthy development a positive sense of self can be,
straightforward guidance is in short supply. This book provides
this much-needed advice for boosting confidence and strengthening
self-image. Conari Press www.conari.com
or conari@conari.com
ISBN 1-57324-154-7 Buy
This Book!
Gordon, Barry, Your Father, Your Self: how
sons and daughters can understand and heal their relationships
with their fathers. The role of the father is central to the
emotional life of children and often is key to the quality of
their adulthood. Too often, poor relationships with fathers leave
sons and daughters unfulfilled and plagued by anger, misunderstood
grief, insecurity and even serious anxiety and depression. Here
the author covers two aspects of relationships with a father:
restoring the son's or daughter's psychological well-being by
healing the emotional wounds that result from failure to connect
with one's father and attempting to change and heal the current
relationship between them. The book demonstrates the emotional
rewards of working hard to heal relationships with one's father,
including a new self-perspective and improved relationships not
only with fathers, but with other family members, friends,
children and coworkers. It is a poignant and moving reminder of
the powerful role a father plays in our lives and of the emotional
imperatives that lead us to seek a deeper union with him. Carol
Publishing, 1996
Gruver, Nancy, How to Say It to
Girls: Communicating with your growing daughter. Talking
with your daughter can be difficult, but knowing the right words
can help. This book provides a wellspring of practical advice on
how to broach uncomfortable subjects, or simply open the lines of
communication with girls of all ages. This book offers concrete
words, phrases and sample dialogues to help parents figure out
what to say and how best to say it. Whether you're dealing with
toddlers or teens, you'll find useful information to help you
discuss relevant topics - from bedtime to body image, from
creativity to cliques. It includes Questions to get girls talking.
Words and phrases to use (and what to avoid saying). Ways to
improve girls' self-esteem. Tips on helping girls sort out their
emotions. Prentice Hall Press, www.penguin.com,
2004 ISBN 0-7352-0385-7 
Hansen, Mark Victor, Jack Canfield, Nancy
Autio, Patty Aubery and LeAnn Thieman Chicken Soup for the
Father & Daughter Soul: Stories to celebrate the
love between dads & dughters throughout the years.
Few of life's relationships compare to that of a father and
daughter. From the first time she grasps his hand and says her
first words, to the day she moves out on her own, the bond between
them is ever evolving: dad goes from childhood hero, feared
inspector of boyfriends, to the sage friend of adulthood.
Daughters mature from perfect little angels into rebellious teens
to accomplsihed women who are dad's pride and joy. This book
celebrates this special relationship with stories about childhood,
the trying years of adolescence, the poignancy of leaving home and
even the years when daughters often become caretakers. The stories
in this special volume are sure to evoke the fondest of memories
and rekindle the bond between dads and their little girls. Health
Communication, www.hcibooks.com,
www.chickensoup.com,
2005, ISBN 0-7573-0252-1 
Harrison, Sabrina Ward, Spilling
Open: The art of becoming yourself. This is the creative
expression of one young woman's attempt to understand herself as
she grows into adulthood. The author shares her private journal
and art, offering us lessons in life and empowerment that resonate
with fresh, youthful wisdom. Written when the author was between
the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, it captures the artist's
journey of self-discovery with a powerful and courageous voice.
This book is an intimate and moving picture of what it means to
enter a contemporary adult world that is filled with
contradictions about womanhood. She reveals with tender honesty
that, in spite of the women's movement, she has found more
questions than answers about growing up female. Her writing and
multimedia art explore questions about love, faith, growing pains,
being true, peer groups and identity. A truly unique experience,
it will help open your heart and your mind. And, it will give a
father a better understanding of his daughter, no matter what her
age. Villard Books, www.villard.com,
2000 ISBN 0-375-75648-5 Buy
this book!
