School Library Journal has named their best books of 2019. The 92 books are broken into six categories: picture books, transitional chapter books, middle grade, YA, nonfiction and graphic novels. You can also download the list in a handy PDF format.
Awards
An Post Irish Book Award Winners
The winners of the An Post Irish Book Awards for 2019 have been announced. More than 115,000 votes were cast by the public to select the winners. Here are the winners in the youth categories:
TEEN & YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR
Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR – SENIOR
Shooting for the Stars: My Journey to Become Ireland’s First Astronaut by Norah Patten, illustrated by Jennifer Farley
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR – JUNIOR
123 Ireland! by Aoife Dooley
National Book Award Winner
The winners of the National Book Award have been announced. The award for young people’s literature went to a nonfiction title this year:
1919: The Year That Changed America by Martin W. Sandler who said at the award ceremony, “I’m particularly honored to be in the company of my four fellow nominees. I will tell you, as the elder statesman of that group, I am so confident in the state of young people’s literature.”
Blue Peter Book Awards 2020 Shortlists
The shortlists for the 2020 Blue Peter Book Awards have been released. Given by the UK’s BookTrust, the books celebrate the best fiction and nonfiction reads of the year for children. Here are the shortlists:
BEST STORY
Owen and the Soldier by Lisa Thompson, illustrated by Mike Lowery
Vote for Effie by Laura Wood
Wildspark by Vashti Hardy
BEST BOOK WITH FACTS
Fanatical About Frogs by Owen Davey
How to Be an Astronaut and Other Space Jobs by Dr. Sheila Kanani & Sol Linero
Rise Up: Ordinary Kids with Extraordinary Stories by Amanda Li, illustrated by Amy Blackwell
GoodReads Choice Awards 2019
The Goodreads Choice Awards opening round nominees have been announced. For those of us interested in books for youth, there are several categories to keep an eye on. Those are picture books, middle grade & children’s, young adult fiction, and young adult fantasy. Also make sure that you click through to see broader categories too like graphic novels which has several YA titles and poetry too.
Enjoy voting!
2019 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books
The New York Times and New York Public Library have announced their picks for the best illustrated books of the year. The winners are selected solely based on artistic merit. The New York Times also has a slide show of the winning artist’s at work. Here are the books on the list:
Another by Christian Robinson
The Boring Book by Shinsuke Yoshitake
Child of Glass by Beatrice Alemagna
The Farmer by Ximo Abadia
I Miss My Grandpa by Jin Xiaojing
Just Because by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
The Lost Cousins by B.B. Cronin
A Million Dots by Sven Volker
Monkey on the Run by Leo Timmers
Small in the City by Sydney Smith
Publisher’s Weekly Best Teen Books of 2019
Publisher’s Weekly publishes a list of the best books every year. Here are their picks for the best teen reads of 2019:
Angel Mage by Garth Nix
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
Gravity by Sarah Deming
Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable, illustrated by Ellen T. Crenshaw
The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
Ordinary Girls by Blair Thornburgh
Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson
Slay by Brittney Morris
Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia by Marc Favreau
Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc by David Elliott
The Waning Age by S.E. Grove
We Rule the Night by Claire Eliza Bartlett
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Publisher’s Weekly Best Middle Grade Books of 2019
Publisher’s Weekly has released their picks for the best books of the year. They do three lists for books for children and teens. Here are the middle grade books that made the list:
All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker, illustrated by Kelly Murphy
Dream Within a Dream by Patricia MacLachlan
The Line Tender by Kate Allen
Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu
My Jasper June by Laurel Snyder
New Kid by Jerry Craft
The Next Great Paulie Fink by Ali Benjamin
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt
Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis
Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix
This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
2019 Governor General’s Literary Awards
The winners of the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Awards have been announced. The Canadian awards are given for both English-language and French-language books and include awards for both children’s and adult books. Here are the two books that won in the children’s categories:
YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE – TEXT
Stand on the Sky by Erin Bow
YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE – ILLUSTRATED BOOKS
Small in the City by Sydney Smith
