It’s the end of another publishing year and the best lists are snowing upon us! What we love about the plethora of these lists from children’s literature experts, review publications, and national press resources is how so many perspectives pop into focus: diverse list makers see “best” in so many different—and complementary—ways. Some of the titles here appear on multiple lists and it’s noteworthy that most of those that do also come from relatively small and/or young publishing houses.
Best lists continue to drift in even as we move this article to publication so we will be returning to edit in more lists and more titles you’ll want to add to your own must-read lists. Check back through the beginning of the new year to find even more praiseworthy reads—and listens—for newborns through teens.
Professional Review Sources
The publications in this section provide critical reviews year around written by librarians, journalists, and allied professionals with deep knowledge of children’s books for leisure reading, learning, and group programming potential. These review sources are used by collection developers in libraries and bookstores to locate well reviewed titles for readers, as well as by people who are always on the alert for good next reads.
“A glorious look at the potential benefits and vulnerabilities of a new possibility,” says Kirkus Reviews of GIANT ON THE SHORE, from Transit Children’s Editions, on its Best Picture Books of 2024 list. MARLEY’S PRIDE, from Barefoot Books, is “Joyfully affirming,” says Kirkus Reviews on its list of Best Picture Books of 2024 That Celebrate Community list.
School Library Journal’s Best Books list of Best Manga 2024 includes THE GUY SHE WAS INTERESTED IN WASN’T A GUY AT ALL, volume 1, and VILLAINS ARE DESTINED TO DIE, volume 6, both from Yen Press. That journal’s Best Graphic Novels 2024 lists NAVIGATING WITH YOU, from Mad Cave Studios/Maverick. Its list of Best Nonfiction Middle to High School 2024 provides praise for THE OBSERVOLOGIST, from Gecko Press, saying it “will energize readers to find the extraordinary in the ordinary right in front of them.” TRIGGER, from Little Island Press, appears on its Best Young Adult Books 2024 list as a “novel in verse that deals with the line between justice and revenge.” Best Picture Books 2024, from that source, includes SUNDAY, from Blue Dot Kids, calling it “truly mesmerizing and masterly.”
Booklist Editors’ Choice: Youth Audio, 2024 roster is nine audiobooks long—and Live Oak Media produced two of them: FIVE STORIES is praised for its “diversity of accents befitting the city’s melting pot” and NOTHING: JOHN CAGE AND 4’33”, which “illuminate[s] the experience of listening and the magic of sound.” Booklist Editors’ Choice: Graphic Novels, 2024 includes THE AWL, from Ablaze/Diamond Books.
The Best Children’s Books of 2024, per The New York Times, include A DAY WITH MOUSSE, from Transit Children’s Editions, as its singular best chapter book choice.
Publishers Weekly provided an interesting perspective on the year’s best children’s books with Children’s Publishers Choose Their Favorite Reads of 2024 – and no, they didn’t choose ones from their own companies. Instead, this is a list of personally appealing titles from the broader world of kids’ books. GIANT ON THE SHORE, from Transit Children’s Editions, and FARMER EVA’S GREEN GARDEN LIFE, from Readers to Eaters, were among the favorites named by these experts.
Libraries
Many public libraries create local lists of suggested books for their communities. The libraries in this section also publish their lists for national distribution and are recognized authorities in the formats, genres, and topics they cover in their lists.
New York Public Library’s list of Best Books for Kids 2024 features 100 titles, including ALOHA EVERYTHING, published by Red Comet Press; CHASING THE SHY TOWN from Little Island Books; NIGHT STORIES from Toon Books; OCEAN GARDENER from Tiger Tales; and OLD CLOTHES FOR DINNER?! from Barefoot Books. The same library’s Los mejores libros para pequeños de 2024 list is provided with introduction and annotations in Spanish as well as all its selected titles being Spanish language publications. Spanish publisher NubeOCHO appears on this list of bests with several titles available in North America: El cumpleaños de Mateo; Gracia; ¿Qué quieres ser de mayor?; and Llamando a mamá.
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Best Books for Babies 2024 includes three titles from Nosy Crow: LOOK, IT’S HOOT HOOT OWL; LOOK, IT’S MOO MOO COW; and MY FIRST LIFT-THE-FLAP NURSERY RHYMES.
Chicago Public Library places I’LL SEE YOU IN IJEBU, from Barefoot Books, on its list of Best Fiction for Younger Readers of 2024.
