Before Fredrik Backman became world-famous — and before Tom Hanks himself starred in a film based on his book — he was a blogger. And in the same year his debut novel A Man Called Ove was published, a small book titled Things My Son Needs to Know about the World came out.
And it’s not a work of fiction at all. This is Backman the early blogger, pure and unfiltered. The book is made up of several sections-posts focused on a single theme: what the author, as a young father, wants to tell his son about life in this world. What he believes should matter to him.
But all of this is written in the form of letters — a monologue intended for his son, who will one day be the reader. In fact, Backman opens the book by apologizing to his son in advance for the next 18 years (until he comes of age).
I honestly don’t know whether I would have been able to write something like that 22 years ago when my first daughter was born. Probably not — I simply didn’t have enough life experience yet. And now I understand that my list would be enormous, spanning several volumes.
Backman, however, chooses to outline the main topics right away — the things his son absolutely must know. These include:
- Motion-sensitive bathroom lights
- IKEA
- Soccer (football)
- Stuff (whether possessions are worth worrying about)
- Being a Man (that’s literally what he calls the chapter)
- God and Airports (don’t ask why they’re in the same topic)
- The Singing Plastic Giraffe (and similar toys gifted to young parents by well-meaning childless friends — friends who will soon cease to be friends)
- Clashes with other parents on playgrounds (ah yes, those “experienced mothers of one child”)
- Good and Evil (how could he skip that)
- Starting a Band (an essential stage for every teenager)
- Love
- And “When I Hold Your Hand a Little Too Tight”
