Five Books to Give Dad for Father’s Day

Because you know he doesn’t need another tie.

by Christopher Estes & Courtney Harrell

The Turner House, Angela Flournoy (Fiction)

The father in this 2015 National Book Award finalist is a kind of spectral presence.  His family must decide whether or not they’ll sell their home in Detroit as the eldest son, Cha-Cha, copes with the responsibility he feels to his younger brothers and sisters. The Turner House shows us how each generation influences the next long after we’re gone.

Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates (Nonfiction)

This powerful exploration of what it means to exist in a black body today, written from a father to his fifteen-year-old son, is both intimate and universal. Between the World and Me was heralded as “required reading” by Toni Morrison, and received the 2015 National Book Award for nonfiction.  

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant, Roz Chast (Nonfiction)

This 2014 National Book Award finalist shows a daughter coping with the reality of her aging father, who has dementia. Moving between the past and the present in four-color cartoons, the memoir lets you actually see the feelings that come with a child accepting a parental role for their parents–anxiety, anger, fear, sadness–all through Chast’s filter of humor.

Elegy for a Broken Machine, Patrick Phillips (Poetry)

This 2015 National Book Award finalist is a meditation from a son about the importance and vulnerability of fatherhood. His father’s illness and his growing son bring Phillips to reflect on the persistence of life, bringing together three generations in these stunning poems.

Challenger Deep, Neal Shusterman (YPL)

2015 National Book Award winner for Young People’s Literature, Challenger Deep, was inspired by the real-life story of author Neal Shusterman and his son, Brendan, who suffered from mental illness. The writing is bold and imaginative, so adults can enjoy it too.