Evanston Public Library’s 101 Great Books for Kids List for 2024 gives shoutouts to PRETTY UGLY, from Toon Books; MYTHICAL MONSTERS OF GREENLAND, from Inhabit Media; THE SLUG AND THE SNAIL, from Little Island Books; and THE OBSERVOLOGIST, from Gecko Press.
Los Angeles Public Library provides a list of Best of 2024: Children’s Books on which are listed MY BABY SISTER IS A DIPLODOCUS, from Gecko Press, and PRETTY UGLY, from Toon Books.
San Diego Public Library‘s Best Picture Books of 2024 list is a highly selective one that includes two Nosy Crow titles: DIG, DIG, DINOSAUR, and THE GOAT AND THE STOAT AND THE BOAT.
Culture Magazines
The resources here include cultural publications that publish annual lists of best books, typically with a focus shared by the magazine’s particular area of interest.
I’LL SEE YOU IN IJEBU, from Barefoot Books, and THE DJINN’S APPLE, from Neem Tree Press, are among Brittle Paper’s 100 Notable African Books of 2024.
Comics Beat’s The Beat’s 50 Best Comics of 2024 includes THE LIBRARY MULE OF CORDOBA, from Ablaze/Diamond.
The Comics Journal produced a vast and nuanced list of The Best Comics of 2024 as Chosen by TCJ Contributors, eachof whom is a specialist in the sequential art publishing world. Toon Books’ HEARING THINGS is on this massive list.
Five Books’ Best New Kids’ Books of 2024 list offers three titles from Gecko Press: THE PINCHERS AND THE DIAMOND HEIST; CAN I SIT IN THE MIDDLE?; and GOOD NIGHT, GOOD BEACH.
Tablet Magazine’s The Best Jewish Children’s Books of 2024 includes three picture books from Kalaniot Books: THE BLUE BUTTERFLY OF COCHIN, THE HEDGEHOG WHO SAID, WHO CARES?, and 100 ROOMS.
BookRiot‘s The Best Children’s Books of 2024 list applauds FREEDOM BRAIDS, from Lantana Publishing, and GRISELDA SNOOK’S SPECTACULAR BOOKS, from Tiger Tales.
Professional Children’s Literature Organizations
Scholars’ public facing recommendations are based on each source’s defined area of in-depth critical examination and research.
The Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature’s Best Multicultural Children’s Books of 2024 lauds ALOHA EVERYTHING and EIGHTEEN FLOWERS FOR GRANDMA, both from Red Comet Press; and NIGHT STORIES, from Toon Books.
Children’s Book Council published its annual Outstanding Science Trade Books published in 2024, which includes EXTINCTOPEDIA from Red Comet Press. They have also published a list of Best STEM Books published in 2024 that includes HOW DO YOU TURN DATA INTO DRAWINGS?: A STATISTICS BOOK ABOUT GRAPHS AND DATA, from Flowerpot Press, and PLANNING GRANDMA’S PARTY – MEASUREMENTS, FRACTIONS & FUN, from Albatros Books.
The Center for Children’s Books will publish its list of the best at the end of December or in early January. Bank Street College of Education will publish their annual list of the best in January. We will update here when those lists are published.
Kid Lit Professionals’ Blogs
The list makers immediately below are professional children’s literature experts making their own personal recommendations. The lists are published on websites maintained by a variety of publications and organizations who recognize these commentators as insightful experts in the field.
Mel Schuit shared her Favorite Picture Books of 2024 on Let’s Talk Picture Books: Children’s Book Design and Illustration. ALDO GHOST DOG, from Tapioca Stories, and ALOHA EVERYTHING, from Red Comet Press, earned spots there.
GROSS FACTOPIA, from What On Earth, appears on Imagination Soup’s The Best Nonfiction Children’s Books 2024 list. Imagination Soup’s selection of The Best Picture Books of 2024 includes PRETTY UGLY, from Toon Books.
PRETTY UGLY also is recognized by Travis Jonker’s 100 Scope Notes’ list of 2024 Children’s Lit: The Year in Miscellanea as the title with The Best Surprise Ending. The 2024 Undies Case Cover Awards, a list hosted by 100 Scope Notes with Let’s Talk Picture Books, and then voted by colleagues in the kid lit world, include three Nosy Crow titles with standout case wrap details under their dust jackets: HOW TO BE A DETECTIVE was voted Best Nonfiction; A HORSE CALLED NOW was voted Fanciest; and Best Underwater went to I LOVE YOU MORE.
