So, great dads in children’s fiction… let me see…
Well, before we get into the detail, let’s start with what Dahl said about adults.
Grown ups are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets.
He was right. Course he was, which is why so many of the dads that appeal to me are flawed, unbalanced, and sometimes downright unhinged. I mean, where’s the excitement in writing about a dad who works nine to five? What way is that to earn a living?
Dahl also had a liking for getting the parents out of the way early, bumping them off in car crashes (The Witches) or trampling them to death with rhinoceroses (James and the Giant Peach).
The dads that did make the cut were largely odious and vile individuals, like Harry Wormwood in Matilda, who left his daughter in no doubt about where the balance of power lay;
“I’m right and you’re wrong, I’m big and you’re small, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Ha! Harry’s a brilliant character, mainly as his inflated ego is constantly battered by Maltilda’s wit and wisdom, finding utter joy in doing everything her father tells her not to.
I can’t help but be drawn to poor role models in fiction. Take Kevin Brooks’s Martyn Pig. As far from Dahl in many ways as possible, but also containing one of the most hateful dads to ever grace a book.
I LOVE Martyn Pig. I read it as a book proof while working as a bookseller, and it literally blew the top of my head off. I couldn’t believe how many rules Kevin broke in the telling of the story, and I loved him immensely for it.
Ok, Martyn’s dad is an ogre, an abusive, hateful bullyboy, but when Martyn accidentally kills him, you can’t help but think retribution is heading his way. But no, hell no, not in Brooks’ world. Far from it in fact, as Martyn goes on the run instead with a load of his dad’s hidden cash. The way the father/son relationship is portrayed in such stark, unforgiving terms sets up a story that plays with your emotions magnificently.
Another dreadful/magnificent father figure came from the pen of Lemony Snicket. Has there ever been a more dastardly guardian or more horrible father figure than Count Olaf? I think you’ll find the answer is no. Book after book, Olaf reappears in a disguise more ridiculous than the one before, hell-bent on adopting the Baudelaire’s before killing them for the inheritance. It shouldn’t work. Olaf should be a one-dimensional, pantomime baddy, but somehow he’s more than that. Much more, and I love him for it.
Let’s change tack slightly and talk about a more positive father, a Godfather this time, Sirius Black. If ever there was a boy who deserved a properly good dad to look after him, it’s young Harold Potter. So when Sirius, fresh from the hell of Azkaban, reveals himself to be a wonderful guardian to Harry, the whole of the world rejoiced! Only to have their hearts broken, along with Harry’s shortly after. There were a number of high-profile demises in HP, but the one I felt most acutely, was Sirius’s. Poor, poor Harry.
Which leads me full circle back to Dahl, and one last dad.
My favourite dad. Dad in Danny, the Champion of the World. Never has there been an old man more loving, more caring, nor adventurous than this one. And I bloomin’ love him for it.
It was this dad that made me want to write Demolition Dad. I wanted to create a dad who had a secret too: a secret that would make his son as proud as Danny was. But he couldn’t be a poacher, he’d have to be something else, but equally cool. Why couldn’t he be a wrestler? The sort of wrestler that made his son Jake, the proudest son on earth.
I had a ball writing Demolition Dad. More fun than I’ve ever had writing a book. It felt like penning one almighty love letter: To Dahl, Brooks, Snicket and Rowling, but also, most importantly, without me realising it at first, to my own dad, Raymond William Ernest Earle. Because sometimes, as great as fiction is, you can’t beat the real thing.
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You can buy Phil Earle’s Demolition Dad from the Guardian bookshop
Tell us your favourite dads in fiction, good and bad by emailing childrens.books@theguardian.com or on Twitter @GdnChildrensBks and we can make this blog grow into a celebration of dads, warts and all!
@GuardianBooks @philearle @GdnChildrensBks Atticus Finch!!
— Sarah Neilson (@SarahMNeilson) June 19, 2015
@philearle @GuardianBooks @GdnChildrensBks Also, Mr. Bennet from Pride & Prejudice, even though he loves by mocking relentlessly
— Sarah Neilson (@SarahMNeilson) June 19, 2015
@philearle @GuardianBooks @GdnChildrensBks My first thought was Danny's dad... I love the nasty Dahl characters, but I adored this dream dad
— Macha Barnden (@machab) June 19, 2015
@GdnChildrensBks @philearle I nominate Lester Ferris in @Harkaway's 'Tigerman'. A pseudo-Dad, but book is suffused with paternal yearnings.
— Mark Thornton (@mostlybooksmark) June 19, 2015
@GdnChildrensBks @philearle my own fictional paternal role models are Mr Bennett, Alfred from Batman, and Daddy Pig.
— David Heslop (@dtHeslop) June 19, 2015
@GdnChildrensBks the dad from Danny the Champion of the World- a close friendship, spends much time with son & stops bullying of son
— Lucy (@mennolibrarian) June 19, 2015
@GuardianBooks @GdnChildrensBks James Potter :).
— Rogue Kally (@SarcastiKally) June 19, 2015
@GdnChildrensBks @philearle genuinely love Bella's dad Charlie in Twilight. Wish I could have a book from his POV @MelDuncanson agree? :)
— Lorna (@Lorna_May_D) June 19, 2015
