Amazon offers several annual best books lists. These are their 20 Best Picture Books of 2012:
The Adventures of Little Nutbrown Hare by Sam McBratney
Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead
Big Mean Mike by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Scott Magoon
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer and Elizabeth Zunon
The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool, illustrated by Alison Jay
Crafty Chloe by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Heather Ross
The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce and Joe Bluhm
I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr., illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney
Nightsong by Ari Berk, illustrated by Loren Long
Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton
Olivia and the Fairy Princesses by Ian Falconer
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean and Eric Litwin
Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills
This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers
Those Darn Squirrels Fly South by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
Z Is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky