20 Canadian books that represent fatherhood for Father's Day 2024

Being a father can be both a challenging and rewarding part of life, shaped by their own experiences and parents.

This Father's Day (June 16), check out 20 Canadian books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and more that share the stories of fathers and father-like figures.

My Fighting Family by Morgan Campbell

My Fighting Family is a detailed history of one family's battles across the generations and reckons with what it means being a Black Canadian with strong American roots. Sports journalist and writer Morgan Campbell traces his family's roots in the rural American south to their eventual cross-border split and the grudges and squabbles along the way.

From the South Side of Chicago in the 1930s to the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War and Campbell's life dealing with the racial tensions in Canada My Fighting Family is about journeying to find clarity in conflict.

• Morgan Campbell reflects on his family legacy in his memoir My Fighting Family read an excerpt now

Campbell is an Ontario-based journalist and a senior contributor at CBC Sports. He was a journalist at the Toronto Star for over 18 years. His work highlights where sports intersect with off-the-field issues like race, culture, politics and business. His memoir My Fighting Family is his first book.

And Then There Was Us by Kern Carter

After spending four years in the safety of her father's home, 18-year-old Coi is not equipped to handle the sudden death of her abusive mother. And Then There Was Us is a coming of age story about the challenges of losing a parent as a teenager after already having survived so much pain.

When Coi begins having lucid dreams about her mother and reconnecting with her side of the family, she is confronted by her loss and the complicated feelings it brings.

• Kern Carter writes about the struggles of losing a parent in latest YA novel

Carter is a Toronto author and freelance writer. His other books include the novella Thoughts of a Fractured Soul, the novel Beauty Scars and the YA novel Boys and Girls Screaming. He was named one of CBC Books' writers to watch in 2023.

Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas

Swim Team follows middle schooler Bree as she navigates swim class. Bree is excited for her first day at her new middle school until she's stuck with the only elective class that fits her schedule, Swim 101. Swimming makes Bree sick to her stomach, but she's forced to dive headfirst into her fear.

With the help of Etta, her elderly neighbour and former swim team captain, Bree becomes good at swimming. Her swimming obsessed community is counting on her to guide her school's failing swim to a state championship, but first, they have to defy all odds and beat their rival, Holyoke Prep.

Swim Team is for ages 8 to 12.

• Johnnie Christmas's graphic novel Swim Team is buoyed by themes of community, perseverance and overcoming fear

Johnnie Christmas lives in Vancouver and is a #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novelist. He's the author of the sci-fi series Tartarus and Crema, the book Firebug and is working on three middle-grade graphic novels. He's best known for creating the Angel Catbird series with Margaret Atwood and adapting the lost Alien 3 screenplay into a graphic novel of the same name.

Trust the Bluer Skies by paulo da costa

Capturing the early moments of his son's life in rural Portugal meeting his own father, Trust the Bluer Skiesis a personal memoir of writer and editor paulo da costa. During a trip to his childhood home, da costa shares the perspectives of three generations of fathers and sons in his family from that of his four-year-old son to his aging grandparents.

da costa is a writer, translator and editor raised in Portugal and currently based in B.C. His other books include The Midwife of Torment & Other Stories and The Green and Purple Skin of the World.

Daughter by Claudia Dey

Daughter explores the regenerative power of art, and how making art is making selfhood, when Mona Dean strives to make a life and art of her own. The story is about a playwright, actress and titular daughter named Mona Dean, who is caught in her charismatic father's web a man famous for one great novel, and whose needs and insecurities have a hold on the women in the family.

• Claudia Dey's new novel Daughter explores despair and father-daughter relationships

Claudia Dey is a Toronto author, playwright and actor. She is the author of the novels Stunt and Heartbreaker. Heartbreaker was a finalist for the 2019 Trillium Book Award.She is also the co-designer of women's clothing brand Horses Atelier.

LISTEN | Claudia Dey on the relationship between fathers and daughters:

The Next Chapter14:20The power of being a girl dad, Claudia Dey Examines the father daughter relationship in her novel Daughter

Award-winning Toronto author Claudia Dey talks with Ryan B. Patrick about her novel Daughter, which explores the tumultuous relationship between Mona Dean, an actress and playwright, and her unreliable writer father.

Bompa's Insect Expedition by David Suzuki, with Tanya Lloyd Kyi, illustrated by Qin Leng

Bompa's Insect Expedition follows a pair of twins as they go on an insect expedition with their grandfather. Inspired by David Suzuki's adventures with his grandchildren, the picture book showcases a part of nature that can sometimes be overlooked the world of bugs.

Bompa's Insect Expedition is for ages 4 to 8.

• David Suzuki has a new picture book inspired by adventures with his grandkids

David Suzuki is an environmentalist, scientist and science broadcaster. He was the host of CBC's The Nature of Things from 1979, until retiring from the show in spring 2023. The Vancouver-based environmentalist is a father of five and grandfather of 10, including twins Nakina and Kaoru. He is also an author of over 50 books, including Letters to my Grandchildren and The Sacred Balance.

Tanya Lloyd Kyi has written more than 30 books for children and teenagers, including The Best Way to Get Your Way, This Is Your Brain on Stereotypes, Under Pressure and Mya's Strategy to Save the World. Kyi lives in Vancouver.

Qin Leng is a Toronto illustrator, writer and visual development artist. Her recent books include I Am Small, which Leng wrote and illustrated, and she has illustrated numerous books including A Kid is a Kid is a Kid and A Family is a Family is a Family by Sara O'Leary.

Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton

Instructions for the Drowning is a short story collection that explores themes of love and fear, delusion and idealism and the ironic ways we come up short despite trying our very best.

In one, a man remembers his father's instructions for how to save someone who is drowning but then finds himself conflicted when the moment arrives to act. In another, a man fixated by stories of freak accidents ends up bearing the brunt of one himself.

• The key to Steven Heighton's success as a Canadian poet and author is staying humble and true to the art

Steven Heighton was an Ontario novelist, short story writer and poet. He received the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry for The Waking Comes Late. His recent books include Reaching Mithymna: Among the Volunteers and Refugees on Lesvos, a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, and Selected Poems 1983-2020. In 2021, Heighton released his first album, The Devil's Share. Heighton died in April 2022.

Malaika, Carnival Queen by Nadia L. Hohn, illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

In Malaika, Carnival Queen, Malaika visits the farm where her father had worked as a migrant worker when he came to Canada. The farm workers tell Malaika that her father had always dreamed of celebrating carnival at the orchard, just like back home. Will Malaika agree to be their Carnival Queen for the harvest festival?

Malaika, Carnival Queen is for ages 3 to 6.

• 20 Canadian books for kids and young adults to check out during Black History Month

Nadia L. Hohn is a Toronto-based award-winning writer and educator. She is the author of numerous picture books, including Malaika's Costume, Malaika's Winter Carnival, Malaika's Surprise and Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter, illustrated by Gustavo Mazali.

Irene Luxbacher is a writer and artist from Toronto. She has illustrated numerous picture books, includingMalaika's Surprise and Malaika's Costume by Nadia L. Hohn, Treasure by Mireille Messier and Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling.

LISTEN | Canadian Children's Book Centre's Carol Ann Hoyte recommends titles for young readers:

The Next Chapter12:16Delightful reads for young adults thatll carry you through to fall

Carol Ann Hoyte, from the Canadian Childrens Book Centre, recommends four titles for young readers: Brighter than the Sun by Daniel Aleman, Bliss Adair and the First Rule of Knitting by Jean Mills, The Anti-Racist Kitchen: 21 Stories edited by Nadia L. Hohn, and The House of Ash and Bone by Joel A.Sutherland.

My Cat Looks Like My Dad by Thao Lam

A narrator, whose surprising identity is revealed at the end of the picture book, My Cat Looks Like My Dad describes the ways in which their cat and dad are similar: they both have orange hair, love to nap and are occasionally brave.

• 32 Canadian books for children to check out in spring 2024

Thao Lam is a Vietnamese Canadian writer and illustrator currently based in Toronto. She is also the author of the picture book Wallpaper.

Black Boys Like Me by Matthew R. Morris

Black Boys Like Me is Matthew R. Morris' debut collection of eight essays that examines his experiences with race and identity throughout his childhood into his current work as an educator.

The child of a Black immigrant father and a white mother, Morris was influenced by the prominent Black male figures he saw in sports, TV shows and music as he was growing up in Scarborough, Ont. While striving for academic success, he confronted Black stereotypes and explored hip hop culture in the 1990s.

• Matthew R. Morris writes about growing up Black and navigating race and identity in book Black Boys Like Me

Morris is a writer, advocate and educator based in Toronto. As a public speaker, he has travelled across North America to educate on anti-racism in the education system. Morris was recently announced as one of the readers for the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize.

WATCH | What Morris brings to his classroom:

Teacher pens bestseller on how schools treat Black boys like him

8 months ago

Duration 5:10

Matthew R. Morris turned his experiences as a Black student and a teacher into a bestselling memoir called Black Boys Like Me. He talks to CBCs Deana Sumanac-Johnson about navigating the education system from both sides of the classroom.

A History of Burning by Janika Oza

A History of Burning is an epic novel about how one act of rebellion can influence a family for generations. It's 1898 and a 13-year-old boy in India named Pirbhai needs to make money to support his family and ends up inadvertently being sent across the ocean to be a labourer for the British.

He has a choice to make, and what he does will change the course of his life, and his family's fate, for years to come. The story takes readers to Uganda, India, England and Canada in the wake of Pirbhai's choice as the novel explores the impacts of colonialism, resistance, exile and the power of family.

A History of Burning was shortlisted for the 2023 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction.

• Janika Oza's A History of Burning is a multigenerational saga exploring the impacts of colonialism and exile

Janika Oza is a writer, educator and graduate student based in Toronto. She won the 2019 Malahat Review Open Season Award in fiction for her short story Exile, the 2020 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Award and the 2022 O. Henry Award. Oza made the 2019 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for her story The Gift of Choice, which is a chapter in A History of Burning.

LISTEN | Janika Oza discusses A History of Burning:

The Next Chapter21:26Janika Ozas buzzworthy debut novel is an intergenerational family saga that explores colonialism and exile

Ryan B. Patrick interviews Janika Oza about her debut novel, A History of Burning.

Half-Wild and Other Stories of Encounter by Emily Paskevics

The short stories in Half-Wild and Other Stories of Encounter use the wilderness as a backdrop to focus on the connection between humans and the natural world, and the intergenerational relationships within families.

From a father searching for his wife and child wondering if they're better off without him, to an old woman standing on a frozen lake contemplating her death this collection asks what it means to be a human in nature.

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Emily Paskevics is a writer and editor currently based in Montreal. She is the author of the chapbook The Night That Was Animal. Her poetry, essays and short fiction have appeared in numerous publications and she waslonglisted for the 2019 CBC Short Story Prize. In 2022, Paskevics was named one of six emerging writers shortlisted for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Awards in the short fiction category.

Dad Up! by Steve Patterson

Dad Up!: Long-time Comedian. First-time Father is a humorous look at fatherhoodand what it means to be a dad in the modern age. Patterson uses anecdotes to recall growing up as the youngest of five boys in an Irish Catholic household, the lessons his father imparted to him and the difficulty he and his wife, Nancy, had conceiving their own children.

• Steve Patterson's Dad Up! defines what it means to be the 'best father ever'

Steve Patterson is a writer, actor, comedian and host of CBC Radio's comedy show The Debaters.He has taped numerous nationally televised comedy specials, toured his one-man showacross the country and released a comedy album. He is also the author of the humorous essay collectionTheBook of Letters I Didn't Know Where to Send.

Beautiful Beautiful by Brandon Reid

Beautiful Beautiful is a debut coming-of-age novel that tells the story of 12-year-old Derik Mormin who's travellingwith his father to Bella Bella, B.C., for his grandfather's funeral. The book explores the beauty of rural and urban landscapes, his relationship with masculinity and the task of reconciling an Indigenous and Western way of life.

• Canadian authors Kim Fu and Brandon Reid shortlisted for 2024 William Saroyan International Prize

Brandon Reidisa writer whose work has been published in the Barely South Review, the Richmond Review and The Province. He is a member of Heiltsuk First Nation, with a mix of Indigenous and English ancestry. He lives in Richmond, B.C. Beautiful Beautiful is his first book and is also a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.

Never Better by Gonzalo Riedel

The memoir Never Better chronicles Riedel's life from meeting the woman who would become his wife, to her getting sick and then as a widower with two young children. It tackles difficult subjects like how to keep his wife's memory alive for his two boys when their mother died before their second son even turned one.

