OK, Al Roker, give it to us straight: weathermen. Literary or not?
“I can’t speak for others, but when we get together, we talk about weather maps,” he tells The Post’s Barbara Hoffman. “We’re a pretty dull group.” Roker may be the exception. The affable anchor not only loves to read — there’s even an Al Roker Book Club for Kids — he’s also written half a dozen books, including the delightfully titled, “Don’t Make Me Stop this Car!,” based on his life as a father of three. He headed up the Sesame Street special “Families Stand Together: Feeling Secure in Tough Times,” last week on PBS.
“The great thing about Sesame Street is that it’s always dealt with what people are actually dealing with, whether it’s going off to war or Hurricane Katrina,” he says. “Families today are trying to handle a difficult economic situation and kids are stressed. So who better than Elmo and friends to help them through it?”
Here are a couple of Roker favorites, three of them for adults and kids alike.
Devil in a Blue Dress
by Walter Mosley
There are not a lot of African-Americans writing thriller mysteries, and his voice is pretty authentic. Easy Rawlins is just such a great character . . . It’s funny. I picked this book up on the bookstand and two days later, I saw Bill Clinton carrying it. I thought, OK, not so bad! That was quite a series.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Arthur Conan Doyle
I first read this when I was 8 years old. My school librarian recommended it and I wanted to be Sherlock Holmes. Since I wasn’t the most athletically inclined child, I figured I could best others using my wits.
Green Eggs and Ham
by Dr. Seuss
I loved this book as a kid and I’ve read it to all three of my children. I think it’s a great lesson in opening your mind to something new and different. Remember when Jesse Jackson read “Green Eggs and Ham” on “Saturday Night Live”? Well, I don’t think it’s been read better since.
Whistle for Willie
by Ezra Jack Keats
I remember this as the first picture book that had a black kid in it. Growing up in Queens — I was the oldest of six siblings — I remember seeing Bob Teague or Bill McCrory read the news . . . To finally see someone who looked like me in a beautifully illustrated children’s book was just wonderful.