Don't Make Me Stop this Car: Adventures in Fatherhood [Paperback]

Al Roker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2001

Millions of Americans see Al Roker daily on NBC's top-rated "Today." In "Don't Make Me Stop This Car!" Al takes us home. Here, we meet his wife, Deborah, and his daughters Courtney and Leila. Just like men all over the country, Al is a modern father who fantasizes about the newest sport utility vehicle, struggles with a GapKids addiction, and basks in the golden moments of first steps and special Father's Day meals. Heartwarming, honest, and funny, "Don't Make Me Stop This Car!" is a sneak peek into the heart of the guy in the driver's seat, the all-American dad.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Al Roker, the genial weatherman on NBC's top-rated Today show, has written a book that reads like a long chat over coffee. Light and involving, Don't Make Me Stop This Car talks frankly about fertility problems, parenting, divorce, adoption, and... 'toons. It turns out that Roker's a cartoon fanatic, and his own capable, funny drawings grace the back cover and chapter headings. In the first half of Don't Make Me Stop This Car, Roker and his wife, 20/20 correspondent Deborah Roberts, struggle to get pregnant. They conceive a child the old-fashioned way but lose it during the first trimester. Roker candidly discusses the causes of their impaired fertility: his low sperm count and his wife's plummeting progesterone levels. Key doctors are introduced (and, annoyingly, reintroduced) in the ensuing chapters before Leila is delivered via C-section in November 1998. Part two is a collection of essays on topics ranging in seriousness from Ricky Martin to racism. Roker's better with weightier subjects, such as the challenges and pleasures of adoption and foster care. And there are some compelling descriptions of his childhood that make you admire his salt-of-the-earth parents. At times the writing sounds as if Roker dictated and didn't spend much time editing. It's punctuated by exclamations that surely sound better on TV ("Yesss!" "Is this a great country, or what?" "Gotta go!"). But the informality grows less irritating as the book goes on. Ultimately, you're left with a sense of Roker as a middle-class hero--proud of his bus-driver dad but rich enough to buy fertility treatments and then decorate the baby's nursery with trinkets from the "statusphere." All in all, it's a sunny forecast for Mr. Roker's fatherhood book. --Kathi Inman Berens --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

TV weatherman Roker comes across as affable, humorously self-deprecating and immensely likable in this memoir of parenthood. His voice is warm and affectionate as he describes his two daughters, Courtney and Leila, and his years of talking into the camera give him an ease behind the microphone that makes him sound as if he is chatting personally with the listener. The material itself, however, is uneven. His struggles to become a fatherAonce through infertility treatments, once through adoptionAare truly compelling, and his reflections about his own father, a bus driver who raised several foster children in addition to his own, are sweet and poignant. But when Roker talks about his own experiences of being a father, he sounds like every other proud parent in the world. He was thrilled when he witnessed his daughters' first steps; he enjoys buying cute little-girl clothes from Baby Gap. Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover (Forecasts, June 19). (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Fireside; 1st Fireside Ed edition (June 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684868946
• ISBN-13: 978-0684868943
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #757,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Al Roker is known to over thirty million viewers for his work on NBC's Today show, a role that has earned him ten Emmy awards. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Don't Make Me Stop This Car!: Adventures in Fatherhood. An accomplished cook, Roker also has two bestselling cookbooks to his credit. Al Roker lives in Manhattan with his wife, ABC News and 20/20 correspondent Deborah Roberts, and has two daughters and a son.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Always liked you Al..now I think I love you!, June 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Don't Make Me Stop This Car!: Adventures in Fatherhood (Hardcover)

The most enjoyable read I've had in a long time! I always respected and enjoyed Al as our local weatherman on the local NBC news - this the THE man you always trusted to tell you the REAL weather..well after reading the book..this is the man you're going to trust telling you about REAL life too. The candor he expresses with regard to the medical profession.. the arbitrary nature of health insurance..adoption..divorce..marriage..racism are but a few topics covered in this book. It enlightened me..it made me laugh and cry..but more than that..it made me want the book to never end. This is more than a "celebrity fluff" book. Run..don't walk and get this book..for yourself..and share it with anyone you love.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book But Marketing Created False Expectations, June 30, 2000

By 

"frankonard" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Make Me Stop This Car!: Adventures in Fatherhood (Hardcover)

Al Roker has created an enchanting and captivating book about fatherhood. Unfortunately, only the second half of the book is about what one would expect -- raising children.

The first half of the book is all about pregnancy, which is an interesting topic, but certainly not what one expects when reading a book marketed as a great "Father's Day" book.

Despite that criticism, I feel that the novel is a good read for those who wish to read a book about fatherhood.

The novel contained a wonderful defense of adoption during Roker's discussion of his parents' choices in parenthood. Al Roker's parents adopted three children. Roker has an adopted daughter. As a fellow proponent of adoption, I was happy to read a book in which adoption is shown in a very postive light.

Due to this positive portrayal of adoption, I was somewhat saddened to hear that the Catholic League had lambasted this book for Roker's inappropriate remarks about a certain fertility drug made by the Vatican using nuns. It would be wrong to worry that this book is negative towards Catholicism.

Therefore, I strongly recommend this book to the curious father-to-be or to anyone who is interested in the modern father. My choice of four stars is due to my disapproval of how the novel was advertised and packaged.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest yet hysterical, May 2, 2000

By 

Todd Matthews - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Make Me Stop This Car!: Adventures in Fatherhood (Hardcover)

This is true Roker. It isn't often that I laugh outloud and re-read a line to laugh yet again aloud. This book is both touching and very funny... to experience the pregnancy, fatherhood, and interactions with others through Roker's eyes. This book is on my Father's Day list for sure! Highly enjoyable.