{"id":86057,"date":"2025-09-26T04:14:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T04:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/86057\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T04:14:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T04:14:27","slug":"the-25-greatest-picture-books-of-the-past-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/86057\/","title":{"rendered":"The 25 greatest picture books of the past 25 years."},"content":{"rendered":"

Read all of Slate\u2019s stories about the <\/strong>25 Greatest Picture Books of the Past 25 Years<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Oct.\u00a08, 2010, the New York Times ran a story on its front page: \u201cPicture Books No Longer a Staple for Children<\/a>.\u201d As we interviewed children\u2019s publishing professionals while compiling this list, several told us they remembered exactly where they were when they read this death knell for their industry. The Times wasn\u2019t wrong: Sales were down, especially of new books. Once upon a time, an adult shopping for a child might have bought a classic they remembered from their own childhood, and also a new book, recommended by a bookseller. More and more, buyers just went for the classic\u2014almost always Seuss or Sendak\u2014and new books languished on the shelves.<\/p>\n

But, feared a number of ambitious authors and illustrators, the art form\u2019s struggles couldn\u2019t simply be blamed (as the Times suggested) on achievement-obsessed adults pushing chapter books too early. Picture books were struggling artistically too. The next year, a group of 21 creators issued a picture-book manifesto<\/a>. \u201cWE BELIEVE,\u201d the manifesto read, \u201cwe must cease writing the same book again and again.\u201d Books for children should be \u201cfresh, honest, piquant, and beautiful,\u201d and unafraid to be odd: \u201cEven books meant to put kids to sleep should give them strange dreams.\u201d And, added the document, \u201cWE CONDEMN\u00a0\u2026 the amnesiacs who treasure unruly classics while praising the bland today.\u201d<\/p>\n

This call to arms had a ring of truth to it. When we became parents, we too initially gravitated toward the unruly classics we loved as children, while shying away from new picture books. There were just so many of them! The ones we saw on the front tables in bookstores all seemed to be authored by celebrities\u2014or, worse, were branded tie-ins promoting movies and TV shows. How could any of them be as good as the books of our youth, let alone better?<\/p>\n

But picture books have undergone a revolution in the past 25 years\u2014one that was already underway before that Times obit, but which that manifesto helped spur along. The art form is now remarkably different from what it was when we were little.<\/p>\n

To start with, a dramatically more varied cast of characters both stars in picture books and makes them. The industry, encouraged by activist organizations like We Need Diverse Books<\/a>, has belatedly come to understand the value of making books that, in the words of the influential academic Rudine Sims Bishop, offer young readers not only \u201cmirrors\u201d of their own experience but \u201cwindows\u201d into the lives of others. Stories by and about nonwhite, nonstraight people are now much more likely to appear in libraries and bookstores, become bestsellers, and win awards.<\/p>\n

But other, less obvious changes have swept the art form as well. A turn-of-the-millennium boom in animation, led by Pixar, gave rise to more illustrators making a living as storytellers\u2014and, frustrated by the machinations of Hollywood studios, telling their own stories in a simpler, more personal form. Creators, including many signatories to the 2011 manifesto, have become more interested in innovating within, and subverting, the picture-book form: shortening the text, breaking the fourth wall, and fostering reader interaction\u2014encouraged, perhaps, by the success of a certain argumentative pigeon<\/a>. Picture-book nonfiction has grown in popularity, becoming especially useful in classrooms\u2014where older elementary and middle school students, often fans of now-commonplace graphic novels, find it crucial in accessing difficult historical topics. And, of course, celebrities have flocked to the picture book<\/a>\u2014with mostly lukewarm results, although at least one TV star has published an unalloyed work of ridiculous genius. You\u2019ll find it on our list.<\/p>\n

To make this guide, we surveyed more than a hundred authors, illustrators, librarians, booksellers, academics, and publishing pros. We ended up reading more than 200 books, for which we must fulsomely thank our<\/a> local<\/a> libraries<\/a>. Our goal: to find the books that represent the best of these transformations, and to tell the story of an art form that responded to a front-page crisis with a new wave of inventive stories that respect the intelligence, playfulness, and widely differing experiences of young readers.<\/p>\n

With each entry, we\u2019re suggesting a few other, similar picture books also admired by our nominators\u2014as well as a collection of similar books for older kids, read-alikes suggested by the children\u2019s lit experts at the public library in Arlington, Virginia. We\u2019ve gone deeper into exceptional picture books, asking the creators<\/a> of three<\/a> titles<\/a> on our list to explain the decisions behind a single spread in their books. And we\u2019ve tracked down the inspiration for the oldest book on our list<\/a>\u2014then the opinionated niece of an award-winning illustrator, now a young woman with fond memories of what a beloved picture book meant to her.<\/p>\n

We hope that the next time you\u2019re looking for a book to read aloud with your favorite young person, this package will help you find something new and surprising\u2014and understand, a little better, how it came to be that way.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n 2000\n <\/p>\n

