Best children's books for Father’s Day

If you're looking for celebrate Father's Day this year, you could also check out our guide to the best Father's Day gifts for new fathers and fathers-to-be.

Best children's books for Father's Day at a glance:

• Best for celebrating different kinds of dads: The Daddy Book, £5.99
• Best rhyming story: I Love My Daddy, £5.99
• Best for pop-out pictures: My Dad and Me, £17.06
• Best for LGBTQ+ representation: Daddy, Papa and Me, £5.68
• Best for colourful illustrations: I Love My Daddy, £3.69
• Best for celebrating Dad: Just Like Daddy, £4.52
• Best for introducing a new language: Papa And Me, £4.73
• Best funny read: My Dad, £4.99
• Best feel-good story: I Want My Daddy!, £10.65
• Best for Peppa fans: Peppa Pig: My Daddy, £3.99

Here's our pick of the best books for Father's Day...

1. The Daddy Book, £5.99

- Best for celebrating different kinds of dads

Age: 0 to 3

The Daddy Book is a celebration of all the different kinds of dads - and all the different ways they're special. It's simple, sweet, funny and culturally diverse - and the illustrations are just captivating.

This book is great colourful, vibrant and a perfect way to introduce children to the diverse cultures of the world. It comes as a board book which might suit little babies better.

Available from: Amazon and Waterstones

2. I Love My Daddy, £5.99

- Best rhyming story

Age: 0 to 3

This gentle, rhyming story about the special relationship between father and child is a perfectly sweet and heart-warming book. Daddy can cook, he can play silly games and, most importantly, he is always there when you need him.

I Love My Daddy is wonderful and colourful story that's sure to captivate and, should Daddy not be around, we do recommend I Love My Grandad which is a similarly sweet story. It also comes as a board book for £5.99.

Available from: Amazon and Waterstones

3. My Dad and Me, £17.06

- Best for pop-out pictures

Age: 4 to 6

This wonderful picture book comes with fold-out half pages that show fathers and children from different countries enjoying different seasonal activities, from playing on the beach in the summer to raking leaves in the autumn.

The pictures are lovely, the flaps are fun and the rhythmic text introduces 'dad' in all sorts of languages from Hebrew to Hindi.

Buy from: Amazon

4. Daddy, Papa and Me, £5.68

- Best for LGBTQ+ representation

Age: 1 to 3

Daddy, Papa, and Me is a wonderful book about a day with an active toddler - and how he tires out his two loving, playful dads.

It's a charming and subtle tale of life in an LGBTQ+ family, written as a normalising, respectful story with fun illustrations.

Buy from: Waterstones and Amazon

5. I Love My Daddy, £3.69

- Best for colourful illustrations

Age: 0 to 3

This whimsical board picture book with illustrations from Fhiona Galloway, tells us all the things that daddies do and why each one deserves his shiny star.

It has lovely chunky toddler-friendly pages, with really nice star cut outs to trace with your fingers. The rhyming text has a nice, bouncy rhythm, too.

Available from: Amazon and Waterstones

6. Just Like Daddy, £4.52

- Best for celebrating Dad

Age: 3 to 5

This picture book is all about a child who wants to be just like Daddy when they're grown-up.

The book goes through all the reasons why you might want to be like Daddy like the fact that dads are brave (they can deal with spiders) and they can open their eyes on rollercoasters (most of the time) and they can do silly voices when reading bedtime stories.

It's charming, beautifully illustrated and the perfect present for Father's Day.

Buy from: Amazon and Waterstones

7. Papá And Me, £4.73

- Best for introducing a new language

Age: 4 to 8

Papá and Me is a bilingual (Spanish/English) story about a father and son spending the day together. It is a beautifully illustrated story that's the perfect way to introduce your child to a new language.

There's not much 'plot' to this wonderful, warm tale but what's really special is the clever way that the author weaves so many Spanish expressions and their English equivalents into the text: even if you don't speak a word of Spanish, you'll easily be able to guess what's going on.

Buy from: Amazon

8. My Dad, £4.99

- Best funny read

Age: 1 to 4

My Dad is a warm and witty tribute to dads everywhere, with hilarious illustrations, based around a child boasting about how (impossibly) brilliant his dad is.

It's the classic dad tribute book ("He's all right, my dad"), and still as fresh and funny now as it was when it was published way back in 2003.

Available from: Amazon and Waterstones

9. I Want My Daddy, £10.65

- Best feel-good story

Age: 2 to 6

I Want My Daddy! is the story of a little mouse knight called Arthur, who's having a bad day: the castle he's trying to build is all wrong and he's bumped his leg. There is only one person who can make things right: Daddy, of course...

The book is such a warm, feel-good story ("Hugs together?" "Hugs forever!") and the illustrations are big and winningly cute.

Buy from: Amazon and Waterstones

10. Peppa Pig: My Daddy, £3.99

- Best for Peppa fans

Age: 2 to 4

My Daddy and Me is a simple board picture book, featuring Peppa Pig doing lots of activities with her dad including painting pictures and going to the playground.

Perfect for Peppa-loving toddlers (and Peppa-enduring dads), the book features bright colourful pictures, simple sentences – and lots of dad love.

Buy from: Amazon and Waterstones

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