Then we have the 2024 Endies Endpaper Awards, hosted by 100 Scope Notes with assistance from co-judges Cater Higgins and Mel Schuit. What On Earth took two of these prizes: SOLSTICE won Best Gallery and GALAPAGOS ISLANDS won Best Nature. Tapioca Stories won Most Crafty with the endpapers for MARCELLO MARTELLO MARSHMALLOW. The Kevin Costner “Waterworld” Award was picked by by JELLY-BOY, from Walker Books Australia, and KENDE! KENDE! KENDE!, from Child’s Play, collected the award for Best Silhouette. Berbay Books received two awards: THE ENDFIXER collected The ‘Look Closely’ (AKA The Walter Wick) Award, and THE ROBBERY won The Humor Award.
Betsy Bird’s Fuse8 blog published at School Library Journal brings the annual delight of 31 Days, 31 Lists in celebration of all manner of kids’ books. In 2024, her Best Board Books list includes ADVENTURE BABIES, from Tiger Tales; BUNNY LOVES BEANS, from Pajama Press; and LET’S GO, BABY!, WHAT IS BABY WEARING?, and YEAH, BABY!, all from Flowerpot Press. There is the set of four titles from Nosy Crow: LITTLE LAMB, WHERE ARE YOU?; LITTLE LION, WHERE ARE YOU?; LITTLE OWL, WHERE ARE YOU?; and LITTLE TIGER, WHERE ARE YOU? Then we see MIRO / I LOOK, from Gecko Press, and PLAYTIME, from Red Comet Press. All of these board books are recommended for babies.
That list also includes board books for toddlers and preschoolers, where we find FIREFIGHTERS from Flowerpot Press’ “Finn’s Fun Trucks” series. There are Tiger Tales titles here, too: BIG AND LITTLE, and MY BUSY NOISY DAY. Gecko Press appears again with GOOD NIGHT, BELLY BUTTON, and LIONEL IS JUST LIKE DAD. HIDE AND SEEK IN NATURE comes from Albatros Books. Four more titles appear from Nosy Crow, a pair from one series and one each from two other series: LET’S GO HOME, BABY SHARK, and LET’S GO HOME, BABY TIGER; NUMBER TRAIN; and MAKE TRACKS: TRAINS.
Betsy’s 2024 Best Picture Book Readalouds list and her 2024 Funny Picture Books both include HANK GOES HONK, from Tiger Tales. THE GOAT AND THE STOAT AND THE BOAT, from Nosy Crow, is among those she lauds on the list of 2024 Rhyming Picture Books. GIANT ON THE SHORE, from Transit Children’s Editions, is featured on her list of 2024 CaldeNotts which trumpets illustrated books ineligible for Caldecott Medal consideration due to that award’s restriction on artist’s location. Betsy’s list of Picture Book Reprints welcomed back in 2024 applauds the return of Toon Books’ OPEN ME…I’M A DOG.
Betsy is sensitive to promoting bilingual books for kids, bringing back a list of her favorites of the year for the first time since 2020. Her 2024 Bilingual Books for Kids list includes both titles published in two separate editions, each in a single language, and those with texts that encompass multiple languages within a single set of covers. In that first category, she includes Spanish publisher Cuento de Luz’s publication of AGREEMENT UNDER THE STARS along with their ACUERDO BAJO LAS ESTRELLAS. In this same vein, and also from Spain, are NubeOCHO’s CHARLIE SUPER F and also CARLITOS SUPER M, along with their SHEEP NUMBER 19 and its Spanish edition LA OVEJA 19. NubeOCHO also appears on the list with DESEO, its Spanish edition of a picture book originally published in English in 2015 (WISH). Child’s Play is given notice with the bilingual edition of CINCO EORMES DINOSAURIOS/FIVE ENORMOUS DINOSAURS, and KENDE! KENDE! KENDE!, which is published with a QR code to access readaloud versions in seven languages, each read by a native speaker of English, French, Arabic, Lingala, Swahili, Portuguese, or Kinyarwanda.