\n Ian Falconer\n <\/p>\n

Olivia<\/p>\n

Written and illustrated by New Yorker artist and David Hockney prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Ian Falconer, Olivia features understated and spare text, encouraging readers young and old to dwell on Falconer\u2019s chic black-and-red illustrations. (Who can forget the two-page spread of Olivia\u2019s sandcastle Chrysler Building, accompanied only by the words She got pretty good?) Falconer anticipated the trend of picture books offering parents high-culture Easter eggs, not only in the book\u2019s De Stijl palette but with its reproductions of paintings by Degas and Pollock. But kids recognize themselves in Olivia too, and the book, for all its adult worldliness, stays locked in the piglet\u2019s point of view. It\u2019s a witty, miniaturist portrait of a precocious, aggravating, lovable little girl who feels entirely real\u2014based, as she was, on Falconer\u2019s affectionate observations of his own niece<\/a>. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIn Olivia, Ian Falconer mastered the interplay of words and pictures, using simple line drawings, shadows, and pops of red paint to land each punch line. Falconer opened the door for what picture books could be; his humor, restrained illustration style, sparsity of text, and wit set the tone for picture books of the 21st century.\u201d \u2014Ariel Kaplowitz Hahn, academic, University of Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDespite Ian Falconer\u2019s warning that Olivia is very good at wearing people out, Olivia is a book that never feels worn out, no matter how many times you\u2019ve read it. Kids can relate to Olivia\u2019s adventures, opinions, and daily routine, while there\u2019s a good chance that their adult can laugh and sigh along with the challenges Olivia\u2019s mom faces.\u201d \u2014Jashar Awan, <\/strong>author and illustrator<\/strong><\/a> (<\/strong>Every Monday Mabel<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> It\u2019s Only Stanley<\/a> by Jon Agee, Hot Dog<\/a> by Doug Salati<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Dory Fantasmagory<\/a> by Abby Hanlon, Clarice Bean, Utterly Me<\/a> by Lauren Child<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Dan Kois
\n Her Uncle Immortalized Her as a Pig. The Book Sold 10 Million Copies. It\u2019s Been Quite an Adventure.
\n Read More<\/b>\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n 2003\n <\/p>\n

\n Mordicai Gerstein\n <\/p>\n

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Before Philippe Petit\u2019s 1974 tightwire walk between the Twin Towers became the subject of a documentary<\/a> and a feature film<\/a> starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, it was this Caldecott-winning children\u2019s book. The story of Petit\u2019s daring stunt, from idea to setup to execution, is rendered in heart-stopping illustrations that double as a love letter to the buildings\u2019 former presence in Lower Manhattan. One foldout takes the perspective of a bystander exiting the subway, looking all the way up the faces of the towers, and seeing the tiny little man on his walk in the sky. It\u2019s enough to give a parent heart palpitations, while daring little listeners will enjoy the audacity of it all: Petit and his compatriots setting up the wire at night; Petit skipping to and fro high up in the air, evading groups of frustrated police officers. The final images double as a subtle memorial to 9\/11, and\u2014in their oblique but clear reference to a tragedy of just two years before\u2014they presage picture books\u2019 growing willingness to address challenging subjects: \u201cIn memory, as if imprinted in the sky, the towers are still there.\u201d Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> We Are Water Protectors<\/a> by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade, Locomotive<\/a> by Brian Floca<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> The Invention of Hugo Cabret<\/a> by Brian Selznick, We Walked the Sky<\/a> by Lisa Fiedler<\/p>\n

\n 2003\n <\/p>\n

\n Mo Willems\n <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most frustrating word children hear every day? No. Effortlessly clever, this debut from the century\u2019s picture-book king allows kids to say no to someone else: the Pigeon, whose incessant wheedling and begging will no doubt remind parents of\u00a0\u2026 hmm, someone. The Pigeon has gone on to dozens of other adventures, but the real influence of Don\u2019t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!\u2014itself the subject of two years of Nos from publishers before Mo Willems, a Sesame Street animator and writer, got a yes\u2014lies in the message its roughly drawn antihero conveyed to aspiring creators: Picture books don\u2019t have to require hours and hours at the table, toiling away at pristine, gorgeous illustrations. Though Willems is certainly capable of producing polished, classic-picture-book art, the Pigeon\u2019s success made it clear that an ingenious concept and sharp writing can make any book a smash. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Stuck<\/a> by Oliver Jeffers, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type<\/a> by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea!<\/a> by Ben Clanton, Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat<\/a> by Johnny Marciano, Emily Chenoweth, and Robb Mommaerts<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Dan Kois
\n The Instant-Classic Picture Book That Forced Even the Most Serious Adults to Get Silly
\n Read More<\/b>\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n 2009\n <\/p>\n

\n Jerry Pinkney\n <\/p>\n

The Lion & the Mouse<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Parents who like to storytell alongside a near-wordless picture book will have a field day with this one, based on a classic Aesop tale. A lion spares a mouse\u2019s life; later, the mouse saves the lion from a hunter\u2019s trap. (Moral: Every kindness will be repaid.) In Jerry Pinkney\u2019s version, only occasional text-rendered sound effects guide the reader, but the illustrations are so fun to lose yourself inside that you won\u2019t miss the words. Pinkney\u2019s lion, drawn in such rich and deep golds, browns, and yellows, dominates the pages of this Caldecott winner, but don\u2019t sleep on the mouse and its babies, with their beady, adorable eyes, or the gorgeously rendered long-beaked birds, who sound their alarm as the noble lion is scooped up in the net. Picture books have long retooled folktales and fables. This one, with its minimal text and truly striking front cover, takes a very 21st-century leap of faith in the reader\u2014and it pays off. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFrom its iconic wordless front-cover image previewing Jerry Pinkney\u2019s glorious naturalistic African Serengeti\u2013set art to the back-cover reveal of the object of the lion\u2019s gaze, this Caldecott winner is picture book\u2013making at its finest.\u201d \u2014Elissa Gershowitz, editor in chief, the <\/strong>Horn Book Magazine<\/strong><\/a>, a century-old children\u2019s lit journal<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Wave<\/a> by Suzy Lee, Wolf in the Snow<\/a> by Matthew Cordell<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> The Tale of Despereaux<\/a> by Kate DiCamillo, Wilderlore: The Accidental Apprentice<\/a> by Amanda Foody<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n 2010\n <\/p>\n

