The Best Children's Books of The Year: Holiday Gift Edition

Given by Children's Book Committee, Bank Street College Center for Children's Literature

142 Works 14,934 Books 800 Reviews 4.2

Notable titles that have captured the attention of Children's Book Committee members just in time for the holidays!

Categories:
Years:
All, 2023 (37), 2022 (39), 2021 (31), 2020 (35)
Announced:
November 2023: 2023 Recent
WorkCategoryYear
For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Ages 14 and Up2023
Picture-Perfect Boyfriend by Becky Dean
Ages 14 and Up2023
In the Tunnel by Julie Lee
Ages 14 and Up2023
Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day by Dan Nott
Ages 14 and Up2023
Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thien Pham
Ages 14 and Up2023
You: The Story: A Writer's Guide to Craft Through Memory by Ruta Sepetys
Ages 14 and Up2023
An Echo in the City by K. X. Song
Ages 14 and Up2023
One Last Shot: The Story of Wartime Photographer Gerda Taro by Kip Wilson
Ages 14 and Up2023
In the Night Garden by Carin Berger
Ages 5 and Under2023
Together We Swim by Valerie Bolling
Ages 5 and Under2023
Beneath by Cori Doerrfeld
Ages 5 and Under2023
Mine! by Candace Fleming
Ages 5 and Under2023
All the Beating Hearts by Julie Fogliano
Ages 5 and Under2023
Harriet Spies by Elana K. Arnold
Ages 6 to 92023
One Chicken Nugget by Tadgh Bentley
Ages 6 to 92023
Evergreen by Matthew Cordell
Ages 6 to 92023
The Penguin of Ilha Grande: From Animal Rescue to Extraordinary Friendship by Shannon Earle
Ages 6 to 92023
The Courage of the Little Hummingbird: A Tale Told Around the World by Leah Henderson
Ages 6 to 92023
In the Dark by Kate Hoefler
Ages 6 to 92023
See the Ghost: Three Stories About Things You Cannot See by David LaRochelle
Ages 6 to 92023
A Snow Day for Plum! by Matt Phelan
Ages 6 to 92023
Cargo by Adèle Tariel
Ages 6 to 92023
Rivka's Presents by Laurie Wallmark
Ages 6 to 92023
How Do You Spell Unfair? MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee by Carole Boston Weatherford
Ages 6 to 92023
The Book That No One Wanted to Read by Richard Ayoade
Ages 9 to 122023
The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow by Elaine Dimopoulos
Ages 9 to 122023
The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers
Ages 9 to 122023
Dear Yesteryear by Kimberly Annece Henderson
Ages 9 to 122023
Mr. Lincoln Sits for His Portrait: The Story of a Photograph That Became an American Icon by Leonard S. Marcus
Ages 9 to 122023
The Red Ear Blows Its Nose: Poems for Children and Others by Robert Schechter
Ages 9 to 122023
Big Tree by Brian Selznick
Ages 9 to 122023
Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport by Caren Stelson
Ages 9 to 122023
Marta! Big & Small by Jen Arena
Board Books2023
Reading Time!: A Tummy Time First Words Book for Babies by Mama Makes Books
Board Books2023
The Making of Butterflies by Zora Neale Hurston
Board Books2023
Peek-A-Boo Haiku: A Lift-the-Flap Book by Danna Smith
Board Books2023
Kind Crocodile by Leo Timmers
Board Books2023
The Complete Cookbook for Teen Chefs: 70 Teen-Tested and Teen-Approved Recipes to Cook, Eat and Share by America's Test Kitchen Kids
Ages 12 to 142022
The Race of the Century: The Battle to Break the Four-Minute Mile by Neal Bascomb
Ages 12 to 142022
The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks
Ages 12 to 142022
Hardcourt: Stories from 75 Years of the National Basketball Association by Fred Bowen
Ages 12 to 142022
Dream, Annie, Dream by Waka T. Brown
Ages 12 to 142022
J.R. Silver Writes Her World by Melissa Dassori
Ages 12 to 142022
Sardines by Sashi Kaufman
Ages 12 to 142022
The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda
Ages 12 to 142022
Omar Rising by Aisha Saeed
Ages 12 to 142022
Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf
Ages 14 and Up2022
Respect the Mic: Celebrating 20 Years of Poetry from a Chicagoland High School by Peter Kahn
Ages 14 and Up2022
Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer
Ages 14 and Up2022
This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke
Ages 14 and Up2022
Great or Nothing by Joy McCullough
Ages 14 and Up2022
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Ages 14 and Up2022
The Storyteller by Kathryn Williams
Ages 14 and Up2022
I Am Golden by Eva Chen
Ages 5 and Under2022
Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle by Nina LaCour
Ages 5 and Under2022
A Grandma's Magic by Charlotte Offsay
Ages 5 and Under2022
How to Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to Outside by Kari Percival
Ages 5 and Under2022
Don't Worry, Murray by David Ezra Stein
Ages 5 and Under2022
The Mouse Who Carried a House on His Back by Jonathan Stutzman
Ages 5 and Under2022
Poo-Dunit?: A Forest Floor Mystery by Katelyn Aronson
Ages 6 to 92022
How to Bake a Universe by Alec Carvlin
Ages 6 to 92022
My Beautiful Voice by Joseph Coelho
Ages 6 to 92022
Jack Knight's Brave Flight: How One Gutsy Pilot Saved the US Air Mail Service by Jill Esbaum
Ages 6 to 92022
Nana, Nenek & Nina by Liza Ferneyhough
Ages 6 to 92022
Celia Planted a Garden: The Story of Celia Thaxter and Her Island Garden by Phyllis Root
Ages 6 to 92022
The World Belonged to Us by Jacqueline Woodson
Ages 6 to 92022
Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book by Tonya Bolden
