My kids and I have considered and debated and sorted and finally decided on this list of the best books for kids for this year! You can find many of these in my bookshop store in the 2021Gift Guide list if you’re looking for a quick way to order them and to support me at the same time. Thanks in advance, and happy reading.
Board Books
Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang is a sweet count-down-to-bedtime book. It’s beautiful and simple and my kids love it even though it’s been read a million times in our house.
City Block by Christopher Franceschelli and art by Peskimo was new to us this year. It is a thick board book all about city living. It’s got cut outs and flaps and pull-open pages that will keep babies and toddlers entertained, and the bright images contrast with the bold text.
Stack the Cats by Susie Ghahremani remains a favorite here, with my youngest choosing it every time she spots it in the library. It’s excellent for starting to teach math concepts, so this one will grow with babies as they start to learn about addition and subtraction (there’s even a little division in there!). Ghahremani has another book- Balance the Birds– that is similar and also excellent.
Little You by Richard Van Camp and illustrations by Julie Flett was a given on the list. This celebration of baby has got richly illustrated images that compliment the ties the text makes between baby and the natural world. Babies and caregivers will love this!
You are Light by Aaron Becker was also new to use this year. Babies will love the tactile cut outs and the colorful circles int he pages. Caregivers will love helping baby use the rhyming text of this book to make connections between the colors and their connection to the natural world including baby itself.
Picture Books
Rita and Ralph’s Rotten Day by Carmen Agra Deedy and Pete Oswald is everything I love in a picture book (and my youngest kid loves it so so much, she will be getting this one as a gift this year). Rita and Ralph are best friends who live a few hills away from one another. One day they play a game where Ralph accidentally hurts Rita, and they learn to apologize and forgive. I love that it uses kid-friendly strategies to explain how each is feeling as they repair their friendship. The read-aloud of this book is EXCELLENT, and my kids love to chime in on the “up the hill and down the hill” pages when Rita and Ralph are traveling to one another’s homes.
Tale of the Shadow King and Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack and Stevie Lewis are a pair of inclusive fairy tales that my kids adore. Prince and Knight features the Prince looking for a wife when a dragon comes to the kingdom and must be defeated. During battle the Prince meets a Knight and they fall in love. The sequel, Tale of the Shadow King– published just this year- shows the newly married Prince and Knight defending the kingdom from the Shadow King who has brought a dark shadow over the kingdom. As they meet him, they learn the Shadow King was cast out of the kingdom because he loved a squire.The Prince and Knight invite the Shadow King and the Squire to live in their kingdom, and the shadow disappears. Acceptance, truth, and love win!
A Big Bed for Little Snow and A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin
These absolutely stunningly illustrated books explain natural occurrences in the world. A Big Bed for Little Snow shows how snow falls from the sky. At the end of autumn, Little Snow’s mother brings him a new feather bed. Little Snow jumps on his feather mattress all winter long until it is empty of feathers. One stunning page spread shows the bottom of Little Snow’s bed with feathers bursting out and turning into snow over the buildings below. A Big Mooncake for Little Star shows how the phases of the moon are formed. In this book Little Star and her mother bake a mooncake, and though she is told not to, Little Start can’t resist nibbling bits of it until there’s nothing left but little crumbs. These are two of the most beautiful books we’ve ever read.
Tiny T. rex and the Impossible Hug by Jonathan Stutzman and illustrations by Jay Fleck
T. Rex sees his best friend, Pointy, a Stegosaurus, is feeling sad. T. Rex knows that a hug will help, but their arms a so tiny! They ask many other dinosaurs for advice and practices really hard. T. Rex returns to Pointy to give the best hug they can, even if it’s not perfect, and of course Pointy feels much better afterwards. Sweet T. Rex has got several other books as well, if you’re looking to gift multiple.
Amy Wu and the Perfect Bay by Kat Zhang and illustrations by Charlene Chua
Amy can do a lot of things really well, but she struggles to make bao perfect like her parents and grandma. She tries and tries, determined to succeed, but ultimately feels dejected when she isn’t able to do it. Then she has a realization that changes everything! Amy is able to make a few perfect bao, and she also realizes that the imperfect bao taste just as delicious as the perfect bao. Don’t miss companion book Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon!
Jabari Jumps and Jabari Tries by Gaia Cornwall
Jabari Jumps shows kid Jabari on the day he decides to jump off the diving board at the pool. He gets a little nervous and his dad talks him through his emotions and gives him space without pressure to navigate the experience. It’s sweet and celebratory and as a caregiver sometimes I find myself recalling Jabari’s dad’s strategies when faced with a difficult situation with my kids. Jabari Tries shows Jabari trying to make a flying machine. It’s really tough and Jabari gets frustrated, especially when younger sister Nika tries to “help”. Jabari’s dad talks him through his frustration, giving him a breathing strategy to try, and encouraging Jabari to do hiss best. Int he end he and Nika do make that machine fly!
Chapter Books
Ana and Andrew by Christine Platt and illustrations by Anuki López have quickly become some of my 4 year old’s favorite books to read. It’s a series (!!!) of books featuring siblings Ana and Andrew who live near Washington D.C. In the stories, their family goes on special adventures to learn about and celebrate important parts of Black history and culture, and to celebrate traditions in their own family. Ana and Andrew and their parents, and even younger brother Aaron, are fun and inquisitive people, so the books read like informational fiction. Most of the books are around 4 chapters long, and the illustrations on each page make these perfect for reading to younger kids or for early independent chapter books.
Yasmin by Saadia Faruqi and illustrations by Hatem Aly is for the same level of reader- kids who do best with fun illustrations to support their engagement and comprehension. In this series Yasmin explores parts of her identity- singer, teacher, soccer star, friend, and so on. Yasmin’s family is Pakistani, and each book includes a glossary of Pakistani words and phrases as well as guided reading questions and a fun activity that can be paired with the reading. Both of my kids (8 and 4) love the Yasmin stories!
Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright is a graphic novel my older kid picked out at one of our favorite local bookstores (shout out to Semicolon Bookstore) and it’s so good. It’s about twins Francine and Maureen as they enter 6th grade and navigate the transition to middle school and their evolving identities and what that means for their relationship to themselves and each other. We loved that the story line was compelling- creating space for us to have conversations about friends and identity even though my kids is in 3rd grade. We loved the illustrations as well- the introduction image of the sisters drawn as paper dolls has stuck with me!