Lambda Literary has announced the finalists for the 2026 Lambda Literary Awards which are the 38th year of these awards that celebrate the best in LGBTQ+ literature. The awards have many categories, three of which are specifically for books for youth. Here are those finalists:
LGBTQ+ CHILDREN’S BOOKS
The Bi Book by A.J. Irving, illustrated by Cynthia Alonso
Devin’s Gift by Alana Tyson, illustrated by Ebony Glenn
Gather around the kitchen table in this tribute to the room that is at the center of a Black American family. Morning starts with breakfast at the table. After school it is card games and baking treats. Dinnertime comes with setting the table more formally. It’s a place to spend time and be creative. A place to clean fish for the weekly fish fry. It’s a place for serious talks if someone gets in trouble. Friends are welcome at the table and many family celebrations happen there. On wash day, the table holds hair clips and bands right at hand. It’s a place to listen to grandparents and celebrate ancestors. A place to grieve when needed. A kitchen table is so many things to a family.
Washington offers a poetic look at a specific family gathering around their kitchen table. I love how she incorporates elements that are specific to the Black experience, such as wash day and Kwanzaa while also offering many experiences that are universal: meals, celebrations, grief. Her poetic lines capture the dance of the days and the full lives of families. As a Caldecott honoree, her art is exceptional. Using cut paper, she creates art that feels almost like stained glass. Yet the lines also manage to beautifully capture the emotions on her character’s faces.
Welcome to the kitchen table. Appropriate for ages 4-7.
A little girl has grown up traveling with her mother from place to place. They were like snails, carrying their homes on their backs through their adventures. But then one day, her mother has to take a job in a bigger city and leaves the girl with her grandparents. The little girl missed her mother terribly, especially when she wasn’t able to come home as she had promised. When her mother finally came home again, it was wonderful. But then her mother had to go away for another job. This time though, the girl got to come too. They continued moving from place to place, new school to new school, together.
Cao captures the emotions of a child having to be left behind by a beloved single parent. Though her grandparents are loving and kind, it’s not the same. The emotions that Cao shares so beautifully on the page will resonate with children who may not have cried even though their feelings were deep and tragic. Children who have grown up in families that move a lot will find themselves reflected here with warmth. The illustrations are filled with art and family, sharing the coldness of being left and the flexibility of moving often through lines and structure.
A charming look at an adventurous life. Appropriate for ages 4-6.
This is the poetic story of a family that built a home after Emancipation. On that land they planted roots themselves and also planted a pecan tree. That tree was the place they gathered in times of joy like playing together as children and at weddings. In autumn, the tree provided pecans to eat and sell. But times were not always happy. The tree was damaged, just like the family it sheltered. And just like that family, the tree regrew. The house was rebuilt and the family spoke up for change. They still gather under that tree, the symbol of them rising again.
Rodriguez and Law use both poetry and illustrations to fully tell the story of the family and its tree. The poetry is kept spare and clear, sharing a focus on seasons and resilience against them. Meanwhile, as the seasons change in the illustrations so do the lives of the family. Winter in the illustrations comes with a fire set on purpose and the loss of the grandfather in the family as well as the house. Then comes political action, marching for civil rights and new hope for the land and its people. Very powerfully posed together.
A powerful look at resilience, civil rights and the Black American experience.
A mother and daughter hurry to get their jackets on and catch the train. Along the way a shoe is lost and found again. They reach a large park and head to where they need to be. But when they get there, the party was yesterday! Now they have lots of time, and while they are in the park why not roll down some hills, stroll past the pond, walk the trails, and sit under the trees together. They have nowhere else to be.
Written in brief and bouncy pairs of lines, this picture book is incredibly inviting for the youngest readers. I love the mistake at the center of the book and while it is disappointing to miss a party, the book emphasizes that this sudden treasure of time is not to be wasted but savored together. The illustrations by Archer are done in inks, layered paper and handstamped papers. She uses paper like paint, offering detailed textures that invite readers to slow down and look more closely.
A book worth spending extra time with. Appropriate for ages 2-4.
The Children’s Book Council has announced the 2026 Kids Favorites lists. The CBC is a nonprofit trade association of children’s book publishers in North America. The lists are chosen by children and teachers across North America through a voting process. The lists are available as a pdf on their website and include many books for each age range. Below are the top ten in each age group:
The shortlists for the Indies Choice Book Awards have been announced. The awards are voted on my indie booksellers in the US. Eligible titles must have appeared on one of the American Booksellers Association’s Indie Next List, Kids’ Indie Next List or Indies Introduce list. Here are the shortlisted titles in the juvenile categories:
Jasper cannot believe that his older brother is ignoring him just before he leaves for college far away. His brother had promised to take him to find fossils, but they never did. Jasper loves rocks and fossils, which is why when he picked his new name, he picked Jasper. Jasper feels so angry at his brother that he dumps an entire glass of lemonade on his brother’s college laptop, ruining it. When his brother leaves for college, Jasper is still angry, now at himself as well as his brother. When Jasper starts to hear the bones of a saber-tooth tiger speaking to him from inside the ground, the voice is friendly. It urges Jasper to dig and soon Jasper is staying up all night digging a hole in his backyard. But the voice changes and soon Jasper has to face that anger even when buried can be destructive.
This book is so multi-layered that it’s nearly impossible to write a coherent summary of it. The book is written in verse, sharing Jasper’s struggles with his anger, questioning whether he is ready to grow up as an eighth grader, finding new friends, but always being drawn back to the voice in his head, the saber-tooth. Jasper is also trans, an element that is important and yet not the focus of the book. I deeply appreciate the handling of the saber-tooth in the end. It does not become a figment of Jasper’s imagination or a sign of mental illness, it is very much alive and while symbolic is also tangible.
Demelza is the daughter of a veritas swan and an evil sorcerer. Her sisters are all veritas swans themselves, able to transform and whose beautiful voices force the truth from others. Demelza though takes after her father more. She doesn’t have wings and her voice is hurtful to the ears. Across the land, Prince Arris has put out a call for eligible girls to apply to be his bride. Arris lives under a family curse where he is doomed to likely be killed by his bride for power over the throne. Demelza heads to the prince’s realm to try to help, also escaping death by her father’s hand. Can these two find the way through the magic and curses that bind them?
This YA novel is a delight. Both of the lead characters are a joy to spend time with. From Arris who is trying to make the most of his short life by clinging to every beautiful experience he can to Demelza who is trying to figure out who she is outside of her mother and father’s needs. The two stumble together through the book, their connection growing beautifully across the story in a genuine way. Even better, the secondary characters are also rendered completely. Both sets of parents have complex love stories of their own, the contestants for Arris’ hand are marvelous, and Arris’ sister steals every scene she enters.
One of the best teen romatasies, this one is worth losing your heart to. Appropriate for ages 12+.
Peters Children’s Book of the Year celebrates the best children’s fiction and nonfiction published in the UK. A Book of the Year is selected from the four books that win their specific categories. Here are the winning titles:
Waking Brain Cells 