The winners of the 10th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards have been announced. Here are the youth and teen winners:
BEST OF THE BEST
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
DEBUT AUTHOR
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
YOUNG ADULT FANTASY
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN’S
The Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan
Kirkus has released another of their best of the year lists. Here are the books selected as their best YA with plenty of great surprises included:
After the Fire by Will Hill
After the Shot Drops by Randy Ribay
And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Rovina Cai
Anger Is a Gift by Mark Oshiro
An Assassin’s Guide to Love & Treason by Virginia Boecker
Attucks!: Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team That Awakened a City by Phillip Hoose
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
The Bird and the Blade by Megan Bannen
Black Wings Beating by Alex London
Blacklisted!: Hollywood, the Cold War, and the First Amendment by Larry Dane Brimner
Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore
The Book of Pearl by Timothee de Fombelle
Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam by Elizabeth Partridge
Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Penelope Bagieu
The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
Chasing King’s Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr’s Assassin by James L. Swanson
Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
Dream Country by Shannon Gibney
Driving by Starlight by Anat Deracine
The Fall of Innocence by Jenny Torres Sanchez
Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico by David Bowles
Final Draft by Riley Redgate
Fire Song by Adam Garnet Jones
For Everyone by Jason Reynolds
The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas
The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20th Century by Neal Bascomb
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Home and Away by Candice Montgomery
The House of One Thousand Eyes by Michelle Barker
I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall
I, Claudia by Mary McCoy
If Only by Jennifer Gilmore
I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya
Iron River by Daniel Acosta
Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice by Bryan Stevenson
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi
Last Pick by Jason Walz
Latchkey by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
My Brother’s Husband by Gengorah Tagame
My Name Is Victoria by Lucy Worsley
Notes from My Captivity by Kathy Parks
Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron
Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement by Nadya Okamoto
Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert
The Place Between Breaths by An Na
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Sadie by Courtney Summers
Secrets of the Casa Rosada by Alex Temblador
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
The Storyteller by Traci Chee
Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton
Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman
The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding
Tales from the Inner City by Shaun Tan
Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
This Book Betrays My Brother by Kasigo Lesego Molope
This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kheryn Callender
Troublemakers by Catherine Barter
Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp
The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown
Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners by Naomi Shihab Nye
Votes for Women: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot by Winifred Conkling
We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden
What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper
When My Heart Joins the Thousand by A.J. Steiger
Wildcard by Marie Lu
Your One & Only by Adrianne Finlay
The esteemed children’s literature journal Horn Book has released their Fanfare list that features their picks for the best books of the year. Here are the titles:
PICTURE BOOKS
A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin
Blue by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Dear Substitute by Liz Garton Scanlon and Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Chris Raschka
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
The Field by Baptiste Paul, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara
Fox + Chick: The Party and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier
Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall
I Really Want to See You, Grandma by Taro Gomi
Julian Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes
The Patchwork Bike by Maxine Beneba Clarke, illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd
Pie Is for Sharing by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard, illustrated by Jason Chin
They Say Blue by Jillian Tamaki
FICTION
The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol
The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis
Love to Everyone by Hilary McKay
Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Price and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
Rebound by Kwame Alexander
The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier
NONFICTION
Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam by Elizabeth Partridge
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide by Isabel Quintero
The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown
Water Land: Land and Water Forms around the World by Christy Hale
Now in its 13th year, the winners of the An Post Irish Book Awards have been announced. Over 100,000 votes were cast to select the winners! Here are the teen and youth award winners:
TEEN / YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR
The Weight of a Thousand Feathers by Brian Conaghan
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR (SENIOR)
Blazing a Trail: Irish Women Who Changed the World by Sarah Webb and Lauren O’Neill
