A personal note from Brad about the release of this kids nonfiction book:
Six years ago, my heart doubled in size as my daughter was born. And now, six years later, we’re finally releasing my newest nonfiction book — Heroes For My Daughter.
Yes, it’s been a few years since I did Heroes For My Son. And yes, my daughter kept demanding, “Where the heck’s my book?” But over these past few years, as some of you may know, my mother passed away (after losing her battle with breast cancer). And in the past year, I also lost my dad and my grandmother. It’s been quite a year. And as I wrote this book, I was forced to look to the world for women (and a few men) who, like my mother, could serve as ideals for my daughter.
As you’ll see, every hero in this book is a fighter. And as I tell my daughter in the introduction: “No matter what stage of life you’re in, when you want something—no matter how impossible it seems—you need to fight for it. When you believe in something, fight for it. And when you see injustice, fight harder than you’ve ever fought before.”
The heroes I share with her—and with all daughters—run from Rosa Parks to Christopher Reeve…from Marie Curie to Lucille Ball…from Joan Ganz Cooney, who helped create Sesame Street, to Sheila Spicer, my eighth grade English teacher.
In the end, though, the most important page in here is the last one — because it’s blank. It says “Your Hero’s Photo Here” and “Your Hero’s Story Here.” And I promise you, you take a photo of your mom, or grandmother, or teacher, or a military member of your family — and you put their picture in here — and write one sentence of what they mean to you — and that will be the most beautiful page in Heroes For My Daughter.
When you’re done, I think you’ll see, because it’s for my daughter…because I lost both my parents in the process…this is the most emotional book I’ve ever written.
So thank you for letting me share these heroes with you.
- Brad