Henry, DeWitt & McPherson, James
Alan, Fathering Daughters: Reflections by men. The
subject of being a father to a daughter has not been fully
addressed before, certainly not with the same emotional weight as
that of being a father to a son. Beginning with a father's
dramatic account of the birth of his girl and ending with a
hauntingly beautiful essay by a man taking his daughter on a trip
in her first year of college, her second of leukemia, nineteen
passionate, articulate writers grapple with what it means to be a
father to their daughters. A book for every man who has a
daughter, who wished he'd had a daughter, or who hopes to have a
daughter someday. A must read! Beacon Press, 1998
ISBN 0-8070-6218-9 Buy
This Book!
Holland, Barbara, They Went
Whistling: Women wayfarers, warriors, runaways, and
renegades. Throughout history there have been women, endowed
with curiosity and abundant spirit, who cast off the shackles of
expectation and struck out for new territory. In this ode to bold,
brash, and sometimes just plain dangerous women, the author
reanimates those rebels who defied convention and challenged
authority on a truly grand scale: they traveled the world,
commanded pirate ships, spied on the enemy, scaled 19,000-foot
passes, and lobbied to change the Constitution. Some were merry
and flamboyant; others were depressive and solitary. Some dressed
up as men; others cherished their Victorian gowns. Many were bad
mothers. But every one of them was fearless, eccentric, and
fiercely independent. The author evokes their energy in this
unconventional book that will acquiant you with the likes of Grace
O'Malley, a blazing terror of the Irish seas in the 1500s, and
surprise you with a fresh perspective on legends like Bonnie
Parker of "Bonnie and Clyde" fame. With wit, wisdom, and
irreverent flair, this book makes a compelling case for the
virture of getting into trouble. Anchor Books, www.anchorbooks.com,
2001 ISBN 0-385-72002-5 Buy
This Book!
Hynes, Angela, Puberty: An illustrated manual for
parents & daughters, Tom Doherty, 1990
Kelly, Joe, Dads and Daughters: How to
inspire, understand and support your daughter when she's growing
up so fast. As the primary male role model in a girl's life,
fathrs influence their daughters in profound ways, from how they
see themselves to what they come to expect from men and the world
at large. But men often don't realize the importance of their
interactions or may shy away from too close involvement because of
their inexperience or conditioning. Especially as girls move into
adolescence, fathers may find themselves feeling distant from
their daughters or awkward with the changing dynamic.
Communication becomes difficult and parenting issues more
complicated. But this is also the time when daughters most need
their fathers to be an even greater presence in their lives. This
book is a tool to bridge that gap and build a rewarding and joyful
father-daughter relationship. Sharing both his own insights and
those from many other dads, the author shows men how they can
strengthen their relaitnships with their daughters and explores
the tremendous rewards this relationship can bring. Starting with
a self-assessment quiz titled "How am I doing as my daughter's
father?" dads can immediately see what kind of role they play in
their daughters' lives. To educate fathers and offer solutions
when problems arise, this book then offers thoughtful coverage of
the most pivotal issues today's girls face, such as sex and
dating, body image, alcohol and drugs, media culture and violence,
money and responsibility, and the future. In doing so, the author
both illuminates the culture our daughters live in and shows
fathers how to guide them toward rewarding, healthy lives.
www.dadsanddaughters.org
or dadsbook@dadsanddaughters.org,
Broadway Books, www.broadwaybooks.com,
2002, ISBN 0-7679-0833-3 Buy
This Book!
King, Robin Wright,
Papa Was a Rolling Stone: A daughter's journey to
forgiveness. The author casts a glaring light on a
catastrophic social and cultural issue plaguing the African
American community - fatherless daughters. This book is a powerful
resource for fatherless women who struggle to understand the
impact of father absence on their lives and who wish to carve a
path to forgiveness and healing. It is a thought provoking account
of the painful legacy of fraternal rejection and a tool to enable
practitioners to demonstrate the important role that fathers play
in emotional development and well-being of their daughters.
