Every year we round up some of the best Father’s Day picture books, and the new 2019 Father’s Day book releases do not disappoint. They’re heartfelt, beautifully illustrated, and wonderfully diverse. Oh yeah, and highly conducive to bedtime snuggles.
I think these make the sweetest gifts for Dad from the kids. Even if they’re not old enough to do more than make their own crayon scribble in the front page to “sign” their names to the gift.
Happy you day, dads!
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Related: Father’s Day gifts: We’ve got something wonderful to fit any dad and any budget
If you want a great new Father’s Day picture book, Side by Side: A Celebration of Dads by Chris Raschka (also at top) is a great place to start. The two-time Caldecott medalist uses whimsical illustrations and spare text to convey the magic of dads — and how dads also double as boats, cranes, and home bases for adventuresome toddlers. It’s a great book for early readers, or even for dads of older kids who appreciates sweet simplicity.
I love books about the father-daughter bond, and My Papi has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero is a book about all the things Daisy Ramona has learned from her own Papi, from the word carburetor to the value of hard work. I really appreciate how the reader gets a panoramic view of the duo’s vibrant, immigrant-centric neighborhood thanks to Zeke Peña’s charming illustrations. I think that any dad will get a kick out of this, whether he drives a Harley or a Honda Odyssey.
In keeping with the dad-daughter theme, we are so excited about Hair Love, by NFL star turned filmmaker and author, Matthew Cherry. You may have read about Cherry’s Kickstarter campaign to support the making of the Hair Love short film about a Black father who learns to style his daughter’s hair. We’ll have to wait a while longer for the short, but in the meanwhile, there’s this delightful new picture book created with of our favorite illustrators, Vashti Harrison. Here’s to all the dads who step up to help primp and prep.
Related: 13 really creative DIY Father’s Day gifts that kids can help make. Oh, the sweetness!
Get ready to swoon. Probably cry. Because there’s a reason this new Father’s Day picture book has shot to the top of the holiday book best-sellers on Amazon. From the author who brought you You Made Me a Mother comes You Made Me a Dad, an equally sweet ode to fatherhood that’s perfect for an expecting dad, to a dad of grown children who are now raising their own children. Thanks to Laurenne Sala and Mike Malbrough for what we think will be a nightstand favorite.
Papa Put a Man on the Moon by Kristy Dempsey and Sarah Green celebrates the small jobs that help make the world work — and the parents who do them. Marthanne, the main character, watches the moon mission unfold in 1969, knowing the whole time that her dad helped create the fabric that protects Neil Armstrong from the vacuum of space. It’s a great book for helping kids understand what we do when we go to work, whether we work at NASA, on a farm, or in a 36th floor cubicle above a city. And it’s perfect for STEM-loving dads and kids on the 50th anniversary oof the moon landing.
If you’re shopping for a Father’s Day picture book for a dad who loves Dr. Seuss, you might consider this fun compendium of all of Theodor Geisel’s father illustrations. I should say that I Love Pop! doesn’t try to recreate Dr. Seuss’s signature zany rhymes and rhythms, so you this one isn’t about the LOLs lik. But if Dad’s more in it for the artwork, and he already owns a copy of Hop on Pop, this could be a very sweet gift.