\n Laban Carrick Hill and Bryan Collier\n <\/p>\n

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave<\/strong><\/p>\n

David Drake, an enslaved man who lived in South Carolina in the 1800s, was a potter who made huge, beautiful jars and inscribed cryptic, poignant, humorous poems on the sides of some. We know about him because a number of those jars survived. Dave the Potter is about Drake\u2019s process of making the jars: how his fellow workers gathered up clay and carried it into his shed, how he mixed it with water, how he worked 60-pound lumps of clay on his wheel as \u201cthe walls of the jar puffed up like a robin\u2019s puffed breast,\u201d watching carefully to see when to stop, before \u201cits immense weight threatened collapse.\u201d Bryan Collier lays textured images of Drake working the wheel over backgrounds depicting the rest of the enslaved workers in the field, perfectly showing\u2014without the text ever needing to stipulate\u2014how unusual Drake\u2019s self-driven, expressive labor would have been, what a contrast to the rest of life on the plantation. The result is a thoughtful, beautiful example of the growing artfulness of picture-book nonfiction and biography\u2014a book about craft that never leaves the essential context of slavery behind. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cDave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave models what the best nonfiction picture books can do\u2014engage, inform, and transform the reader. Honoring Drake\u2019s artistic capacity while acknowledging his enslaved status, sharing his poetry while revealing it was illegal for Dave to be literate, the book trusts its readers to understand a multidimensional view of a brilliant artist.\u201d \u2014Mary Ann Cappiello, academic, Lesley University<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat<\/a> by Javaka Steptoe, Thank You, Omu!<\/a> by Oge Mora<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen<\/a> by Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford, The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights<\/a> by Steve Sheinkin<\/p>\n

\n 2011\n <\/p>\n

\n Herv\u00e9 Tullet\n <\/p>\n

Press Here<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Press Here is a sophisticated interaction machine, the most successful of a number of recent books encouraging play within their elegantly designed pages. Children who like to participate actively in the reading process will love it, and adult readers will find it incredibly charming. Each page arranges primary-colored dots, and the text asks the listener to do different things to the dots: press all the yellow ones; tip the book to the left, then the right; shake them up. When you turn the page, the next spread shows the child\u2014or children (this is a fun one for group story time)\u2014how their actions have \u201cchanged\u201d the dots\u2019 configuration. There\u2019s no moral to the story, just the fun of following along and laughing at Herv\u00e9 Tullet\u2019s cleverness. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAbsolutely beautiful, form-breaking, a gorgeous experience.\u201d \u2014B.J. Novak, actor, The Office, author (<\/strong>The Book With No Pictures<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPress Here was the first of its kind to make use of the book as an object\u00a0\u2026 beautifully, simply, and playfully executed.\u201d \u2014Oliver Jeffers, author and illustrator (<\/strong>Stuck<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>The Day the Crayons Quit<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Love<\/a> by Damien Poulain, The Little Barbarian<\/a> by Renato Moriconi<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Leviathan<\/a> by Jason Shiga, Greenglass House<\/a> by Kate Milford<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n 2012\n <\/p>\n

\n Jacqueline Woodson and E.B. Lewis\n <\/p>\n

Each Kindness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every beat of this story is heartbreaking, but the end will leave you wrecked. National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson excels at writing about friendship and its difficulties, and at subtly showing how gender, race, and class work inside kids\u2019 lives. In Each Kindness, the elementary school narrator tells us how a new girl named Maya comes into her class, gets instantly clocked as having no money, then tries to connect with the other girls\u2014before, finally, moving away, without making a single friend. E.B. Lewis\u2019 naturalistic illustrations of the narrator\u2019s classmates snubbing Maya in the classroom and on the playground perfectly capture the particular body language of children of this age. The story is absolutely, unflinchingly honest about how mean children can be to those they perceive as powerless\u2014and about how upset a kid can feel when they first realize that they, themselves, have been part of that cruelty. And Each Kindness isn\u2019t afraid to stay sad to the end. In this, it feels like an issues-based YA novel in the guise of a picture book, a blend of approaches that\u2019s perfect for starting conversations about friendship with an audience of early elementary kids. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cEach Kindness is a brave, revolutionary story that dares to end on regret. This beautifully inclusive book has inspired me and many other writers to take more risks in the picture-book form.\u201d \u2014Matt de la Pe\u00f1a, author (<\/strong>Last Stop on Market Street<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Watercress<\/a> by Andrea Wang and Jason Chin, Boats for Papa<\/a> by Jessixa Bagley<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Drita, My Homegirl<\/a> by Jenny Lombard, Restart<\/a> by Gordon Korman<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n 2012\n <\/p>\n