Statistics indicate that as many as 60 percent of African American
children are born out of wed-lock and are raised by single mothers
or grandparents. According to sociologist Andrew J. Cherlin,
an African American child growing up during slavery was more
likely to live with both parents than their counterparts today.
www.robinwrightking.com,
Read4Life Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9760755-4-7 
Lawrey, Craig A., Does Your Daughter have
Dad Hair? A step-by-step guide for dads. Face it - girls'
heai scares guys! From brushing to braiding, every man needs
help. But you know he won't ask for directions. Well...there they
are! A step-by-step book written by a real dad for real
dads. Please...his daughter's hair depends on it! www.dadhair.com,
2009 Wantana Press, 2009, ISBN 0-615-29761-7
(Editor's note: See the movie Letters from Juliet to
get a sense of the importance to young girls of having her hair
combed - Dad.)
Leonard, Linda Schierse, The Wounded Woman: Healing
the Father-Daughter Relationship, Swallow, 1982
Levin, Diane E., and Jean Kilbourne, So Sexy
So Soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to
protect their kids. Risqué Halloween costumes for young
girls. T-shirts that boast "Chick Magnet" for toddler boys. Sexy
content on almost every television channel, as well as in movies
and video games. Popular culture and technology inundate our boys
and girls with an onslaught of graphic sexual messages at earlier
ages than ever before. Without the emotional sophistication to
understand what they are doing and seeing, kids are getting into
increasing trouble emotionally and socially. Parents are left
shaking their heads, wondering: How did this
happen? What can we do? The authors, internationally
recognized experts in childhood development and the impact of the
media on children and teens, offer parent essential,
age-appropriate strategies to country the assault. Filled with
savvy suggestions, helpful sample dialogues, and poignant stories
from families dealing with these issues, this book provides
parents with the information, skills, and confidence they need to
discuss sensitive topics openly and effectively - so their kids
can just be kids. www.sosexysosoon.com
Ballantine Books, www.ballantinebooks.com,
2009, ISBN 978-0-345-50507-1 
Madaras, Lynda, What's Happening to My
Body? A growing up guide for parents
& daughters, Newmarket, 1988
Meyer, Chuck, Twelve Smooth
Stores: A father writes to his daughter about money,
sex, spirituality and other things that really matter. How do
you talk to your teenagers about the important things in life -
friends, first dates, money, sex, work, beliefs, being true to
your values, pornography, dying, alcohol and drugs and other
things? The author found a way. He wrote letters to his
daughter. It gave him the space and time he needed to express his
thoughts. And it gave his daughter the opportunity to come back
and talk to him about everything from psychology to war to college
to evolution. This book shares those letters. It will help parents
and teens get the conversation started. Northstone 1999
ISBN 1-896836-27-5 Buy
this Book!
Mindamics,
Com-mu'-ni-ca'-tion: Dad's & Daughter's
Edition. Not a book but a fun game that makes it easy for
fathers & daughters to communicate with each other while going
out on a “date” together. The game includes
fill-in-the-blank statements that the father & daughter read
and answer while alone on a date. The game includes 365 statements
divided between 26 different packets lettered “A” thru
“Z”. Each of the 26 packets contains enough statements
to promote stimulating conversation between a father and daughter.
The game is played with the father & daughter going to a
restaurant that begins with, or contains, the letter corresponding
to the packet for that date. For example, when first starting the
game with the “A” packet, the father & daughter
might choose to go to Aunt Alice’s restaurant for breakfast,
since Aunt Alice’s begins with the letter “A”. Part
of the fun of the game is trying to find restaurants that begin
with, or contain, each of the different letters of the alphabet.
