"So, the decision to target a male audience will explain the simple vocabulary, short chapters and bathroom humor." P. 12

"And because of Tom's father, and because I watched The Cosby Show with the devotion of a Muslim, I came to believe a man was supposed to be around the house to arm and disarm weapons, make sexual advances on the matriarch, perform long and colorful ad-libs with children about why they should clean their room and, above all, always face the camera, even if the entire family ahs to sit on one side of the table during dinner." P. 15

"And I remember wondering what it would be like to own a dragon, to lie across the monster's spine, inching toward its neck as the beast jolted into flight, thrusting through the milky pretext for heaven that glows over Houston, up and above the weather where my dragon and...