A List of Quality Children’s Picture Books Featuring Fathers
FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN (birth to 5 years)
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A board book in which an African-American father croons to his baby daughter and dances while holding her.
When things go wrong during a day at the beach, a father could do a lot of things but always picks the loving one.
Helping his son get ready for bed can be challenging for a dad.
A builder and his son follow the construction of a new school building.
A lift-the-flap book that shows all the special things daddies can do.
Written with inventive rhyme, a father bug and his child savor the special joys of companionship.
Animal fathers give hugs that come in all shapes and sizes.
A dad's behavior changes when he becomes a dinosaur for a day.
A father and son share a special time together on their favorite day of the week.
A little girl and her father enjoy a game of hide-and-seek.
With Mom away on a Saturday, a father and son spend the whole day together doing household chores and then some fun activities.
My Dad (1991) by Debbie Bailey
A board book with photos of a variety of dads and children in everyday settings.
My Dad (2000) by Anthony Browne
A child exaggerates the many wonderful things about his dad.
A young child loves and admires his father – a true giant among men.
A father who works the night shift has a special bond with his daughter.
A burly father leads his children into some active games and imaginative play.
When a Masai father in Africa answers his son's questions, the boy learns that his father's love for him is unconditional.
A dad brightens up a rainy day with a fun game of making his son into a pizza.
When his dad takes Piggy fishing for the first time and Piggy ends up feeling sorry for the worms and the fish, they decide to make some changes.
Shortly after his parents have separated, a son spends a rainy day with his father.
A sled ride on a starry night changes the mood of a father and son from sad to glad.
A father and daughter share special time reviewing the real and made-up things that happened during their day.
A young boy enjoys the homes of both his parents who live apart but love him very much.
Pictures and rhyming text show how animal, bird, and human fathers take care of their children.
A humorous account of how dads show love by explaining all the things they can not do.
FOR OLDER CHILDREN (4 years to 10 years)
Clicking on the title of the book will take you to Barnes and Noble to purchase the book.
Your purchase supports the Minnesota Humanities Center and its work.
Within the natural world, animal fathers have specific roles.
A young deaf boy spends a glorious morning sharing the beauty of a sunrise with his father.
A boy learns the connection between his deaf father and the first black baseball player in the Major Leagues.
A young girl accompanies her father to his office, helping him throughout the day.
A daughter’s memories of her father and growing up on a farm.
A collection of short poems honoring fatherhood.
A child with divorced parents lives with his gay father and his partner.
A dad travels by train to spend a day with his son.
A little girl in America worries as her father prepares for a trip to visit his ill mother in Ethiopia.
A young boy shares with his mother his daydreams about the father who left before he was born.
A father and son are homeless and living at the airport.
When a father and son can’t sleep, they take a long drive to the country to count the stars.
A popular song adds to the story of a father’s love as his child grows from a boy into a man.
A girl and her father spend their first summer at the lake without the girl’s mother.
Night Driving (1996) by John Coy (Minnesota Author)A father and son drive into the night and watch for night animals, swap baseball stories, and keep a lookout for eighteen wheelers.
On a winter's night under a full moon, a father and daughter trek into the woods to go owling.
A bilingual boy and his father, who only speaks Spanish, spend a day together.
A Latino girl tries to wait patiently for a gift from her father.
A father and his two daughters try to make latkes and celebrate on the first Hanukkah after the girls’ mother died.
A father tells his son the story of how he damaged a neighbor's tomato garden when he was a boy and what he did to make amends.
A little girl and her dad have a going-to-bed routine that shows how much they love each other.
After a girl finds two old potatoes at her father's house, they plant and tend them to see if they will grow new potatoes.
A young girl and her grandmother visit the girl’s father in prison.
A little boy and his father visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC to find the name of the boy’s grandfather.
A soldier’s daughter worries about her dad on his mission far away from home.
This book list was originally developed by the Minnesota Humanities Center in 2001. The following individuals contributed to this revision:
Pat Downs Bright, San Diego County Library
Tom Fitzpatrick, Minnesota Humanities Center
Shelly Hawkins, Saint Paul Public Library
Paul Masiarchin, Minnesota Fathers & Families Network
Glen Palm, Saint Cloud State University
Vicki Palmquist, Children’s Literature Network
Todd Seabury-Kolod, Saint Paul Public Schools
Wendy Woodfill, Hennepin County Library
Andrea Wisdorf, Minnesota Humanities Center