For Father’s Day, we’re highlighting six picture books that celebrate the myriad ways dads show up for their children, sharing stories across identities and experiences. Keep reading for anti-bias stories about dads who help their children feel safe and loved in ways that often go unrecognized. Plus, we provide discussion guides to lead meaningful conversations with kids about the roles fathers play in our lives.
In this book, a young girl named Zuri embraces her natural hair texture that kinks, coils and curls every which way. Zuri knows her hair is beautiful, but it has a mind of its own! Mama is not home, so it’s up to Daddy to give his daughter an extra-special hairstyle. Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to loving your natural hair—and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere.
This book is about a boy and his father who go fishing together on an early Saturday morning. Fishing is an important way for the father and son to spend quality time together, despite the dad’s multiple jobs, and for the son to learn about his family history and culture from another country.
In this book, a single father takes his son to his night job as a janitor. Readers see their loving relationship in the ways they support each other and little moments that make their relationship special. Sharing this book
can help children in similar circumstances feel proud of their families and open up a discussion about the many positive ways children and adults contribute to society.
Riley has two dads who love her very much—one calls her his princess, and the other calls her his dragon. Riley feels special and safe with both of them. But when a classmate asks her which dad is her “real” one, Riley isn’t sure how to answer. Why should she have to choose? This story shows readers that love is what truly makes a family, not who’s in it or how it looks.
A young girl and her grandmother excitedly get ready for the one day each month they get to visit the girl’s father in prison. Her father also eagerly awaits their visit. Although the girl is sad when she has to leave her father, she and her grandmother know that one day her father will be at home with them again.
Sharing stories and having conversations about incarceration can help remove the stigma and allow children to understand that people are more than the mistakes they make. Reading this book provides the opportunity to build empathy and understanding and find the similarities between families that are separated for any reason.
This story, based on the author’s own experiences, tells of an early memory with her father at the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp where they lived because her family was forced to leave their home in Laos during war. After asking her father about war, he helps her discover there is a vast world outside of the camp, which is all she’s ever known. This moment symbolizes the vast possibilities ahead of her, inspiring her to hold onto hope and dream of a future beyond the camp.