Notable titles that have captured the attention of Children\u27s Book Committee members just in time for the holidays!https://educate.bankstreet.edu/ccl/1024/thumbnail.jp

Bank Street College of Education. Children\u27s Book Committee

English

EDUCATE (Bank Street College of Education)

Bank Street College of Education Educate The Center for Children's Literature 2023 The Best Children's Books of 2023: Holiday Gift Edition Bank Street College of Education. Children's Book Committee Follow this and additional works at: https://educate.bankstreet.edu/ccl  Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons Recommended Citation Bank Street College of Education. Children's Book Committee (2023). The Best Children's Books of 2023: Holiday Gift Edition. Bank Street College of Education. https://educate.bankstreet.edu/ccl/24 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by Educate. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Center for Children's Literature by an authorized administrator of Educate. For more information, please contact kfreda@bankstreet.edu. The holiday book buying season has arrived. While the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee is still hard at work, reading and reviewing books for the Spring 2024 edition of The Best Children’s Books of the Year, committee members have been sharing some of their own current favorites. Stay tuned for the annual list, compiled by professionals in the field of children’s literature, including librarians, authors, teachers, psychologists, and booksellers. Meanwhile, these are some of this year’s notable titles that have captured the attention of the members. To learn more about the Children’s Book Committee, please visit at bankstreet.edu/cbc BOARD BOOKS Kind Crocodile Leo Timmers Gecko Press A mouse, warthog, antelope, rhinoceros, and crocodile find that, with teamwork, they are invincible. Humorous, expressive illustrations. Longer board book format. The Making of Butterflies Zora Neal Hurston, adapted by Ibram X. Kendi, ill. Kah Yangni Amistad/HarperCollins In this African-American folktale, the Creator, bored with his new earth, creates flowers. When they become lonely, He creates “flutter-bys,” little pieces cut out of everything. Bright collage illustrations. Marta! Big and Small Jen Arena, ill. Angela Dominguez Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Clever little Marta compares herself to a variety of animals in this bilingual tale, outwitting a snake along the way. Bold graphic art adds delight. Peek-A-Boo Haiku: A Lift-the-Flap Book Danna Smith, ill. Teagan White Little Simon/Simon & Schuster Journey through the seasons with woodland creatures and a haiku on each page. Engaging digital art. Reading Time! A Tummy Time First Words Book for Babies Mama Makes Books Red Comet Press Simple concepts, bright colors to engage infants’ eyes, in verse, in a foldout book with a mirror. AGES 5 AND UNDER All the Beating Hearts Julie Fogliano, ill. Cátia Chien Neal Porter Books/Holiday House This wise, soulful book celebrates our common humanity across a seemingly ordinary day, evocatively capturing joy, sorrow, light, darkness, and the meaning of life itself. Illustrations evoke tenderness. Beneath Cori Doerrfield Little Brown Books for Young Readers Finn is in a terrible mood when Grandpa draws him outside for a walk in this exquisite ode to the magic of what exists beneath the surface. Cozy digital artwork grounds the lofty larger themes. In the Night Garden Carin Berger Neal Porter Books/Holiday House In this lyrical bedtime story, a young girl observes all the nightly activity in her garden as she and her cat head home for bed. Intricate collage illustrations. Mine! Candace Fleming, ill. Eric Rohmann Anne Schwartz Books/Penguin Random House A number of animals covet a lone apple hanging at the “tip-tippy top” of a tree. When it falls, chaos ensues. Imaginative rhyme and handsome relief prints. Together We Swim Valerie Bolling, ill. Kaylani Juanita Chronicle Books Spare text with mixed-media and digital illustrations tell the almost step-by-step process of learning to swim. A simple nod to overcoming fear. AGES 5 TO 9 Cargo Adèle Tariel, ill. Jérôme Peyrat Orca Book Publishers A young boy, missing his oceangoing father, imagines himself as a seagull following the container ship on its voyage, away and back. Colorful, stylized art. The Courage of the Little Hummingbird: A Tale Told Around the World Leah Henderson, ill. Magaly Morales Abrams Books for Young Readers A retelling of a folktale in which a little hummingbird refuses to