Ages 9 to 122022
Falling Short by Ernesto Cisneros
Ages 9 to 122022
The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton
Ages 9 to 122022
Bandoola: The Great Elephant Rescue by William Grill
Ages 9 to 122022
H Is for Harlem by Dinah Johnson
Ages 9 to 122022
Cress Watercress by Gregory Maguire
Ages 9 to 122022
Bumblebee Grumblebee by David Elliot
Board Books2022
Brown Sugar Baby Board Book - Beautiful Story for Mothers and Newborns, Ages 0-3 by Kevin Lewis
Board Books2022
I'm Still Up! by Antoinette Portis
Board Books2022
One Big Day by Anne Wynter
Board Books2022
Big Brain Book: How It Works and All Its Quirks by Leanne Boucher Gill PhD
Ages 12 to 142021
Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes
Ages 12 to 142021
The Republic of Birds by Jessica Miller
Ages 12 to 142021
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Ages 12 to 142021
How Do You Live? by Genzaburō Yoshino
Ages 12 to 142021
One Great Lie by Deb Caletti
Ages 14 and Up2021
Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton
Ages 14 and Up2021
In the Same Boat by Holly Green
Ages 14 and Up2021
A Pho Love Story by Loan Le
Ages 14 and Up2021
Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood by Gary Paulsen
Ages 14 and Up2021
All Kinds of Other by James Sie
Ages 14 and Up2021
Woodland Dance! by Sandra Boynton
Ages 5 and Under2021
Yes & No by Elisha Cooper
Ages 5 and Under2021
Bubbles . . . Up! by Jacqueline Davies
Ages 5 and Under2021
Off to See the Sea by Nikki Grimes
Ages 5 and Under2021
Daddy (Leslie Patricelli board books) by Leslie Patricelli
Ages 5 and Under2021
Mommy (Leslie Patricelli board books) by Leslie Patricelli
Ages 5 and Under2021
Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña
Ages 6 to 92021
A day for rememberin' : the first Memorial Day by Leah Henderson
Ages 6 to 92021
Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho
Ages 6 to 92021
The Last Straw: Kids vs. Plastics by Susan Hood
Ages 6 to 92021
Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey (Maybe Marisol, 1) by Erin Entrada Kelly
Ages 6 to 92021
The Boy Whose Head Was Filled with Stars: A Story about Edwin Hubble by Isabelle Marinov
Ages 6 to 92021
Someone Builds the Dream by Lisa Wheeler
Ages 6 to 92021
Once Upon a Camel by Kathi Appelt
Ages 9 to 122021
Being Clem (The Finding Langston Trilogy) by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Ages 9 to 122021
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
Ages 9 to 122021
Merci Suárez Can't Dance by Meg Medina
Ages 9 to 122021
Planet Ocean: Why We All Need a Healthy Ocean by Patricia Newman
Ages 9 to 122021
The One Thing You'd Save by Linda Sue Park
Ages 9 to 122021
Butterfly for a King: Saving Hawaiis Kamehameha Butterflies by Susan L. Roth
Ages 9 to 122021
No Matter the Distance by Cindy Baldwin
Ages 12 to 142020
The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman
Ages 12 to 142020
Indigo and Ida by Heather Murphy Capps
Ages 12 to 142020
A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi
Ages 12 to 142020
Brother's Keeper by Julie Lee
Ages 12 to 142020
The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine by Katherine Marsh
Ages 12 to 142020
A Sky Full of Song by Susan Lynn Meyer
Ages 12 to 142020
The Big Backyard: The Solar System beyond Pluto by Ron Miller
Ages 12 to 142020
Miles Morales Suspended: A Spider-Man Novel by Jason Reynolds
Ages 12 to 142020
A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat
Ages 12 to 142020
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Ages 12 to 142020
The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead
Ages 12 to 142020
They Went Left by Monica Hesse
Ages 14 and Up2020
Above All Else by Dana Alison Levy
Ages 14 and Up2020
The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess
Ages 14 and Up2020
Parachutes by Kelly Yang
Ages 14 and Up2020
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi
Ages 14 and Up2020
It Is a Tree by Susan Batori
Ages 5 and Under2020
Smart George by Jules Feiffer
Ages 5 and Under2020
Bedtime for Sweet Creatures by Nikki Grimes
Ages 5 and Under2020
Cave Dada: (Daddy and Baby Book, Dada Book, Gifts for New Dad) by Brandon Reese
Ages 5 and Under2020
Some Dinosaurs Are Small by Charlotte Voake
Ages 5 and Under2020
If You Take Away the Otter by Susannah Buhrman-Deever
Ages 6 to 92020
All Because You Matter by Tami Charles
Ages 6 to 92020
Hello, Neighbor!: The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers by Matthew Cordell
Ages 6 to 92020
Fly High, John Glenn: The Story of an American Hero by Kathleen Krull
Ages 6 to 92020
This Way, Charlie by Caron Levis
Ages 6 to 92020
Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away by Meg Medina
Ages 6 to 92020
Once Upon an Eid: Stories of Hope and Joy by 15 Muslim Voices by S. K. Ali
Ages 9 to 122020
Amphibian Acrobats by Leslie Bulion
Ages 9 to 122020
One Time by Sharon Creech
Ages 9 to 122020
Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Ages 9 to 122020
Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life by Jerry Pinkney
Ages 9 to 122020
BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford
Ages 9 to 122020
Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
Ages 9 to 122020

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