• Meet the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize readers

Gonzalo Riedel is a Winnipeg-based writer and editor. Never Better is his debut book. Riedel was recently announced as one of the readers for the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize.

LISTEN | Gonzalo Riedel chats with Nadia Kidwai about grief and parenthood:

The Weekend Morning Show (Manitoba)20:23On grief and humour: Single dad shares his story of parenting after loss

A local writer faces his grief head-on with a new memoir, "Never Better: Two Kids, Their Dad, and His Wife's Ghost." Weekend Morning Show host, Nadia Kidwai, speaks with Gonzalo Riedel about single-parenting two young infants while dealing with the death of his wife.

The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson

The Theory of Crows is a novel about a disconnected and distant relationship between a man named Matthew and his teenage daughter Holly. Following a tragic event, Matthew and Holly head out onto the land in search of a long-lost cabin on the family trapline, miles from the Cree community they once called home.

When things go wrong during the journey, the father and daughter must rely on each other. The challenges they face eventually heal them in ways they never thought possible.

• David A. Robertson's new novel The Theory of Crows is a dramatic tale of hurt & healing

David A. Robertson is an author and graphic novelist of Swampy Cree heritage. Based in Winnipeg, he has published several books across a variety of genres, including picture books On the Trapline and When We Were Alone, the graphic novel Breakdown, and his memoir Black Water. Robertson was the winner of the 2021 Freedom to Read Award.

LISTEN | David A. Robertson answers The Next Chapter's Proust questionnaire:

The Next Chapter6:51David A. Robertson cant stop buying comic books

The two-time Governor General's Literary Award winner answers The Next Chapters version of the Proust Questionnaire, and dishes on his comic book collection and why Winnipeg is an underappreciated city.

Forgiveness by Mark Sakamoto

Mark Sakamoto's memoir Forgiveness tells the story of how his grandparents survived two very different experiences of the war. His paternal grandmother was one of many Japanese Canadians forced into internment camps during the Second World War, while his maternal grandfather was a prisoner of war in Japan.

These stories of survival and reconciliation shaped him as a Canadian, a man and a father.

Forgiveness won Canada Reads 2018, when it was defended by Jeanne Beker.

• How Mark Sakamoto's grandparents taught him the true meaning of forgiveness

Mark Sakamoto is a trained lawyer, entrepreneur and writer. He began by promoting live music, touring with several international acts. Mark has since worked at a national broadcaster and served as a senior political advisor in Ottawa. He is now the executive vice president of Think Research. He is currently based in Toronto.

Night of the Living Zed by Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester

Night of the Living Zed is the middle-grade sequel to The Fabulous Zed Watson!. The smart and sleuthing best friend duo, Zed and Gabe are back and on the hunt to crack another cryptic case.

The Glydebourne Manor was once home to a great opera designer and is hosting a ghoulish challenge solve the puzzles in each room before midnight over three days. Can Zed and Gabe conquer their fears and win the prize money for their friends' wedding?

Night of the Living Zed is for ages 8 to 12.

• Basil Sylvester is judging the First Page student writing challenge and wants you to get creative!

Basil Sylvester is a non-binary writer based in Toronto. Their father, Kevin Sylvester, is a broadcaster and the award-winning illustrator and writer of middle-grade books such as the Neil Flamb Capers series and the MiNRS space adventure series.

The Sun Never Hurries by Roxane Turcotte, illustrated by Lucie Crovatto

The Sun Never Hurries tells the tale of Papa Jo and his granddaughter Charlie learning the value of patience and appreciating the small details of life. Charlie doesn't understand why her grandfather uses an hourglass to mark time and so he takes her on a calming walk through nature, taking note of all the wondrous things around them.

The Sun Never Hurries is for ages 3 to 7.

Roxane Turcotte is a Canadian author of over 40 children's books in French. She was born and resides in Montreal.

Lucie Crovatto is a French children's book illustrator based in Quebec.

shima by Sh Yamagushiku

shima is a poetry collection that questions both the past and future of a community exiled, anchored in the relationship of a father and son. It shows the fragility of memory with a voice at once yearning and precise.

• 37 poetry collections to watch for in spring 2024

Sh Yamagushiku is a writer and researcher living in Victoria. shima is his debut poetry collection.