So many baby and toddler books and toys seem mama-centric — from the “Nothing’s Okay until Mommy comes home!” genre of books (Are You My Mother?, etc.) to puzzles or toys depicting only mother animals with their babies. I would love to share a more balanced view with my little boys. My toddler loves the Daddy Kisses and Daddy Hugs books, and I have found a few good toys that show male animals with babies, but I would love more options!
Can anyone recommend some great books or toys that depict father and/or male caregivers giving love and support to their children? — Lolo
I just received the board book Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle and it’s all about how different fish fathers care for their eggs.
Being a Carle book, it’s short, sweet, and the illustrations are lovely and colorful!
I love the board book Everywhere Babies– it shows a wide variety of parents- dads, moms, gay parents, grandparents, etc.
I picked this up at the grocery store the other day, it is super cute. They have it in a mailable form that you can stick postage on and send it to a new or expecting parent.
LeapFrog Learning Town Happy Home Has a mom, dad and baby block. It’s one of the only plastic toys I’ve kept because it has all kinds of “daddy gives hugs” “daddy is cooking” sound bites.
I love everything by Leslie Patricelli – Faster! Faster! is a great book about a little girl & her dad.
Kisses for Daddy – Frances Watts and David Legge. Mostly because Momma bear is sitting in a comfy chair with a book and tea while Daddy does bedtime 🙂
Even though he is a monkey, I think the Curious George books qualify. My recent favorite is Papa and Me by Arthur Dorros, which is a bilingual book in English and Spanish. Also, My Father Knows the Names of Things by Jane Yolen is pretty awesome.
One of my favourite toddler and father books is Shopping With Dad by Miriam Latimer and Matt Harvey.
Todd Parr’s The Family Book is a good one, very bright with lots of different kinds of families/parents/caregivers.
They may be penguins, but And Tango Makes Three has not one but two dads! It’s a beautiful story and the illustrations are lovely.
This book is so sweet! I have this one for my son . I felt he needed to have a book that not only is about fathers but about two fathers just so that I reach him that not everyone had a mommy and daddy. Sometimes we have two mommy’s or in this case two daddy’s.
This book is so sweet! I have this one for my son . I felt he needed to have a book that not only is about fathers but about two fathers just so that I teach him that not everyone had a mommy and daddy. Sometimes we have two mommy’s or in this case two daddy’s.
Love Tango Makes Three. And Todd Parr’s The Family Book also does a great job at celebrating families and their differences including LGBTQ parents and adoptive parents.
I also highly recommend 10,000 Dresses about a young trangendered girl and her family – mom, dad, and brother. http://www.amazon.com/10-000-Dresses-Marcus-Ewert/dp/1583228500
The Daddy Book is great! “some daddies work close by (pic of a stay at home daddy) and some work far away (pic of an astronaut)” AWESOME!
Advice: seek out your local library! I find TONS of awesome daddy books there.
One of my favorite books to read to my son is called The Bedtime Train. It has insanely awesome illustrations and is all about this little British boy and his dad-so so good!!
We have Guess How Much I Love You- http://www.amazon.com/Guess-How-Much-Love-You/dp/1406319260
and Say Please Little Bear- http://www.amazon.com/Please-Little-Bear-Picture-Book/dp/1445448386
Both are sweet, and have a daddy as the parent. We even have a pop up toy on a stick that a neighbor got us from Goodwill that goes with the Guess How Much I Love You book, but I can’t find it online, as I have no idea what they would call it.
I second Guess How Much I Love You! It has a dad as the nurturing parent without making a big deal out of that.
Not sure if they’re available across the pond, but here in the UK we have a living legend called Michael Rosen.
His version of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is possibly the best children’s book in the whole universe. It’s the rhyme you know from camp, but with awesome pictures from Helen Oxenbury, featuring a family of kids, led by Dad. Get your hands on a copy any which way you can.
Also, if you can get it, his Sad Book, written after the death of his son, is incredibly powerful and moving, but still for kids.
Invest! Import if you have to!
James
“Why?”, by Lindsay Camp and Tony Ross, is a lovely story about a little girl who drives her Dad mad by constantly asking, “Why?” (but ends up saving the world from aliens).
There’s a Little Critters book called Just Me and My Dad.
“Daddy, Papa and Me” is by Lealéa Newman of “Heather Has Two Mommies” fame. I have the “Mommy, Mama and Me” version though.
“Something Good” by Robert Munsch is about two kids grocery shopping with their dad. Definitely one of my favourites.
A lot of Munsch books feature Dads.
Not the best example I’m sure, but Enoch the Emu is about a Daddy emu sitting on the nest after Mum leaves until the eggs hatch. It’s a bit hard on the Mum who’s off on a holiday, and shows Dad struggling a bit and initially being a doofus, but I love the ending with the Daddy in love with all his little chicks and Mum coming home to them all. It explains about male emu’s being the ones to sit on the nest and protect the eggs in real life too.
I say yes to asking a librarian! Also, if your kiddos are school-aged, teachers are excellent resources for books that match the content you want as well as your child’s reading level. As a teacher (no bias here as to our ability to recommend!), I guide my older students towards novels like “The Red Pyramid” (Rick Riordan) and even “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Strong fathers of young adults can be even harder to find!
This has been my five year old’s favorite since she was a toddler. It’s about a daddy and toddler panda and all the fun stuff they do together.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=daddy+loves+me
I’d skip over “Daddies do it Different” We heard it at a storytime at Barnes & Nobles recently and the gender typing kind of got under my skin.
Also, for you Star Wars geeks. this is too funny!
http://www.amazon.com/Darth-Vader-Star-Wars-Chronicle/dp/145210655X/ref=pd_sim_b_1
“Papa Please Get The Moon For Me” by Eric Carle was my favorite as a little girl. Most books that my dad frequently read with me, regardless of theme, have become favorites. I think it’s more to do with the memories than the books themselves.
I like Daddy Kisses because it shows how males in the animal kingdom express their love for their young.
I love Papa Do You Love Me? which is a sibling book to the more popular Mama Do You Love Me. I love it because the child is afraid and nervous and worried that they’ll mess up and Papa will stop loving you, and the answer is always that that will never happen.
I also love The Great Big Book of Families which talks about all different ways families can be, and includes two dads, step dads, single dads, stay at home dads, disabled dads…
Owl Moon is a cool book about a girl and her Dad that go owling (just to see them, not to do anything to them). It’s cosy and gentle.
I love all these ideas!