give up. He does all he can do and calls others to action. Vivid illustrations. Back matter. Evergreen Matthew Cordell Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan  A fearful young squirrel finds courage during a series of action-filled encounters during a journey through the dangerous Buckthorn Forest. Pen and watercolor art in earth tones. Harriet Spies Elana K. Arnold, ill. Dung Ho Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins During a summer at her grandmother’s B&B, Harriet solves mysteries, makes friends, and learns something about truth-telling. Spot art. Chapter book format. How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee Carole Boston Weatherford, ill. Frank Morrison Candlewick Press One brave, talented girl made history in 1936, becoming the first Black top finalist at the national level despite exclusion and numerous barriers. Oil paintings convey deep emotion. Foreword and epilogue. In the Dark Kate Hoefler, ill. Corinna Luyken Knopf Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House When strangers arrive from the dark woods, townsfolk must overcome prejudice to recognize their new neighbors’ humanity. A vertically flipped book with ink, watercolor, and pencil art. One Chicken Nugget Tadgh Bentley Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins Animated mixed-media illustrations strut along as Celeste cooks up a scheme to rid herself of a monster whose insatiable appetite for her nuggets threatens her business. Author’s note. The Penguin of Ilha Grande: From Animal Rescue to Extraordinary Friendship Shannon Earle, ill. Renato Alarcão Charlesbridge The true story of a deep relationship between a Brazilian man and the penguin he rescues. Vivid watercolor illustrations capture the tenderness. Informative back matter. Rivka’s Presents Laurie Wallmark, ill. Adelina Lirius Random House Studio/Penguin Random House Disappointment can’t stop a young girl’s desire to learn when her dad’s illness keeps her from school. Glorious, realistic artwork captures scenes of 1918 New York City. English-Yiddish glossary. See the Ghost: Three Stories About Things You Cannot See David LaRochelle, ill. Mike Wohnoutka Candlewick Press An invisible ghost scares a yellow dog and a blue cat. The arrival of a tiny fairy causes real havoc for the dog, cat, and ghost. Comical gouache illustrations. A Snow Day for Plum! Matt Phelan Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins Zoo animals on a visit to an elementary school get snowed in. Classroom pet mice free the visitors; adventures and quandaries await. Entertaining black-and-white illustrations. AGES 9 TO 12 Big Tree Brian Selznick Scholastic Press In the final days of the dinosaurs, two sycamore seedlings search for a safe place to grow in an unsafe world. Splendid pencil drawings. Extensive notes on the underlying scientific facts. The Book That No One Wanted to Read Richard Ayoade/ill. Tor Freeman Walker Books/Candlewick Press Book (as narrator) explores why we read what we read. Funny, philosophical, and adroitly illustrated with affectionately amusing line drawings. Dear Yesteryear Kimberly Annece Henderson/Ciara LeRoy, letterer Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House A poetic, loving tribute to Black Americans, containing black-and-white and sepia archival photos from the 19th and 20th centuries; arranged like a family photo album. The Eyes & the Impossible Dave Eggers, ill. Shawn Harris Alfred A. Knopf/Penguin Random House A dog in an unnamed park enlists the aid of other animals to free his friends, three captive bison. Illustrations are embellished, classic landscape paintings by various artists. Just Jerry: How Drawing Changed My Life Jerry Pinkney Little Brown & Company Books For Young Readers A famous illustrator candidly remembers his passion for creating art, his undiagnosed dyslexia, and his youth in a Black neighborhood in 1940s and 1950s Philadelphia. Dynamic sketches, epilogue, time line. Mr. Lincoln Sits for His Portrait: The Story of a Photograph That Became an  American Icon Leonard S. Marcus Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers/Macmillan The media-savvy side of Abraham Lincoln is revealed in a story focusing on the 19th-century painter and the photographers who helped create Lincoln’s image. Photos, time lines,  and color inserts. The Red Ear Blows Its Nose: Poems for Children and Others Robert Schechter, ill. S. Federico Word Galaxy Through 79 poems, brimming with humor and insight, the poet muses about nature, the solar system, body parts, and self. Masterly rhyme and meter. Pen-and-ink line drawings. The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow Elaine Dimopoulos, ill. Doug Salati Charlesbridge Butternut, a rabbit, has been taught to stay close to home, but then Piper, a robin, persuades her to help a hurt fawn. Graphite and gouache illustrations. Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport Caren Stelson, ill. Selina Alko Carolrhoda Books/Lerner A mysterious British humanitarian rescues 669 Jewish Czech children at the beginning of World War II. Extensive back matter. Expressive acrylic paint, colored pencil, and collage illustrations. AGES 12 TO 14 The Big Backyard: The Solar System Beyond Pluto Ron Miller Twenty-First Century Books A clearly written and beautifully illustrated introduction to the solar system and what lies beyond it. NASA photos, computer graphics, bibliography, glossary, and index. A First Time for Everything Dan Santat First Second/Roaring Brook Press /Macmillan A school trip to Europe helps Dan, 13, come out of his shell and become more confident in himself and in his art. Full color illustrations, back matter. Indigo and Ida Heather Murphy Capps Carolrhoda Books/Lerner Biracial eighth-grader Indigo, inspired by Ida B. Wells, exposes discrimination in school, jeopardizing close friendships and disrupting her life. The Lost Year Katherine Marsh Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Separated from his journalist father during the COVID-19 pandemic, Matthew, 13, discovers a deeply held family secret about his great-grandmother’s life in Ukraine during the 1930s Holodomor famine. Back matter. Miles Morales Suspended: A Spider-Man Novel Jason Reynolds, ill. Zeke Peña Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum A day of in-school suspension forces Miles to use his superpowers battling a fellow student who is destroying books as a termite. Is Miles up to the challenge? No Matter the Distance Cindy Baldwin Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins Penny, 11, who has cystic fibrosis, forms a deep bond with an ailing dolphin stranded in their creek. Can she help save it? Free verse. A Sky Full of Song Susan Lynn Meyer Union Square Kids Fleeing anti-Semitic pogroms in 1905 Ukraine, Shoshana, 11, and her family homestead in the North Dakota prairie where she struggles to fit in by hiding her Jewish identity. Author’s note, sources. AGES 14 AND UP An Echo in the City K. X. Song Little, Brown Books for Young Readers/Hachette As she becomes involved in the 2019 protest movement in Hong Kong, Phoenix questions everything, from her parents’ dream that she attend college in the US to her romance with Kai. Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam Thien Pham First Second/Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan A Vietnamese refugee recalls his family’s journey to the United States through the different foods they experienced along the way. Colorful, emotionally vivid illustrations. For Lamb Lesa Cline-Ransome Holiday House Multiple narrators tell the heart-wrenching story of a Black family in 1930s Jackson, Mississippi, where an interracial friendship leads to tragic consequences. Hidden Systems Dan Nott Random House Graphic Graphic cartoon art frames the history, societal inequities, and planet-wide impact of man-made systems, encouraging readers to work toward improving them.   In the Tunnel Julie Lee Holiday House Stuck in a tunnel during the Korean War, book-loving Myung-Gi, 16, looks back on his life with harrowing and touching ruminations on family, love, and death. One Last Shot: The Story of Wartime Photographer Gerda Taro Kip Wilson Versify/HarperCollins A young Jewish-German girl’s lifelong dream of becoming a photographer is realized when she travels to Spain to document the Spanish Civil War. Free verse. Back matter. Picture-Perfect Boyfriend Becky Dean Delacorte Press/Random House Lying to her family about a fake boyfriend, Kenzie is surprised when he turns up as the family arrives in Hawaii. Complications ensue. You: The Story: A Writer’s Guide to Craft Through Memory Ruta Sepetys Viking Books/Penguin Random House An acclaimed novelist interweaves practical, encouraging advice on the craft of writing with examples that use episodes from her own life story. 

The Best Children\u27s Books of 2023: Holiday Gift Edition

https://educate.bankstreet.edu/context/ccl/article/1024/viewcontent/Holiday_Book_Brochure_2023_11.3.23.pdf

The Best Children\u27s Books of 2023: Holiday Gift Edition

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

EDUCATE (Bank Street College of Education)