\n Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen\n <\/p>\n

Extra Yarn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Picture books have always retold, reinvented, or even fractured fairy tales, but it\u2019s the rare book that can conjure a whole new fairy tale that feels as if it\u2019s been around for centuries. That\u2019s the appeal of Extra Yarn, about a little girl in a grim gray town who finds a magical box of colorful yarn that never runs out. Extra Yarn was the first collaboration between Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, and it\u2019s the template not only for their partnership but for an entire aesthetic that serves as a kind of counterweight to an increasingly issue-oriented publishing marketplace: deadpan comedy, gentle absurdity, and beautiful craft, all in service of a timeless story. And yet there\u2019s more to this tale than simple whimsy: The book\u2019s moral about the wonder of making something special for your community is underscored by Klassen\u2019s artwork, with its origins in an actual thrift-store sweater whose texture he scanned. And the narrative\u2019s elemental power grows and grows with the arrival of the Archduke\u2014one of the silliest, meanest villains in recent memory, whose comeuppance is Barnett\u2019s final canny reversal, as finely crafted as the rest of this beautiful book. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cExtra Yarn is a great example of a collab, highlighting the storytelling prowess of Mac Barnett and the graphic mastery, mixed with folk-art magic, of Jon Klassen. It\u2019s just about a perfect story.\u201d \u2014Oliver Jeffers, author and illustrator (<\/strong>Stuck<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>The Day the Crayons Quit<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> The Three Pigs<\/a> by David Wiesner, After the Fall<\/a> by Dan Santat<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Finger Knitting Fun<\/a> by Vickie Howell, Under the Egg<\/a> by Laura Marx Fitzgerald<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen
\n These Authors Hate \u201cBest Of\u201d Picture-Book Lists. We Asked Them to Judge Ours Anyway.
\n Read More<\/b>\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n 2013\n <\/p>\n

\n Dianna Aston and Sylvia Long\n <\/p>\n

An Egg Is Quiet<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Nonfiction picture books about science can be serious, introducing big topics like ocean pollution or climate change, but in the past 25 years, some of the best ones have been beautiful and clever\u2014simply fun to look at, for kids who love nature and the adults who want to encourage their love. The visual appeal of the scientific drawings in this ode to eggs cannot be equaled. Any one spread describing the shapeliness, clever design, and \u201cgiving\u201d nature of the egg could easily be turned into a poster you\u2019d want to hang on your wall, but the two pages collecting the most colorful varieties of eggs are downright beautiful, and extremely calming to look down upon. Dianna Aston\u2019s text provides just enough information, adding small turns of phrase that are fun to read\u2014as when she tells us that seabirds, laying eggs on rock ledges, can depend on their pointy shape to keep them rolling around in \u201csafe little circles, not off the cliff.\u201d Kids will love looking at the page on camouflage, trying to spot the hidden egg, and will enjoy debating which egg is the most beautiful and well evolved for its purpose. There are, An Egg Is Quiet shows us, many contenders. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAn Egg Is Quiet is a master class in expository nonfiction, evoking wonder and surprise with its lyrical language and stunning illustrations, while simultaneously conveying scientific information in an engaging way and challenging readers\u2019 ideas about what an egg is.\u201d \u2014Andrea Wang, author (<\/strong>Watercress<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Grand Canyon<\/a> by Jason Chin, Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera<\/a> by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Plants Can\u2019t Sit Still<\/a> by Rebecca Hirsch and Mia Posada, Skunked!: Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet<\/a> by Jacqueline Kelly<\/p>\n

\n 2014\n <\/p>\n

\n B.J. Novak\n <\/p>\n

The Book With No Pictures<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Over the past 25 years, the picture book has become a reliable brand extender for the lazy celebrity, a chance for Madonna, Mario Lopez, or Bethenny Frankel to augment or tweak their image among free-spending parents while getting an illustrator to draw some cute art, preferably of a child version of the famous person. The Office actor B.J. Novak\u2019s The Book With No Pictures, however, is not that kind of picture book. Instead, it\u2019s an ingenious device designed to make children lose their minds with laughter, as adult readers are forced by the book\u2019s puckish narrator to say things like \u201cMy only friend in the whole wide world is a hippo named Boo Boo Butt.\u201d The Book With No Pictures is the perfect introduction to the idea that words\u2014boring old words!\u2014can be a lot of fun. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThis book shows how much fun you can have with words. I challenge anyone to read it aloud without laughing.\u201d \u2014Kate Reynolds, general book buyer, Colgate Bookstore, Hamilton, New York<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Nanette\u2019s Baguette<\/a> by Mo Willems, I Want My Hat Back<\/a> by Jon Klassen<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> The Book That No One Wanted to Read<\/a> by Richard Ayoade and Tor Freeman, Inkheart trilogy<\/a> by Cornelia Caroline Funke<\/p>\n