If a father takes his daughter on a date once a month,
they’ll have enough materials to cover over two years worth
of dates. The game is designed for fathers with daughters’
age 10 or higher. The game was invented ten years ago by a father
who was looking for a way to stay in touch with his daughter after
being separated by divorce. Research shows that unfortunate events
are more likely to occur when children lose regular, meaningful
contact with their father. For example, [girls] who grow
up with only one of their biological parents (nearly always the
mother), compared to children who grow up with both parents, are
three times more likely to have a child out of wedlock, 2.5 times
more likely to become teen mothers, and twice as likely to drop
out of school. I'd say it would also work great for fathers and
daughters, regardless of the marital situation. Check it out:
www/thecommunicationgame.com
or info@thecommunicationgame.com
Monkhouse, Cosmo, Letters from a
Deadbeat Dad and other stories: Confessions to a teenage
daughter and other subtitles. It's a long and often painful
tale. Don't read it if you are leading a normal, happy life in a
functional family, unless you want to know about places where you
would never choose to go - places where you wouldn't want anybody
to go. Apart from its most obvious intention, as a message from a
father to his estranged teenage daughter, this book is direct
toward millions of men (and their families, friends and relatives)
who have journeyed through the terrain the story attempts to
depict. It is a landscape of America at the beginning of the 21st
Century, the heart of the greatest empire the world has ever
known, which is inhabited by a population living in a culture of
hypocrisy and denial, in a society littered with fatherless
children and the corpses of broken families. The book attempts to
reach out to all men who have ever been defamed as Deadbeat Dads,
as the lowliest of social scum in the popular culture, and to all
people who have found their strange childhood origins transformed
into troubled adult relationships, and who then have sojourned
through various levels of hell, in the world of difficult
marriages, divorces, child custody battles, and paternity suits.
The message of the book to all such people is that you are not
alone, and that there are ways to resist being destroyed.
www.AuthorHouse.com, 1st
Books Library, www.1stbooks.com,
2002, ISBN 1-4033-0205-7 
Munching, Philip Van, Boys Will Put You
on a Pedestal (so they can look up your skirt): A dad's
advice for daughters. Life can be pretty tricky when you're a
teenage girl. New things matter: clothes, boys. Suddenly
being liked and being popular don't mean the same thing. Your
parents get completely bizarre when the subject of dating comes
up. A friend you've had forever stabs you in the back for no good
reason. Everybody you know seems to feel free to comment on your
constantly changing body. Drugs and alcohol go from being what you
see "bad" kids doing on television shows to what you see your
friends doing when no adults are around. How are you supposed to
deal? Since life doesn't come with a set of instructions, it
helps to turn to people who have been through the stuff that
you're facing. Even parents can help. (Really!) In this book,
former teenage boy - and current dad of two daughters - helps
guide you through some of life's most confusing topics. He covers
the things you most want to know about and, in his wise, warm, and
funny way, offers advice on how you can become the young woman you
most want to be. www.philipvanmunching.com,
Simon & Schuster, www.simonsays.com,
2005 ISBN 0-7432-6778-8 
Nelson, Pam, Cool Women: The
thinking girl's guide to the hippest women in history. This
book is not about heroine worshop - on the contrary, it's about
taking our heroines down from their pedestals where we can get a
good, hard look at them. Because only there, at eye level, can we
see what's truly inspiring, even stratling, about their stories -
that they're not all that different from our own. Because with the
exception of a few fictional characters, what made each of these
women glorious was not her flawlessness, but her humanity. Look
into the eyes of their pictures - the courage that stares back at
you is not about fearless ness, it's about fears that have been
overcome, mistakes that have been made, and lives that have been
lived from the sheer adventure of it. So, sure, this book is about
great stories from the past, but more importantly it's about
stories still to come. It aims for that moment of recognition that
Eureka that comes when a girl or woman finds the story that sings
to her. That instant is about more than inspiration, or even
transformation, that instant is about takeoff. Girl Press,
1998
Nielsen, Linda, Embracing Your
Father: How to build the relationship you've always wanted
with your dad. Most women want a close relationship with their
fathers, but many have issues that create distance and so feel
that dad should be the one to "go first." No matter how minor
or major the need to improve things, he should take the first step
to initiate contact, to try again, to ease tensions, to apologize,
or to make a change for the good. Yet, despite all the reasons for
dad to "go first,' that often doesn't work. This book shows women
how they can transform their relationship with their father if
they are willing to be the adult who does the emotional embracing,
not the silent, angry, sad, hurt or sullen little girl waiting for
her daddy to embrace her. It uses quizzes, worksheets, and
activities, encouraging daughters to share more of themselves with
their fathers and fathers to share more of themselves with their
daughters. www.wfu.edu
McGraw Hill, www.books.mcgraw-hill.com,
2004, ISBN 0-07-142303-6
See her monthly column.
