Kwame Alexander's latest book pulls at the heartstrings. It's called Why Fathers Cry at Night, and its rawness is so poignant that Alexander fretted over its very publication.

Is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day the very worst book for young readers? I’ll grant that it’s a tricky question—but only because the question of bad kids ...

As a kid, Kwame Alexander never wanted for books. His father was a publisher, and his mother was an English teacher. “I lived in a Wal-Mart of books,” the author and poet said with a laugh.