\n 2015\n <\/p>\n

\n Matt de la Pe\u00f1a and Christian Robinson\n <\/p>\n

Last Stop on Market Street<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

A little boy and his grandmother ride the bus, and the little boy peppers her with complaints: \u201cHow come we don\u2019t got a car?\u201d \u201cHow come we always gotta go here after church?\u201d This simple masterpiece of children\u2019s literature\u2014winner of the Newbery and a Caldecott Honor, and one of the highest vote-getters in our poll\u2014is relatable to every kid who\u2019s ever wondered why his friends\u2019 families seem richer and more fun, while remaining committed to the specific story of one little boy, living in a city, raised by his grandma, taking the bus across town. Christian Robinson\u2019s collages bring the city to gritty, colorful life, and the story\u2019s final grace note brings things to a perfect close, showing us where the bus, and the book, was going all along. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIn Last Stop on Market Street, de la Pe\u00f1a and Robinson perform a wonderful magic trick, transforming a simple bus ride into a deeper journey that reveals the magic and beauty in everyday moments.\u201d \u2014Minh L\u00ea, author (<\/strong>Drawn Together<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough empathy and art, de la Pe\u00f1a and Robinson have created one of the most moving picture books I\u2019ve ever read.\u201d \u2014Jason Chin, author and illustrator (<\/strong>Grand Canyon<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Small in the City<\/a> by Sydney Smith, A Different Pond<\/a> by Bao Phi and Thi Bui<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> No Purchase Necessary<\/a> by Maria Marianayagam, Seedfolks<\/a> by Paul Fleischman and Judy Pedersen<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Dan Kois
\n In Our Poll About the Best Picture Books of the Past 25 Years, One Got More Votes Than Any Other
\n Read More<\/b>\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n 2016\n <\/p>\n

\n Carson Ellis\n <\/p>\n

Du Iz Tak?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Everyone in the picture-book world is in love with Du Iz Tak?, our leading vote-getter among writers and illustrators. Reading the argot Carson Ellis has created for her insect characters, you stay at arm\u2019s length from this inscrutable, tiny transitory world. But even without understanding what they\u2019re saying, you become invested in the story of a single meadow during a single summer. The insects guess what a green sprout might be, build a fort in it as it grows, watch the fort get covered in a web by a spider and fear that it is lost, then witness a bird carry the spider away\u2014a feathery deus ex machina depicted in a gorgeous, terrifying spread that surprises you as much as the first great white rising out of the ocean in Jaws. When the plant sprouts a flower, the insects figure out what the plant is and say to one another: \u201cUnk gladdenboot! Unk scrivadelly gladdenboot!\u201d And, together, an adult and a child might begin to figure out what a \u201cgladdenboot\u201d might be. Du Iz Tak? succeeds entirely on its own terms, and those terms are utterly original. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cDu Iz Tak? IS the greatest picture book of the last 25 years, and I will die on that hill!!!\u201d \u2014Cece Bell, author and illustrator (<\/strong>El Deafo<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>Animal Albums From A to Z<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Twenty Questions<\/a> by Mac Barnett and Christian Robinson, Mr.\u00a0Fiorello\u2019s Head<\/a> by Cecilia Ruiz<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Robot Dreams<\/a> by Sara Varon, The Arrival<\/a> by Shaun Tan, The Atlas of Languages: Words Around the World<\/a> by Rachel Lancashire and Jenny Zemanek<\/p>\n

\n 2016\n <\/p>\n

\n Adam Rex and Christian Robinson\n <\/p>\n

School\u2019s First Day of School<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Many small children feel anxiety about starting school. Many picture books are published trying to help them come to terms with the transition. None, I\u2019ll wager, are as innovative, comforting, and funny as School\u2019s First Day of School, which, in its inside-out treatment of the first-day jitters, is never condescending to child or to parent. Frederick Douglass Elementary is a newly built school building, and it\u2019s nervous. In bright, jaunty illustrations reminiscent of Ezra Jack Keats\u2019 The Snowy Day, Christian Robinson shows the school being cleaned up by its janitor, who takes the place of a parent, talking Frederick Douglass Elementary through its apprehensions. \u201cDon\u2019t worry\u2014you\u2019ll like the children,\u201d Janitor says, but Frederick Douglass Elementary isn\u2019t sure. Through the school\u2019s eyes, a typical first day in kindergarten unfolds: nervous kids, a fire alarm, lunchtime jokes, after-lunch art-making sessions, and, finally, the realization that maybe things might be OK. It\u2019s a genius displacement tactic, walking young listeners through these emotions, while keeping reality at the perfect distance. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> I\u2019m Sorry You Got Mad<\/a> by Kyle Lukoff and Julie Kwon, The House in the Night<\/a> by Susan Marie Swanson and Beth Krommes<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School<\/a> by Emily Jenkins, A First Time for Everything<\/a> by Dan Santat<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n 2016\n <\/p>\n

\n Brendan Wenzel\n <\/p>\n

They All Saw a Cat<\/strong><\/p>\n

A cat walks through the world. It\u2019s just a normal housecat, with \u201cwhiskers, ears, and paws.\u201d The cat encounters various other creatures: a fish, a mouse, a bee, a child. Each of them \u201csees\u201d the cat, and in the spreads, the art shifts accordingly: The fish sees the cat as blurry and huge; the mouse sees the cat as a horror-show monster; the bee sees the cat as a pebbled mosaic; the child sees the cat as adorable and sweet, with huge anime eyes. This book is a simple yet profound exploration of perception and perspective. It teaches readers a lot about art, and about science, without using very many words at all. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThey All Saw a Cat is the sort of picture book that\u2019s so smart, does what it does so simply and so well, that it can\u2019t ever be done again.\u201d \u2014Jarrett Pumphrey, author and illustrator (<\/strong>The Old Truck<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis book manages to celebrate the importance of seeing beyond one\u2019s own limited perspective without being didactic. There is no cringeworthy \u2018teachable moment\u2019 here; lost in the delight of imagining ourselves into the next animal\u2019s shoes, we glean, without being told, that there is no such thing as true \u2018objectivity,\u2019 and that all of us see the cat, and the world, through our limited points of view.\u201d \u2014Ariel Kaplowitz Hahn, academic, University of Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Actual Size<\/a> by Steve Jenkins, If You Come to Earth<\/a> by Sophie Blackall<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Counting by 7s<\/a> by Holly Goldberg Sloan, Invisible: A Graphic Novel<\/a> by Christina Diaz Gonzalez and Gabriela Epstein<\/p>\n