Pipher, Mary, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the selves of
adolescent girls. Why are more American adolescent girls prey
to depression, eating disorders, addictions and suicide attemps
than ever before? According to the author, a clinical
psychologist who has treated girls for more than twenty years, we
live in a look-obsessed, media-saturated, "girl-poisoning"
culture. Despite the advances of feminism, escalating levels of
sexism and vioolence - from undervalued intelligence to sexual
harassment in elementary school - cause girls to stifle their
creative spirit and natural impulses, which, ultimately, destroys
their self-esteem. Yet girls often blame themselves or their
families for this "problem with no name" instead of looking at the
world around them. Here, for the first time, are girls' unmuted
voices from the front lines of adolescence, personal and painfully
honest. By laying bare their harsh day-to-day reality, this book
issues a call to arms and offers parents compassion, strength, and
strageties with which to revive these Ophelias' lost sense of
self. Inportant book for father's to read! And share
appropriate parts with your adolescent daughter. Ballantine, 1995
ISBN 0-345-39282-5 Buy
this Book!
Quateman, Bill & India, Daddy
Daughter Dinner Dance: A father's steps to a blended
family that really works. These are snapshots of life, of a 3-
to 6-year-old little girl, her single-parent father and their
blended family. She appears in drawings, he appears in tongues,
using poetry to transcribe his daughter's description of her
drawings, and prose to describe how they've made a life together,
in a way that resembles a dance. We see the simple beauty
between leading and following, as two partners do a tender boogie
glide through growing up together. Angel Mind, angelmind.net,
2004, ISBN 0-9729866-0-X 
Reece, Gabrielle, Big Girl in the
Middle. This is one book that any father of a daughter ought
to read. It involves the new superstars in sports who are women,
and pro beach volleyball player "Gabby" is the hottest of them all
at six-foot-three and 170 pounds. She is at once beautiful and
brutish, feminine and rowdy, accessible and intimidating - a woman
who is exploding female stereotypes and redefining our image of
the female athlete. "A young girl doesn't get many chances to
exercise the character muscle via sports, whereas for young boys,
it's part of their everyday lives. For girls, it's especially good
for them to be forced to work as a team with other girls, to work
together under every possible condition - winning, losing, tired,
grumpy, happy. It forces them to deal with unpleasant, ungracious
emotions and get over it. It forces girls to rely on each other.
It gives them confidence in other girls, which ultimately gives
them confidence in themselves." Crown www.gabbyreece.com
or www.randomhouse.com
1998 Buy
This Book! Paperback version.
Reece, Gabrielle, Big Girl in the
Middle. This is one book that any father of a daughter ought
to read. It involves the new superstars in sports who are women,
and pro beach volleyball player "Gabby" is the hottest of them all
at six-foot-three and 170 pounds. She is at once beautiful and
brutish, feminine and rowdy, accessible and intimidating - a woman
who is exploding female stereotypes and redefining our image of
the female athlete. "A young girl doesn't get many chances to
exercise the character muscle via sports, whereas for young boys,
it's part of their everyday lives. For girls, it's especially good
for them to be forced to work as a team with other girls, to work
together under every possible condition - winning, losing, tired,
grumpy, happy. It forces them to deal with unpleasant, ungracious
emotions and get over it. It forces girls to rely on each other.
It gives them confidence in other girls, which ultimately gives
them confidence in themselves." Crown www.gabbyreece.com
or www.randomhouse.com
1997 Hardback. ISBN 0-517-70835-3 Buy
This Book! See 1998 for
paperback version.
