With Father's Day just around the corner, why not give him something more interesting than slippers and socks? You can find a great selection of children's books below...all perfect to read with dads, step-dads, grandads and other father figures who fill the role.

Picture Books to share with Dad

Papa Penguin by Lindsay Camp & Momoko Abe is a lovely story of superhero dads! Sam is waiting for his dad  to come home for their nightly storytelling session – his dad makes up brilliant stories. Tonight dad tells him a very different story, the true story of Papa Penguin who waits in the freezing cold, guarding his egg, hardly moving for weeks and weeks until at last the egg hatches and he sees his chick. There's no better way to demonstrate a father’s unconditional, superhero love for his child.    

Daddy, Don't Let Go by Jeanne Willis & Tony Ross is a joyful celebration of the importance of letting go that will strike a chord for parents and children alike; a new edition of a charming tale from this brilliant picture book team. Daddy is teaching his little girl to ride her bike...she wobbles and worries but with daddy's patient reassurance all of a sudden she is speeding down the path. Daddy sees his daughter growing up fast, and he wonders whether he's really ready to let her go...  

In Amazing Dad all sorts of dads are joyously celebrated  in this lively, inclusive picture book. 

There are busy dads, whizzy dads (in a wheelchair), caring dads and sharing dads. Which is the perfect dad though? That’s easy – it’s the one who belongs to you!  

Alison Brown is a very talented picture book creator penning fun rhyming text with gorgeous illustrations, with the dads – animals all – very recognisable.

A lovely book to share with your amazing dad on Father's Day.   

Poems about super Dads

We Are a Family - Six Kids and a Super-Dad is Oliver Sykes debut poetry collection for children, and has just been shortlisted for the CLPE Poetry Awards. In a first and deeply personal collection, Oliver Sykes presents poems about growing up poor in a busy, loving single parent family, delivered with sustained energy and insight, and clear joy in rhyme. Authentic and convincing, this gives voice to children not heard enough, say the judges. 

Using a wide variety of forms, Justin Coe parades 50 or more different fathers in front of his readers in poems that will make them laugh, smile, think or just nod in recognition. Not all of these dads in The Dictionary of Dads are lovable, but there’s no doubt that they all feel real, and this is a collection that is well worth reading - and sharing - on Father's Day.

Grandads need books too!

In Grandad's are the Greatest, all kinds of grandads are celebrated! Ones that bake cakes, ones that build things, ones that cut hair, even a fisherman grandad who ‘tells salty tales of sea monsters and mermaids, megalodons and whales’. the text is in rhyme and a treat to read aloud, while there’s so much going on in the pictures that it will be rewarding to read over and over. A really lovely book for grandparents and littles ones to share.

And if you're looking for a gift from older children, then head over to LoveReading for 100 Books for Every Dad this Father's Day - a collection of brilliant fiction & non-fiction we think your dads will love.  

Father's Day is on Sunday 21 June 2026

Here are a few more picture book titles, perfect for a Father's Day gift.

With thanks to Pete Oswald for this beautiful feature illustration, from Hike.