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR (JUNIOR)
The President’s Cat by Peter Donnelly
Kirkus has released their list of the Best Middle-Grade Books of 2018. On their website, they list them in categories, but I will list them alphabetically here. Here are the titles:
The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss, illustrated by Jonathan Bean
Akissi: Tales of Mischief by Marguerite Abouet, illustrated by Mathieu Sapin
All Summer Long by Hope Larson
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
Ana Maria Reyes Does Not Live in a Castle by Hilda Eunice Burgos
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick and David Serlin
Backyard Bears: Conservation, Habitat Changes, and the Rise of Urban Wildlife by Amy Cherrix
The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor by Sonia Sotomayor
The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, illustrated by Ian Schoenherr
Calling All Minds: How to Think and Create Like an Inventor by Temple Grandin
Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild by Catherine Thimmesh
Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham, Charles Waters, illustrated by Sean Qualls, Selina Alko
Capsized!: The Forgotten Story of the SS Eastland Disaster by Patricia Sutton
The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell
A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano
The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America by Jaime Hernandez
Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott, illustrated by Geneva B
Eat This!: How Fast Food Marketing Gets You to Buy Junk (And How to Fight Back) by Andrea Curtis, illustrated by Peggy Collins
Everlasting Nora by Marie Miranda Cruz
Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man by Tonya Bolden
Fake Blood by Whitney Gardner
The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix
Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
First Generation: 36 Trailblazing Immigrants and Refugees Who Make America Great by Sandra Neil Wallace, Rich Wallace, illustrated by Agata Nowicka
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
The Ghost Road by Charis Cotter
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman
Gone to Drift by Diana McCaulay
The Great Googlini by Sara Cassidy, illustrated by Charlene Chua
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
The House that Lou Built by Mae Respicio
The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson
Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender
The Hyena Scientist by Sy Montgomery, photographed by Nic Bishop
Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano
The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
It’s Up to You, Abe Lincoln by Leila Hirschfeld, Tom Hirschfeld, illustrated by Lisa Weber, Neal Swaab
Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis
Knights vs. Dinosaurs by Matt Phelan
The Language of Spells by Garret Weyr, illustrated by Katie Harnett
Look at the Weather by Britta Teckentrup
Love Like Sky by Leslie C. Youngblood
Martin Rising: Requiem for a King by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Meet Yasmin! by Saadia Faruqi, illustrated by Hatem Aly
Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
North to Benjamin by Alan Cumyn
Otherwood by Pete Hautman
Out of Left Field by Ellen Klages
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
Sanity & Tallulah by Molly Brooks
The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller, illustrated by Alexandria Neonakis
The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon
The Sky at Our Feet by Nadia Hashimi
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
Snowy Owl Invasion!: Tracking an Unusual Migration by Sandra Markle
So Done by Paula Chase
Stanley Will Probably Be Fine by Sally J. Pla, illustrated by Steve Wolfhard
Struttin’ with Some Barbecue: Lil Harden Armstrong Becomes the First Lady of Jazz by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Rachel Himes
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy by Tony Medina
Tortot, the Cold Fish Who Lost His World and Found His Heart by Benny Lindelauf, illustrated by Ludwig Volbeda
The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor
The Turnaway Girls by Hayley Chewins
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices edited by Wade Hudson
You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P. by Alex Gino
You Go First by Erin Entrada Kelly
Zenobia by Morten Dürr, illustrated by Lars Horneman
Kirkus has released their list of the Best Picture Books of 2018. They list them by category on their site, but I’m going to list them alphabetically here for ease. Here are the titles:
3×4 by Ivan Brunetti
All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
And There Was Evening, and There Was Morning by Harriet Cohen Helfand and Ellen Kahan Zager
Animal Shapes by Christopher Silas Neal
Auntie Luce’s Talking Paintings by Francie Latour, illustrated by Ken Daley
Ayobami and the Names of the Animals by Pilar López Ávila, illustrated by Mar Azabal
Black Bird Yellow Sun by Steve Light
A Boy and a House by Maja Kastelic
The Boo-Boos That Changed the World: A True Story about an Accidental Invention (Really!) by Barry Wittenstein, illustrated by Chris Hsu
Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt de la Pena, illustrated by Christian Robinson
The Dam by David Almond, illustrated by Levi Pinfold
Do Not Lick This Book by Idan Ben-Barak, illustrated by Julian Frost
Down by the River by Andrew Weiner, illustrated by April Chu
Drawn from Nature by Helen Ahpornsiri
Drawn Together by Minh Le, illustrated by Dan Santat
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
Dude! by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Dan Santat
Every Month Is a New Year: Celebrations Around the World by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Susan L. Roth
The Field by Baptiste Paul, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara
Find Colors by by Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford
The Fish and the Cat by Marianne Dubuc