Reis, Patricia, Daughters of Saturn: From father's
daughter to creative women. Though feminists have turned
prodigious energies toward describing mothers and daughters, the
father-daughter relationship remains conspicuously ignored. Here,
the author explores various aspects of this relationship with a
particular focus on the father's effect on a woman's creative
life. Beginning with the myth of Saturn, the archetypal devouring
and melancholic father, she explores the many ways that the
Daughters of Saturn have come to name their experience and have
used language to tell their stories. Through myth, dreams, and
women's experiences, the author creates a map marking a journey
from life in the Belly of the Father through the First Gate of
Awakening. She documents women's resistances and rebellions
against the dominant culture of patriarchy, the treacherous
Battlezone of Culture, and records the lives of four women writers
- Emily Dicknson, H.D., Sylvia Plath and Anais Nin - outlining
their struggles and strategies to live creative lives. The author
marks the trails into what she calls "The Wildzone", a place that
has existence outside the law of the fathers: a woman-centered
ground of being and knowing. Continuum, 1995
Rutter, Virginia Beane, Celebrating
Girls: Nurturing and empowering our daughters. As
concerened adults, we all worry about raising girls with a strong
sense of self-esteem. We are reminded almost daily of the perilous
journey girls face growing up, the very real dangers they confront
in losing their sense of self, performing poorly in school, or
becoming sexually acative at a young age. But so far, few concrete
solutions have been suggested besides "tell them they are
great" This book offers a wide variety of eveeryday ways you
can strengthen a girl's sense of autonomy, instill pride in being
female, and ensure confidence throughout her lifetime. Each
chapter highlights an aspect of the passage from infancy to
adolescence and demonstrates ordinary yet vital things you can do
to support the uniqueness of the girl in your life. Conari Press,
www.redwheelweiser.com,
1996, ISBN 1-57324-053-2 
Sanchez, Javier, Look in My Mirror.
When we look into mirrors, most of the time we are doing so not to
make sure we like what we see, but to make sure those around us
will like what they see. The author learned this lesson from one
of the most amazing daughters in the world - his. This "Daddy's
girl" brightens his day and brings joy to his heart. As soon as
his wife finishes getting her ready in the morning, she does two
very interesting things. She runs to the mirror to look at herself
and then runs to find him wherever he is in the house., Without
saying a word, she just stands there, patiently waiting for his
response. What he learned very quickly is that in that moment, his
response can either make or break her: she needs his
approval, and most of all, his unconditional love. She wants and
needs him to respond. And if he doesn't respond, at some time,
somewhere down the line, someone else will. And unfortunately, her
new responder may not have her best interest in mind. Young girls
today are struggling more than ever to find their identity - some
of them are literally killing themselves to achieve a "perfect"
look. The media constantly bombards them with conflicting and
often negative messages about how they should behave and what they
should look like. Dads, this book is a resource you can use to
plant the seeds of positive identity and healthy self-esteem
within your daughters at a very critical time in their life. This
book will help you to plant seeds of love and acceptance in the
heart and mind of your daughter. It can be a strong first step
towards establishing a healthy, open, and loving relationship that
will last for a lifetime. And for those fathers who struggle with
knowing what to say, this book can speak volumes to your daughter.
Hopefully, the moments you pend reading this book to your
beautiful daughter will become a cherished memory in the unfolding
of her beautiful life. MEE, www.meeproductions.com,
2009 ISBN 978-0-615-28901-4
(Not yet on Amazon.com)
Sanders, Summer, Champions are Raised,
Not Born: How my parents made me a success. Parents
may well remember the author as the golden-haired swimmer who
stole the hearts of the world at the 1992 Olympic Games at
Barcelona, winning four medals. Since then, millions of kids have
come to know her as the host of Nickelodeon's wildly popular
program Figure It Out! and co-host of NBA's Inside
Stuff. Now, as someone who was once a young champion herself,
she has written this book, a warm, accessible book for any parent
who feels their child has exceptional talent but fears pushing
them too hard. She offers parents the unique perspective of the
child in guiding them through the agony and joy of raising a child
with aspiration of greatness. Helping parents find the perfect
balance of motivation and active interest to encourage their child
to achieve her very best, she tells parents what works and what
doesn't, using her own upbringing as well as the upbringings of
other world-class athletes as reference. (Ed This book is an
antidote for the poisoness writings of Judith
Rich Harris.) Delacorte Press, 1999 ISBN 0-385-33421-4
Buy
this book!
