Reading With Dad


This list of quality children's picture books featuring fathers was developed by the Minnesota Humanities Commission.
Call numbers for the Duluth Public Library appear in ( )

 

For Babies and Toddlers
Baby Dance
by Ann Taylor
A board book in which an African-American father croons to his baby daughter and dances while holding her.
( j )

Daddy is a Doodlebug by Bruce Degen
With inventive rhyme, a father and child bug savor the special joys of companionship. ( j )

Daddy Makes the Best Spaghetti by Anna Grossnickle Hines
A board book with a dad food shopping, making dinner, and generally being a househusband. ( j )

The Daddy Mountain by Jules Feiffer
A little girl's step-by-step account of climbing all the way up on top of her daddy's head. ( j )

Just Like Daddy by Frank Asch
A very young bear describes all the activities he does during the day that are just like his daddy's. ( j )

Kevin and His Dad by Irene Smalls-Hector
With Mom away on a Saturday, a father and son spend the whole day together first with household chores and then with some fun activities. ( j )

Lots of Dads by Shelley Rotner & Sheila M. Kelly
Bright, joyful photos and a simple text show how dads are different and special. ( j )

My Dad by Debbie Bailey
A board book with photos of a variety of dads and children in natural settings. ( j )

My Dad by Anthony Browne
A child exaggerates the many wonderful things about his dad. ( j )

Night Shift Daddy by Eileen Spinelli
A father who works the night shift has a special bond with his daughter. ( j )

The Night Worker by Kate Banks
A son accompanies his father for his night job at a construction site. ( j )

On a Wintry Morning by Dori Chaconas
A graceful poem of a father and a baby bundling up for an early morning outing. ( j )

Pete's A Pizza by William Steig
A dad brightens up a rainy day with a fun game of making his son into a pizza. ( j )

A Special Kind of Love by Stephen Michael King
A father builds wonderful things for his son out of boxes as his special way of saying "I love you." ( j )

Tom and Pippo Read a Story by Helen Oxenbury
A father reads to his son, and then the boy reads to his stuffed animal. ( j )

Two Homes by Claire Masurel
A young boy enjoys the homes of both his parents who live apart but love him very much. ( j )

What Dads Can't Do by Douglas Wood
A humorous account on how dads show love by explaining all the things they can not do. ( j )

 

 

For Ages 4 and Up
Animal Dads
by Sneed B. Collard III
Within the animal world, fathers have specific roles. (j591.56 Collard)

Carlos and the Cornfield / Carlos y la milpa de maiz by Jan Romero Stevens
In this English/Spanish bilingual story, a boy learns the meaning of his father's statement, "You reap what you sow." ( j Foreign Language)

Dad and Me in the Morning by Patricia Lakin
A young deaf boy spends a glorious morning sharing the beauty of a sunrise with his father. ( j )

Daddy Played Music for the Cows by Maryann Weidt
A daughter's memories of her father and growing up on the farm. ( j )

Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
A child with divorced parents whose father is gay and has a roommate. ( j )

Faraway Home by Jane Kurtz
A little girl in America worries as her father prepares for a trip to visit his ill mother in Ethiopia. ( j )

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting
A father and son are homeless and living at the airport. ( j Reading Rainbow)

How Many Stars in the Sky? by Lenny Hort
When a father and son can't sleep, they take a long drive to the country to count the stars. ( j Reading Rainbow)

Just the Two of Us by Will Smith
A popular song adds to the story of a father's love as his child grows from a boy into a man. ( j )

Loon Summer by Barbara Santucci
A girl and her father spend their first summer at the lake without the girl's mother. ( j )

My Father's Boat by Sherry Garland
A Vietnamese immigrant tells his son how he learned to fish from his father. ( j )

Night Driving by John Coy
A father and son drive into the night and watch for night animals, swap baseball stories, and keep a lookout for eighteen wheelers. ( j )

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
On a winter's night under a full moon, a father and daughter trek into the woods to go owling. ( j Reading Rainbow)

Papa's Latkes by Michelle Edwards
A father and his two daughters try to make latkes and celebrate on the first Hanukkah after the girls' mother died. ( j )

Reading with Dad by Richard Jorgensen
A father and daughter share the power and joy of reading together from youth to old age. ( j )

Sammy Wakes His Dad by Pat Brisson
A father, who is in a wheelchair, is reluctant to join his son in going fishing until his son's love finally moves him to action. ( j )

The Summer My Father Was Ten by Pat Brisson
A father tells his son the story of how he damaged a neighbor's tomato garden when he was a boy and what he did to make amends. ( j )

Tell Me One Thing, Dad by Tom Pow
A little girl and her dad have a going-to-bed routine that shows how much they love each other. ( j )

Tell Me What We Did Today by Rick Kupchella
A father and daughter share special time reviewing the real and made-up things that happened during their day. ( j )

Two Old Potatoes and Me by John Coy
After a girl finds two old potatoes at her father's house, they plant and tend them to see if they will grow new potatoes. ( j Reading Rainbow)

Visiting Day by Jacqueline Woodson
A young girl and her grandmother visit the girl's father in prison. ( j Reading Rainbow)

The Wall by Eve Bunting
A little boy and his father visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC to find the name of the boy's grandfather. ( j Reading Rainbow)

When Dad's at Sea by Mindy L. Pelton
A soldier's daughter worries about her dad on his mission far away from home. ( j )

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5/5/05
Duluth Public Library, 520 W. Superior St., Duluth, MN 55802