A Sweet Story to Read for Father’s Day

May 13, 2026 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

Always Carry Me with You isn’t necessarily a Father’s Day book, and it’s not even necessarily about just fathers and kids (though the illustrations look like a man). It’s about how a parent’s love covers their children and how they wish that the kids could always feel it.

The book, written by Hervé Éparvier and illustrated by Fred Benaglia, is a brief but sweet book with an extended metaphor about a stone. It talks about that stones are beautiful and lead many lives, and “a stone doesn’t need anything to be happy. It just is and that’s all.”

But stones can be used to build great buildings and make art. Sometimes pretty ones are kept on special shelves, and they can be used to play games or start fires.

Stones can be as big as mountains or as small as a grain of sand.

Or they can be small enough to fit in a child’s pocket as a reminder of a parent’s love.

A pebble to keep you company, to comfort you on days when you feel afraid, and to remind you that you are not alone.

This is one of those books that can definitely lead to tears on the part of the reader under the right circumstances. It would be super sweet to read this book with your kiddo (for Father’s Day or any other time) and then give them a little rock they can carry with them or keep on their bedside table.

The illustrations are colorful and look like ink drawings with color added. Kids will enjoy looking at all the details and how the images evoke emotions. It’s a lovely book and a quick but meaningful read for any time of year.

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2024 by Ivy Kids Eco. Suggested retail price $19.99.

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Easy Pen and Paper Games for Road Trips and Beyond

When my daughter was younger I would spend a lot of time trying to come up with activities she could do in the car on long road trips and things to entertain her when we were waiting at restaurants and things that didn’t involve screens.

But it turns out there are a lot of great activities you can do with just a piece of paper and a pen.

What Do We Do All Day has a great collection of pen and paper games, including some that can be done with just one person, though they’re all more fun if you have at least two.

There are some classics on here like hangman and dots and boxes, but there are also quite a few I hadn’t heard of before.

I don’t want to spoil the whole list for you because you should definitely click over there and look around, but I will share about the one that you see pictured above.

This game is called Bridges, and you start by making the big random shape and the dividing it into a bunch of sections (the post says 30-50 sections is ideal but I think this one is smaller than that).

Each player gets their own color marker and you take turns drawing bridges from one space to another, crossing a third. Once there’s a bridge, no other bridges can start, end or cross in those spaces. Keep going until no more bridges can be built, and the person who makes the last bridge wins.

Check out the post over at What We Do All Day for more great ideas for no or almost-no prep games you can play with your kids or that kids can play together. I’d love to know if you have a favorite paper and pen game, whether it’s on this list or a different one.

[Photo: What We Do All Day]

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