Sandoz, Joli, Ed, A Whole Other Ball
Game: Women's literature on women's sport. Since
the late 1800s, women have repeatedly proven their fitness for
competitive sport...simply by playing the game. Any game. Off
court and on; despite all opposition. A literary first, this book
deals with all aspects of women's competitive sports, from the
thrill of winning before hometown fans to the interpersonal
dynamics on a team. This engaging collection of short stories,
poems, and novel excerpts tells the exciting story of women's
sports from the sports-woman's own point of view. The author has
played, coached, and written about competitive athletics since her
first plunge off the starting blocks in 1961. Her sporting credits
include working as the first woman track coach at Harvard. Noonday
Press, 1997
Secunda, Victoria, Women & Their
Fathers: The sexual & romantic impact of the first
man in your life, Dell, 1993 ISBN 0385310234 Buy
This Book!
Simon, Clea, Fatherless Women: How we
change after we lose our dads. There is a special bond between
a father and a daughter, and when that bond is broken by death, a
woman's life can change in profound and unexpected ways. The
author explores this crucial meeting point of grief and growth by
delving into her own experience and those of other women to paint
an illuminating portrait of the father-daughter relationships and
its lifelong ramifications. Filled with moving stories of real
women, this poignant, comforting, and insightful book paves the
way for all women to make peace with the past, with the adults
they have become, and to couragesously face the
question: what happens next? John Wiley, wiley.com,
2001 ISBN 0-471-22895-8 Buy
This Book!
Snortland,
Ellen, Beauty Bites Beast: Awakening the warrior
within women and girls. Women have been sold a bill of goods -
that they are helpless in the face of attack. Nonsense, asserts
the author and proceeds to trace her discovery of self defense and
how it changed her life. This is a clarion call to "sleeping
beauties" to wake up and take charge of their own self-defense -
both verbal and physical - and celebrates women (and kids) who
fought back. Here is an irreverent, but deadly serious look at how
family, religion, history, news and entertainment keep women
thinking they are helpless and how the author and other women have
vanquished this self-defeating attitude. (Ed. - One of the
benefits of this somewhat angry book is the encouragement for
women to take responsibility
for their lives and stop holding men responsible for taking care
of them and their needs. Bravo! It's also a valuable book for our
daughters to teach them self-reliance. And, it's suggestion to
take a self-defense course is an excellent recommendation for both
women and girls and men and boys, since violence by partners is
spewing in all directions and the fact that "Beauty Beats the
Helpless Beast" is becoming quite common where the man/boy must
learn how to protect himself without inadvertantly doing something
that, if the woman did it would be excused, but if a man did it
(like restraining her arms from hitting or stabbing you), could be
a felony.) Trilogy Books, 1998 ISBN 1-891290-00-2 Buy
This Book!
Stange, Mary Zeiss,
Woman the Hunter. This book juxtaposes unsettlingly
beautiful accounts of the author's own experiences hunting deer,
antelope and elk with an exploration of how women and men relate
to nature and violence. Observing that the image of a woman "armed
and dangerous" is profoundly threatening to our college psyche,
the author demonstrates how this threat has created false
assumptions about women and about hunting that permeate
contemporary thinking. Paperback. Beacon www.beacon.org
1998 ISBN 0-8070-4639-6 Buy
This Book!
Trussoni, Danielle, Falling Through the
Earth. For her father, the author learned to rock and roll,
avoid the cops, and never to shy away from a fight. Growing up,
she was fascinated by the stories her father told of his
adventures as a tunnel rat in Vietnam, where he risked his life
searching for American POWs held underground. Ultimately, she came
to realize that the war inside his head would never be over.
