Dan Gets a Minivan: Life at the Intersection of Dude and Dad

In the bestselling and beloved tradition of Dave Barry, a coming-of-middle-age tale by Thurber finalist Dan Zevin, master of “Seinfeld-ian nothingness” (Time) about a man’s inevitable transition into mid-life and fatherhood.The least hip citizen of Brooklyn, Dan Zevin has a working wife, two small children, a mother who visits each week to “help,” and an obese Labrador mutt who prefers being driven rather than walked. How he got to this point is a bit of a blur. There was a wedding, and then there was a puppy. A home was purchased in New England. A wife was promoted and transferred to New York. A townhouse. A new baby boy. A new baby girl. A stay-at-home dad was born. A prescription for Xanax was filled. Grey hairs appeared, grey hairs fell out. Six years passed in six seconds. And then came the minivan.

Not just a daddy book, Dan Gets a Minivan is about a guy who happens to be a dad. Acclimating to adulthood has never been his strong suit, and this slice-of-midlife story chronicles the whole hilarious journey—from instituting date night to joining Costco; from touring Disneyland to recovering from knee surgery; from losing ambition to gaining perspective. Where it’s all heading is anyone’s guess, but, for Dan, suburbia’s calling—and his minivan has GPS.

About The Author:

Dan Zevin is the author of The Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grownup, which was optioned by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions and is now in development at Paramount. A 2004 finalist for the Thurber Humor Award, Zevin has followed his readers through each phase of life, from post-college coping (Entry-Level Life: A Complete Guide to Masquerading as a Member of The Real World) to tying the knot (The Nearly-wed Handbook: How To Survive the Happiest Day of Your Life) to developing a disturbing new interest in lawn care and wine tastings (Uncool). And that was all before he had kids.

Zevin has been a comic correspondent for National Public Radio’s WBUR, the humor columnist for Boston Magazine and the Boston Phoenix, and a contributor to national publications including Rolling Stone, Maxim, Details, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour. He also wrote an original sitcom pilot for CBS and Warner Brothers.