Best picture books about dads for Father's Day

An ideal gentle step-up from a board book, this sweet story about daily life with Daddy and Zeki is filled with love, play and snuggles. Fun rhyming text makes this an ideal book for shared reading time. 

This adorable story about a little girl taking care of her unwell father is one that encourages empathy in little ones. It’s a lovely little story with appealing red, black-and-white illustrations in a ten-page board book.

Picture book favourites Giles Andreae and Emma Dodd team up to celebrate the relationship between a child and their father in this delightful board book.

Lenny and Daddy have a great time playing hide and seek! This charming tale, which features a mixed-race family, is ideal to share with toddlers.

Featuring a lovely array of different dad activities for all manner of different dads, That’s My Daddy! is an inclusive, adorable book that asks children who their daddy is and what he does.

Elliott’s bright picture book featuring the friendship between two girls is a great representation of a family with two dads and how, of course, having two dads is exactly the same as having a mum and dad, especially when it comes to rules, mealtimes and all the usual parent‑y things.

The dad in this book is very bearish – he loves honey, chases his little boy around while growling, and naps everywhere. And there’s nothing like a grizzly bear hug from your dad to make you feel safe. A charming picture book celebrating all the bear-like dads out there.

Monica loves her papa’s butter chicken – and so does everyone else! Will Monica get a special time, just her and her papa? A heartwarming celebration of family and community. 

This charming picture book works both on the level of a fun book about crazy food combinations but also as a gentle tale with a positive mental health theme.

A touching picture book about the special bond between fathers and sons. One little boy in South Africa narrates his routine of walking to school with different family members.

This rhyming picture book celebrating same sex parents is a gentle and sweet read, with the added bonus of including mention of a gay couple adopting their daughter.

Softly rhyming text and glowing, illustrations in this calm, gentle book celebrate an apparently insignificant domestic ritual, which means everything to this father and daughter as they make time for each other. 

Eyes That Speaks to the Stars is a story about a little boy who learns to love his eyes through the love of the men in his family. An empowering read for Asian children in particular, but also a lovely celebration of family, fathers and grandfathers.

A dad is putting his young daughter to bed, and as he tucks her in, they both start to imagine all of the adventures they could have together the next day. They could be dragons, or walk with giants in the woods, or fly to the moon and then swim with huge whales in the oceans. There are so many adventures that Dad and his little girl can have together – and, when she grows up, and Dad gets older, they can still have adventures together too.

When a little boy’s dad is late home for story time, the little boy is a bit annoyed – so Dad tells him the story of Papa Penguin, an emperor penguin who keeps his baby egg warm for months on his own. 

Madeleine persuades her dad to be a tree, so she can stay outside with him all day long. This delightful picture book, infused with quirky humour, celebrates a touching father-daughter relationship and the simple joy of a child’s make-believe world.