Theirs is a father-daughter story filled with anger, love, and
battle scars that never completely heal. It immediately joins the
ranks of classic memoirs whose characters imprint themselves
indelibly into readers' lives. Picador, www.picadorusa.com,
ISBN: 978-0-312-42656-9 
Walkerdine,
Valerie, Daddy's Girl: Young girls and popular
culture. When she's itty, bitty and blond, wearing ribbons and
curls and an aura of money, she's adorable and vulnerable, the
tiny, innocent heart of our culture. But when the little girl
comes from the working class, she's something else. Just what, and
why so little is said about it, are the questions the author asks
in this book, a book about how we see young girls, how they see
themselves, and how popular culture mediates the view. The
author's challenge to certain feminist conceptions of today's
problems is both refreshingly iconoclastic and worth considering.
She provides a provocative historical analysis of the portrayal of
girls. She also offers her view of the implications of television,
where young girls, primarily working-class girls, dress up like
adult women rock stars and gyrate provacatively while they sing
pop songs full of sexual innuendos. Harvard University Press, 1998
ISBN 067418601X Buy
This Book!
Weston, Carol, Girltalk: All the stuff your sister
never told you. No soapboxes, no sermons, no nonsense. This
book is the up-to-date down-to-earth source book for teen girls,
ages eleven to eighteen. Now completely updated for the 1990's, it
includes more than one hundred letters from teens and the full
scoop on body, friendship, love, sex, family, money, education,
smoking/drinking/drugs, quizzes and more. A valuable book for
adolescent girls and their fathersshould have their own copy, too.
Harper Perennial www.harpercollins.com
1992, ISBN 0-06-096618-1 Buy
This Book!
Wolf, Naomi,
Promiscuities: The secret struggle for womanhood. In
this provacative and highly personal book, the author explores a
subject that has long been taboo in our society: women's sexual
coming-of-age. It brazenly exposes the truths behind the
conflicting messages directed at young women during and after the
sexual revolution. Drawing on surprising examples from the ancient
and recent past, along with vivid recollections of her own youth,
the author shows how our "Liberated" culture still fears and
distorts female passion. She also shares fascinating true stories
that illustrate the fantasies and sometimes overwhelming realities
women pass through on their way toward erotic and emotional
discovery. A landmakr book, it is a call to women of all ages to
reclaim and celebrate their sexuality. Fawcett Culumbine www.randomhouse.com
1998 ISBN 0-449-90764-3 Buy
This Book!
Zimmerman, Jean
& Gil Reavill, Raising Our Athletic
Daughters: How sports can build self-esteem and save girls'
lives. This is the first comprehensive look at the impact of
sports in girls' lives, as well as a guide for parents eager to
see their daughters succeed. This book arrives at a time when
women in sports are achieving record breakthroughts. Witness the
twenty-fifth anniversary of Title IX civil rights
legislation: the 1996 Summer Olympic Games and 1998 Winter
Olympic Games, where female athletes captured our hearts with
their guts and glory; and the first spectacular seasons of the
WNBA. The popularity of Rebecca Lobo, Mia Hamm, Gabriele Reece,
and Jackie Joyner-Kersee has given rise to a new media
darling: the female athlete. It seems almost paradoxical
that, just as we are witnessing an explosion of female athletics,
books and studies attest to a very different picture of girls'
lives, charting the loss of confidence and self-esteem with the
onset of puberty. With her book Reviving Ophelia, Mary
Pipher was only the latest in a string of theorists to describe
the dramatic ways in which girls lose out. Journalists Zimmerman
and Reavill set out to talk with girls and their parents,
exploring how sports can counteract this disturbing trend and
transform girls' lives. Here are first-hand stories from the inner
cities and rural playing fields across our country, offering
compelling evidence that participation in athletics makes an
extraordinary difference in the lives of young girls - from
reducing pregnancy rates and substance abuse to increasing college
attendance. Indeed, sports may be the most powerful resource that
parents can tap in order to raise strong girls. A clarion call for
all those eager to help their children succeed and level the
playing field, at last. Doubleday
www.bdd.com 1998 ISBN 0-385-48959-5 Buy
This Book!If you stay clean you'll never have any fun. Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me
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