In her list of 2024 Message / Social Emotional Learning Books for Kids Betsy notes MARLEY’S PRIDE from Barefoot Books. In her list of 2024 Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, and Religious Tales we find applause for MYTHICAL CREATURES OF GREENLAND, from Inhabit Media; Barefoot Books’ THE MIDNIGHT MITZVAH; and THE SLUG AND THE SNAIL from Little Island Books. NATURA, from Tapioca Stories, is featured on her 2024 Poetry for Kids list. THE OBSERVOLOGIST, from Gecko Press, puts in an appearance on her 2024 Older Funny books for Kids list.
THE REMARKABLES, from Gecko Press, and PRETTY UGLY, from Toon Books, appear on Betsy’s list of 2024 Unconventional Children’s Books. THE REMARKABLES shows up again, along with two other titles from Gecko Press–SOUNDS GOOD and A BETTER BEST FRIEND–on her list of 2024 Translated Children’s Books, along with FINDING THE WAY TO FARAWAY VALLEY, published by Floris Books. Betsy reminds all that these selections are both about the quality of the books and the work of the translators.
Toon Books’ PRETTY UGLY puts in another appearance on Betsy’s list of 2024 Gross Books for Kids, along with A SLEEPLESS NIGHT, from Transit Children’s Editions. VIGDIS, from Helvetiq, appears on her 2024 Unique Biographies for Kids list. Two titles from Gecko Press are on her list of 2024 Nonfiction Books for Older Readers: THE OBSERVOLOGIST and SOUNDS GOOD!
The list of Blueberry Award Contenders Betsy shared spotlights titles “celebrating the love of nature and the environment.” Here she names two Tiger Tales’ titles: SONGS OF THE BIRDS and THE OCEAN GARDENER; HIDE AND SEEK IN NATURE, from Albatros Books; LET’S GO HOME, BABY TIGER, from Nosy Crow; Readers to Eaters’ FARMER EVA’S GREEN GARDEN LIFE; THE OBSERVOLOGIST, from Gecko Press; and JELLY-BOY, from Walker Books Australia.
Betsy wrapped up her annual best lists extravaganza with her roll call of the Best Picture Books of 2024. Here we see A BETTER BEST FRIEND, from Gecko Press and PRETTY UGLY, from Toon Books. As with all her lists, we are shown interior spreads that provide ample support for the “why” behind each of her choices.
Toppsta’s 100 Must Read Children’s Books of 2024 features a collection selected by kids themselves. UP HIGH from Nosy Crow is featured among its Picture Books (for All Ages) choices, as is LOVE IS THE LITTLE THINGS published by Tiger Tales.
Gift Buying Guide Suggestions
In addition to lists of best books of the year, many kids’ books we know and love earned places on holiday buying guide lists. You don’t need a holiday to give a child you know a good book, of course!
Publishers Weekly’s 2024 Holiday Gift Guide suggests ONE WISE SHEEP from Gecko Press. Kirkus Reviews also publishes a gift guide, dividing up its suggestions by both age and interest. Among its suggestions of Best Middle-Grade Fantasy of 2024 appears OUT OF THE VALLEY OF HORSES from Pajama Press.
Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature‘s The Best Children’s Books of 2024: Holiday Gift suggests two Gecko Press titles: GOOD NIGHT BELLY BUTTON, and THE OBSERVOLOGIST, as well as D IS FOR DOG, from Nosy Crow
Reading Rockets’ Holiday Buying Guide 2024 suggests Child’s Play Books bilingual CINCO PEQUENOS DINOSAURIOS/FIVE ENORMOUS DINOSAURS; I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK, WE HUG NIGHT NIGHT, and HANK GOES HONK all from Tiger Tales; PUPPY TALK from Nosy Crow; WHAT IS BABY WEARING? from Flowerpot Press; WHEN DOGS WORK, from Pajama Press; Gecko Press’ BEAR’S LOST GLASSES; OPEN WIDE! from What On Earth; and WE SING FROM THE HEART from Red Comet Press.
The Kid Lit Mama‘s 2024 Holiday Gift Guide, arranged by child’s age, includes LET’S GO HOME, BABY BUNNY; MY BIG PLAYBOOK; SUKI CAT: DANCER; and MAKE TRACKS: EMERGENCY, all from Nosy Crow. From Gecko Press, there are suggestions for GOOD NIGHT BELLY BUTTON, and also THE REMARKABLES. MY BUSY NOISY DAY, from Tiger Tales, is on the list, and so is BETTY’S BIRTHDAY, from Cicada Books.