Flying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin by Michelle Cusolito, illustrated by Nicole Wong
The Fox on the Swing by Evelina Daciute, illustrated by Aušra Kiudulaite
Fur, Feather, Fin: All of Us Are Kin by Diane Lang, illustrated by Stephanie Laberis
Go Baby! Go Dog! by Anne Vittur Kennedy
Grace for Gus by Harry Bliss
Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall
Holi Colors by Rina Singh
I Can Be Anything! Don’t Tell Me I Can’t by Diane Dillon
I Got a Chicken for My Birthday by Laura Gehl, illustrated by Sarah Horne
Jerome by Heart by Thomas Scotto, illustrated by Olivier Tallec
Julian Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
Kitten and the Night Watchman by John Sullivan, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
Koko and Bo by Lisen Adbage
Little Boat by Taro Gomi
Look by Fiona Woodcock
Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed, illustrated by Stasia Burrington
Marwan’s Journey by Patricia de Arias, illustrated by Laura Borràs
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Mina vs. the Monsoon by Rukhsanna Guidroz, illustrated by Debasmita Dasgupta
Mixed: A Colorful Story by Arree Chung
Mommy’s Khimar by Jamilah Thompkins- Bigelow, illustrated by Ebony Glenn
No Boring Stories! by Julie Falatko, illustrated by Charles Santoso
Ocean Meets Sky by The Fan Brothers
The Old Man by Sarah V., illustrated by Claude K. DuBois
On the Other Side of the Garden by Jairo Buitrago, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng
Opposites by Jacques Duquennoy
Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How Monopoly Was Invented by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Steven Salerno
The Patchwork Bike by Maxine Beneba Clarke, illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd
Peek-A-Who? by Elsa Mroziewicz
Petra by Marianna Coppo
Pie Is for Sharing by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard, illustrated by Jason Chin
A Pile of Leaves by by Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford
Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack, illustrated by Stevie Lewis
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
Rain by Anders Holmer
The Storyteller of Damascus by Rafik Schami, illustrated by Peter Knorr
A Storytelling of Ravens by Kyle Lukoff, illustrated by Natalie Nelson
The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ekua Holmes
Tiger vs. Nightmare by Emily Tetri
The Truly Brave Princesses by Dolores Brown, illustrated by Sonja Wimmer
The Very Last Castle by Travis Jonker, illustrated by Mark Pett
Wallpaper by Thao Lam
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frane Lessac
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
Whale in a Fishbowl by Troy Howell, illustrated by Richard Jones
What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?: The Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan by Chris Barton, illustrated by Ekua Holmes
When Angels Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana by Michael Martin, illustrated by Jose Ramirez
When the Cousins Came by Katie Yamasaki
Will Ladybug Hug? by Hilary Leung
Who Will Bell the Cat? by Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Christopher Cyr
Woodrow at Sea by Wallace Edwards
You’re Snug with Me by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Poonam Mistry
The winners of the 2019 National Council for Teachers of English Children’s Book Awards have been announced. There are three awards that include winners, honor books and recommended titles. For a full list of the recommended titles, check out their web page. Here are the winners and honor books in each of the awards:
ORBIS PICTUS AWARD WINNER
Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from Football Field to the Art Gallery by Sandra Neil Wallace, illustrated by Bryan Collier
ORBIS PICTUS HONOR BOOKS
Champion: The Comeback Tale of the American Chestnut Tree by Sally M. Walker
Pass Go and Collect $200: The Story of How Monopoly Was Invented by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Stephen Salerno
The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India, and a Hidden World of Art by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Claire Nivola
Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot’s World War II Story by Marc Tyler Nobleman, illustrated by Melissa Iwai
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorrel, illustrated by Frane Lessac
CHARLOTTE HUCK AWARD WINNER
Sweep by Jonathan Auxier
CHARLOTTE HUCK HONOR BOOKS
Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Lathan & Charles Waters, illustrated by Sean Qualls and Selina Alko
The Day War Came by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb
Everything Else in the Universe by Tracy Holczer
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN POETRY FOR CHILDREN WINNER
Paul B. Janeczko
Amazon has released their list of the best YA books of the year. They have selected 20 books as the best and also one book as the top pick for the year:
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Here are the other books in the Top 20:
After the Fire by Will Hill
The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
Sadie by Courtney Summers
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos
Amazon has selected the Top 20 Children’s Books of 2018. One book was selected the best book of the year:
The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon
Here are the others in the Top 20:
Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick, illustrated by David Serlin
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Rafael Lopez
Drawn Together by Minh Le, illustrated by Dan Santat
Endling: The Last by Katherine Applegate
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis
Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
Mixed: A Colorful Story by Arree Chung
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
Ocean Meets Sky by The Fan Brothers
The Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan
The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty
Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Waking Brain Cells 