Recently, Fort Dodge resident and Coldwell Banker Associated Realtors co-owner Keenan Schuur wrote and published “My Dad’s Jokes,” a children’s book.

Maddie Lind, owner of Dodge Graphix in Fort Dodge, illustrated the book. The illustrated characters of the book are based on Schuur and his eldest daughter, 15-year-old Anelise, as well as the rest of the Schuur family– his wife Lydia, 7-year-old Liam and 3-year-old Gwen.

“I’m always telling cheesy dad jokes, trying to embarrass them in front of their friends and what not,

so it was just something I was going to do for them,” Schuur said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Local artist Maddie Lind, owner of Dodge Graphix, illustrated the children's book written and published by Keenan Schuur.

Initially, Schuur just planned to make the book for his kids, but then he realized it needed to be much bigger than that.

“There’s not a whole lot of dad-focused books for kids,” he said.

The book is about the relationship between a dad and his daughter and how his telling of “dad jokes” has created a bond throughout the years. The daughter in the book is named Nell, after Anelise. Some of the anecdotes are personal and some parts Schuur just felt fit with the story. The inspiration overall comes from his relationships with his children.

“When it starts, [Nell] is a young kid and she loves the jokes, so she looks to the jokes to help her feel a little comfort,” Schuur said. “It’s her first day of school and she’s nervous, so he tells her a joke to kind of lighten her up a little bit.”

As the daughter gets older and becomes a teenager, she starts to find the jokes silly and embarrassing. But as she transitions to college and adulthood, her dad’s dad jokes become a comfort again.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The characters illustrated by Maddie Lind, of Dodge Graphix, were based on author Kennan Schuur and his daughter, Aneliese.

The book ends with the dad continuing the tradition of telling dad jokes, but this time it’s to Nell’s children.

The story is chock-full of dad jokes.

“They’re all pretty good,” Schuur said. “The cheesier the better.”

The Schuur kids love the book, he said. “They’ve made me read it to them quite a few times,” he said.

Writing and publishing the book was quite a process, Schuur said.

“There was a lot of tweaking and whatnot, and getting input here and there,” he said. Finding a publisher was a challenge because he wanted to go with a hybrid of traditional publishing and self-publishing so he could retain the rights to his book.

Schuur then connected with Lind to illustrate the book.

“She did great with all the artwork,” Schuur said.

“My Dad’s Jokes” is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Archway Publishing. It’s also available as an E-book and through the Ingram Catalog used by bookstores to stock their shelves.