\n 2017\n <\/p>\n

\n Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James\n <\/p>\n

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

An energizing example of art made by Black artists for Black families, Crown takes the reader into a neighborhood barbershop for a tight fade, high\/low\/bald. Gordon James\u2019 majestic oil paintings elevate the boy at the center of the book to the same level as the handsome dudes all around getting a shape-up, tapered sides, a crisp but subtle line. And Derrick Barnes\u2019 language sings in Black children\u2019s ears: \u201cThey\u2019re going to have to wear shades when they look up to catch your shine.\u201d The growth in publishing\u00a0about the Black experience has produced any number of picture books, many of them artful and admirable, marking the accomplishments of famous Black role models. Crown is different: a self-assured celebration of everyday Black boyhood, manhood, and community, a testament not to the luminaries but to the prosaic yet formative moment when you leave the barbershop, fresh as anything, neck still stinging, feeling \u201cmagnificent. Flawless. Like royalty.\u201d Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe undeniable reverberations of strut and swagger that come with a truly great haircut just emanate off the pages of this intensely lyrical, brilliantly conceived picture book.\u201d \u2014Betsy Bird, librarian, <\/strong>blogger<\/strong><\/a>, reviewer, and <\/strong>podcaster<\/strong><\/a> focusing on children\u2019s books<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCrown is both praise poem and artful storytelling infused with traditional Black history, contemporary community perspective, and revelatory, personal self-awareness. \u2026 The artist\u2019s imagery is realistic yet magically expansive, leaving ample space for the reader\u2019s imagination.\u201d \u2014Cheryl Willis Hudson, <\/strong>author, editor, and publisher<\/strong><\/a> (<\/strong>When I Hear Spirituals<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> I Talk Like a River<\/a> by Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith, The Proudest Blue<\/a> by Ibtihaj Muhammad, S.K. Ali, and Hatem Aly<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Future Hero: Race to Fire Mountain<\/a> by Remi Blackwood, Hip-Hop: The Beat of America<\/a> by Jarrett Williams<\/p>\n

\n 2018\n <\/p>\n

\n Jessica Love\n <\/p>\n

Juli\u00e1n Is a Mermaid<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The winner of a Stonewall Book Award, this debut explores the extravagant inner life of a little boy who dreams of dressing up as beautifully as the women he sees on the subway. Jessica Love\u2019s fluid gouache artwork\u2014cleverly painted on plain brown paper\u2014makes Juli\u00e1n\u2019s dreams a reality, and also creates an entire Brooklyn world all around him, full of street-corner grumps, giggling neighbors, and his stone-faced abuela. The story is hers as much as it\u2019s Juli\u00e1n\u2019s, as this skeptical woman comes to embrace her grandchild and his flamboyant soul\u2014an openhearted message that renders absurd the many challenges and bans<\/a> this book has endured since publication. One of the biggest recent stories in picture books is the growing censorship they face from right-wing extremists challenging children\u2019s freedom to read. Juli\u00e1n Is a Mermaid is a reminder that the books they\u2019re opposing aren\u2019t propaganda or obscene. They\u2019re carefully crafted works of art like Juli\u00e1n, challenged because they deliver the dangerous (?!) moral that every child deserves a happy, loving life. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cJuli\u00e1n Is a Mermaid arrived as an instant classic, and its staying power has proven that assessment. I have shared this book with so many people and families over the years since it came out, and I still feel its emotional power every single time.\u201d \u2014Lisa Swayze, executive director, Ithaca Literary\/<\/strong>Buffalo Street Books<\/strong><\/a>, Ithaca, New York<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> When Aidan Became a Brother<\/a> by Kyle Lukoff and Kaylani Juanita, Tough Like Mum<\/a> by Lana Button and Carmen Mok<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Felix Ever After<\/a> by Kacen Callender, The Prince and the Dressmaker<\/a> by Jen Wang<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n 2018\n <\/p>\n

