Father’s Day is a great time to celebrate our dads. It’s also a good reminder that dads mean something different to each of us. Recently, I listened to a friend open up about their dad and what it’s been like since his passing. They regaled me with tales of childhood camping trips in an old bus and dancing in the living room to Motown, and with each story I could feel the deep admiration they have for their dad, even after he’s gone. Our experiences with our fathers are life-shaping and, at times, defining. A day like Father’s Day may be spent making memories for some, and for others, it can be about reliving them. However you choose to spend the day, there’s a book out there to help you celebrate or remember your unique experience together.

Read with your dad, give him a recommendation or remember the time you spent together with the help of these books in the Libby app that are all about fatherhood.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

When Mukesh Patel pops to the local library, forgoing his routine of grocery shopping and David Attenborough documentaries, he has no idea his life's about to change. He meets Aleisha, a reluctant librarian and the keeper of a curious reading list—just a scrappy piece of paper with the names of 9 stories. It doesn't seem anything special. Yet something tells her to keep it close. Story by story, Mukesh and Aleisha work their way through the list—their worries slipping away with every encounter, with every world discovered in their unlikely book club of two. A fresh chance at life, at friendship, wasn't on the cards for these lonely souls—but every story starts somewhere.

Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry

Zuri's hair has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils and curls every which way. Zuri knows it's beautiful. When Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn. But he loves his Zuri, and he'll do anything to make her—and her hair—happy.

Don’t Cry For Me by Daniel Black

As Jacob lies dying, he begins to write a letter to his only son, Isaac. They have not met or spoken in many years, and there are things that Isaac must know. Secrets from Jacob's tumultuous relationship with Isaac's mother and the shame he carries from the dissolution of their family. Tragedies that informed Jacob's role as a father and his reaction to Isaac's being gay. He must give voice to the trauma that Isaac has inherited. And he must create a space for the two to find peace. With piercing insight and profound empathy, acclaimed author Daniel Black illuminates the lived experiences of Black fathers and queer sons, offering an authentic and ultimately hopeful portrait of reckoning and reconciliation.

Our Subway Baby by Peter Mercurio

So begins the true story of Kevin and how he found his Daddy Danny and Papa Pete. Written in a direct address to his son, Pete's moving and emotional text tells how his partner, Danny, found a baby tucked away in the corner of a subway station on his way home from work one day. Pete and Danny ended up adopting the baby together. Although neither of them had prepared for the prospect of parenthood, they are reminded, "Where there is love, anything is possible."

Above Ground by Clint Smith

Clint Smith’s vibrant and compelling collection traverses the vast emotional terrain of fatherhood, and explores how becoming a parent has recalibrated his sense of the world. There are poems that interrogate the ways our lives are shaped by both personal lineages and historical institutions. There are poems that revel in the wonder of discovering the world anew through the eyes of your children, as they discover it for the first time. There are poems that meditate on what it means to raise a family in a world filled with constant social and political tumult. Smith’s lyrical, narrative poems bring the reader on a journey not only through the early years of his children’s lives, but through the changing world in which they are growing up—through the changing world of which we are all a part.

A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney

In 2016, Rob Delaney's one-year-old son, Henry, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The family had moved from Los Angeles to London with their two young boys when Rob's wife was pregnant with Henry, their third. The move was an adventure and a challenge that would bind them even more tightly together as they navigated the novelty of London, the culture clashes and the funhouse experience of Rob's fame—thanks to his role as co-creator and co-star of the hit series Catastrophe. Henry's illness was a cataclysm that changed everything about their lives. Amid the hospital routine, surgeries and brutal treatments, they found a community of nurses, aides, caregivers and fellow parents contending with the unthinkable. Two years later, Henry died, and his family watched their world fall away to reveal the things that matter most.

Walking With Sam by Andrew McCarthy

When Andrew McCarthy's eldest son began to take his first steps into adulthood, McCarthy found himself wishing time would slow down. Looking to create a more meaningful connection with Sam before he fled the nest, as well as recreate his own life-altering journey decades before, McCarthy decided the two of them should set out on a trek like few others: 500 miles across Spain's Camino de Santiago. Over the course of the journey, the pair traversed an unforgiving landscape, having more honest conversations in five weeks than they'd had in the preceding two decades. Discussions of divorce, the trauma of school, McCarthy's difficult relationship with his own father, fame and Flaming Hot Cheetos threatened to either derail their relationship or cement it.

Why Fathers Cry at Night by Kwame Alexander

In an intimate and non-traditional (or "new-fashioned") memoir, Kwame Alexander shares snapshots of a man learning how to love. He takes us through stories of his parents: from being awkward newlyweds in the sticky Chicago summer of 1967, to the sometimes-confusing ways they showed their love to each other, and for him. He explores his own relationships—his difficulties as a newly wedded, 22-year-old father, and the precariousness of his early marriage working in a jazz club with his second wife. Alexander attempts to deal with the unravelling of his marriage and the grief of his mother's recent passing while sharing the solace he found in learning how to perfect her famous fried chicken dish. With an open heart, Alexander weaves together memories of his past to try and understand his greatest love: his daughters.

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone's hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he's as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ's house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ's mom explains it's because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that—but it doesn't make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name. As ZJ contemplates his new reality, he has to figure out how to hold on tight to family traditions and recollections of the glory days, all the while wondering what their past amounts to if his father can't remember it. And most importantly, can those happy feelings ever be reclaimed when they are all so busy aching for the past?

Borrow these books and more on the Libby app, which is always free from your library (Dad would love that).

*Title availability may vary by region.