# kid/YA books where the dad is a professor and the mom is an artist. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-ya-books-where-the-dad-is-a-professor-and-the-mom-is-an-artist/670791 "2013-10-09T17:49:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-ya-books-where-the-dad-is-a-professor-and-the-mom-is-an-artist/670791/1 "2013-10-09T17:49:28Z")
One of my college roommates once pointed out that there seem to be a lot of books with this setup–probably because it makes for parents who can be a bit absent-minded and have irregular schedules, so the kids can be off having adventures. Lois Lowry’s Anastasia Krupnik and Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s Stanley family come to mind. I can also think of _Stranger With My Face_ by Lois Duncan, and I know there was at least one other that I read in a Children’s Lit class (possibly _Wait Till Helen Comes,_ but I’d have to check on that). Can anyone think of any other examples? I find myself in nearly this situation now, as an occasional freelance artist with a husband who’s adjunct faculty at the local community college. I guess we should be prepared for our children to have fantastical adventures. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-ya-books-where-the-dad-is-a-professor-and-the-mom-is-an-artist/670791/2 "2013-10-09T20:29:05Z")
Stoneflight by Georgess McHargue. (Okay, the father’s a high school teacher working on getting a promotion into NYC schools administration, and the wife’s more of an interior designer, but she wanted to be an artist.) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-ya-books-where-the-dad-is-a-professor-and-the-mom-is-an-artist/670791/3 "2013-10-09T22:10:34Z")
Just by reading the title, I was going to say, “all of them.” ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-ya-books-where-the-dad-is-a-professor-and-the-mom-is-an-artist/670791/4 "2013-10-10T04:23:24Z")
Similar to this book: [Saffy’s Angel](http://www.amazon.com/Saffys-Angel-Hilary-McKay/dp/0689849346/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381378859&sr=1-1&keywords=saffy%27s+angel) The dad isn’t a professor, but he works in another city. Great book…I swear, it seems the better the book, the worse the cover… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-ya-books-where-the-dad-is-a-professor-and-the-mom-is-an-artist/670791/5 "2013-10-10T17:07:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Just by reading the title, I was going to say, “all of them.” Funny thing is, my first thought of a YA-book family is the dad being a physicist and the mom a biologist, to the extent that I have a hard time thinking of anything else. I guess L’Engle left a pretty big impression on me. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-ya-books-where-the-dad-is-a-professor-and-the-mom-is-an-artist/670791/6 "2013-10-10T19:07:34Z")
One of the families in Swallows and Amazons has a dad who’s a professor of Archeology, and a mum who’s an (amateur?) artist; the Callums. The parents don’t actually appear at all though, so far as I remember- the kids are always being looked after by other people while the parents are overseas or busy.