\n Yuyi Morales\n <\/p>\n

Dreamers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

This lyrical picture-book memoir is a classic immigrant story, one whose details will be instantly familiar to some readers and eye-opening to others: the struggle to understand, the embarrassing mistakes, the slow-growing recognition of what it takes to get by in a new place. For Yuyi Morales and her son, this growth comes courtesy of the public library\u2014specifically, the picture books in that library, which help both new Americans learn the language of their adopted home. So Dreamers is a picture book about other picture books, the covers of many of which decorate Morales\u2019 vibrant painted collages, and it\u2019s this celebration of the art form itself that is most touching in this sensitive story. Dreamers shows the ways picture books open doors to other worlds, the gifts they give new readers of all ages. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cOn the crowded shelf of I-love-you books lives Morales\u2019 specifically personal, heart-tugging, and wholly unique ode to her child and to the children\u2019s books and libraries that warmly welcomed them. \u2026 With imagistic motifs and fantastical details to pore over on every vibrant page, this Pura Belpr\u00e9 Award winner (published in Spanish as So\u00f1adores) is a wildly creative, gentle-hearted, reverent, and activist work.\u201d \u2014Elissa Gershowitz, editor in chief, the <\/strong>Horn Book Magazine<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDreamers is love and hope in book form. In sharing her own story of finding home in a new country, Morales fills every page with humanity and heart, making this masterpiece a perfect antidote for despairing times.\u201d \u2014Minh L\u00ea, author (<\/strong>Drawn Together<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read<\/a> by Rita Lorraine Hubbard and Oge Mora, Alma and How She Got Her Name<\/a> by Juana Martinez-Neal<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Front Desk<\/a> by Kelly Yang, Parachute Kids<\/a> by Betty Tang<\/p>\n

\n 2019\n <\/p>\n

\n Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson\n <\/p>\n

The Undefeated<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Picture books have long served as children\u2019s introductions not only to storytelling but to poetry, and this piece by Newbery winner Kwame Alexander is a master class in verse writing for young people. The Undefeated uses stirring imagery, irresistible rhythm, and haunting repetition to highlight the struggles and triumphs of Black Americans, from Wilma Rudolph to James Baldwin to Trayvon Martin\u2014and a reference guide at the back offers pocket biographies of each figure, a treasury for any kid who loves to learn a little bit more. Alexander\u2019s words lead readers by the hand into the astonishing oil paintings by Kadir Nelson, so energetic that Jack Johnson, for example, seems as if he could pop off the page, muscles agleam, and spar with you today. And when text and image work together\u2014as in a central three-spread sequence linking slavery, the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, and police violence against Black people\u2014the effect is spellbinding. The result is a treasure for Black parents in particular, and for any parent who wants to introduce a child to the tapestry of Black American history. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe Undefeated unites Alexander\u2019s poetic brilliance with Nelson\u2019s masterful paintings to create an unparalleled picture book that confronts oft-ignored histories, while celebrating the strength, resilience, determination, and enduring hope of African Americans.\u201d \u2014Jared Crossley, academic, the Ohio State University<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power couple\u2014author Alexander and illustrator Nelson\u2014deliver a love letter to Black America. Alexander\u2019s sparse, lyrical, emotion-packed words are both celebratory and haunting. Nelson\u2019s oil-on-panel paintings expand on Alexander\u2019s poem with realistic-yet-larger-than-life figures, whose penetrating, viewer-facing gazes welcome readers and compel them to bear witness.\u201d \u2014Shelley Isaacson, academic, Simmons University<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> All the World<\/a> by Liz Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee, Martin\u2019s Big Words<\/a> by Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Brown Girl Dreaming<\/a> by Jacqueline Woodson, Betty Before X<\/a> by Ilyasah Shabazz and Ren\u00e9e Watson, Ghost Boys<\/a> by Jewell Parker Rhodes<\/p>\n

\n 2019\n <\/p>\n

\n Ra\u00fal the Third and Elaine Bay\n <\/p>\n

\u00a1Vamos! Let\u2019s Go to the Market<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Certain children want nothing more than to sit with a book forever, picking out every single little detail and delighting in it. For these kids, Ra\u00fal the Third is a 21st-century Richard Scarry, and his busy border town\u2014full of bovine luchadors, anteaters frying churros, and bucket-hatted tortugas\u2014is a treasure trove. Look over there\u2014it\u2019s a frog playing mariachi! Turn the page\u2014a newsstand displays dozens of charming comic books! The text is in English, while objects and characters are labeled in Spanish, so as deliveryman Little Lobo and his dog Bernab\u00e9 deliver supplies to all the shopkeepers of the mercado, young readers learn dozens of Spanish words. They also identify touchstones of Mexican culture and laugh at scores of funny details\u2014from a flock of pigeons dining at a rooftop restaurant to a piggy pi\u00f1ata that just might resemble a certain president. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cRa\u00fal the Third\u2019s incredible art and imagination know no boundaries. Filled with eccentric characters, quirky shops, endless Easter eggs, and peppered with Spanish words, it\u2019s no surprise this first book has spawned an entire \u00a1Vamos! universe.\u201d \u2014Margaret Raymo, executive editor, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Mel Fell<\/a> by Corey Tabor, Animal Albums From A to Z<\/a> by Cece Bell<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Mexikid<\/a> by Pedro Martin, Hungry Hearts<\/a>, edited by Elsie Chapman and Caroline Tung Richmond<\/p>\n

\n 2021\n <\/p>\n

\n Phoebe Wahl\n <\/p>\n

Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Tundra Books<\/p>\n

Four stories, one for each season, follow the life of Little Witch Hazel, who makes her home in a stump. The bright colors and handmade feel of Phoebe Wahl\u2019s watercolor-and-pencil illustrations render Hazel\u2019s hobbit-ish world in homey detail: her one-room cabin, complete with fireplace, teakettle, and herbs and onions drying on a line; her little overalls and hairy legs; her adorable neighbors, who are, of course, owls, rabbits, mice, and frogs. The second chapter comes to a gorgeous climax in spreads showing every forest denizen partying on a river, boating and swimming together in a perfect visual expression of the teeming feeling of high summer. Only at the end of the book do these four stories finally come together, as Hazel faces snowy peril in the depths of winter. Both longer and more homespun than the typical picture book, Little Witch Hazel will serve for children as a bridge to the world of graphic novels, and an inspiration for a life devoted to community and mutual aid. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThis book came out just a few years ago, but something about it\u2014maybe the gorgeous, super-saturated illustrations, or the mysterious swerves in the story\u2019s gentle fables\u2014feels sturdy and ageless, like folklore. (Also, there\u2019s never been a better depiction of being too busy to enjoy a perfect summer day, and how good it feels when you finally relent, stop doing things, and sit with your feet dangling in the water.)\u201d \u2014Julia Turner, host, <\/strong>Slate Culture Gabfest<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLittle Witch Hazel feels at once cozily familiar and magically fresh. I wish I could fall into the pages and live in this perfectly created, wonderfully detailed world.\u201d \u2014Amanda Gaglione, assistant editor, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> On a Magical Do-Nothing Day<\/a> by Beatrice Alemagna, Everything You Need for a Treehouse<\/a> by Carter Higgins and Emily Hughes<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Garlic and the Vampire<\/a> by Bree Paulsen, The Sprite and the Gardener<\/a> by Rii Abrego and Joe Whitt<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n 2021\n <\/p>\n

\n Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper\n <\/p>\n

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where once picture books were used by teachers purely as literacy tools, primarily for early elementary students just learning to read, in recent years they have become a crucial part of the late elementary and even middle school curricula\u2014a way to introduce slightly older students to challenging concepts in an accessible, welcoming way. Unspeakable is an outstanding example of this new kind of picture book, a rigorously researched chronicle of Tulsa\u2019s thriving Greenwood neighborhood, a bastion of Black middle-class life in Oklahoma, and the violence that swept across it in two terrible days in 1921. For a parent, seeing the deaths of hundreds given the picture-book treatment can be a shock. But keep in mind: This isn\u2019t meant to be a bedtime story. For a curious student hungry to learn about a dark day in American history, Carole Boston Weatherford\u2019s measured storytelling and Floyd Cooper\u2019s stippled illustrations are a gift. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cCarole Boston Weatherford is the best biographer and nonfiction writer in children\u2019s publishing\u00a0\u2026 maybe ever. I always wanted to see the Black Wall Street\/Tulsa massacre story told, and no one could have illustrated that dark stain in American history better than the legendary, the eternal, Floyd Cooper.\u201d \u2014Derrick Barnes, author (<\/strong>Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWeatherford includes documented fact after fact, and explores content and perspectives not normally addressed in stories for children. Cooper renders these historic facts with powerful sepia-based pastel and oil paintings that are rhythmic, atmospheric, and realistically illuminate the unspeakable horror of 1921, which was deliberately erased from United States history for over 75 years. Unspeakable is a masterpiece of much-needed truth, hope, and light.\u201d \u2014Cheryl Willis Hudson, <\/strong>author, editor, and publisher<\/strong><\/a> (<\/strong>When I Hear Spirituals<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Hold Them Close<\/a> by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and Patrick Dougher, Milo Imagines the World<\/a> by Matt de la Pe\u00f1a and Christian Robinson<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Angel of Greenwood<\/a> by Randi Pink, Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre<\/a> by Brandy Colbert, <\/a>Lena and the Burning of Greenwood<\/a> by Nikki Shannon Smith<\/p>\n

\n 2022\n <\/p>\n

\n Sophie Blackall\n <\/p>\n

Farmhouse<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

A remarkable book that encourages readers to emotionally invest in both history and the transformation of history into storytelling. A farmhouse in upstate New York hosts a family of 12 children, who grow up, then leave the house behind, to sink into the ground, taken over by the wilderness. Sophie Blackall\u2019s gorgeously detailed, richly colored illustrations open windows into what happened inside this house. Red-cheeked farm kids sleep together in big bedrooms, clown around at the toddlers\u2019 table, play pranks with their cat, tend a sick baby, and carry out the chore of milking the cows, at dawn and at dusk, \u201cno matter the weather.\u201d When the story transitions to the house\u2019s abandonment phase, the book becomes profoundly nostalgic, and even child listeners\u2014not always known for their sentimentality\u2014may have their first epiphanies about the passage of time. The meta turn the book takes in the last few pages\u2014the tumbled-down farmhouse, we find out, was on Blackall\u2019s own property, and before bulldozing it, she rescued scraps from the ruin to make her illustrations\u2014is stunning in its sophistication. Like the best contemporary picture-book creators, Blackall trusts young readers to come with her on a complicated, fascinating journey. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSophie is a master doing masterful things in this book. I could read it a thousand times and still find new things to discover.\u201d \u2014Jarrett Pumphrey, author (<\/strong>The Old Truck<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> The Old Truck<\/a> by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey, Hello Lighthouse<\/a> by Sophie Blackall<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> The House on the Canal: The Story of the House That Hid Anne Frank<\/a> by Thomas Harding and Britta Teckentrup, The Apartment: A Century of Russian History<\/a> by Alexandra Litvina and Anna Desnitskaya, translated by Antonina W. Bouis<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Rebecca Onion
\n The Melancholy Children\u2019s Book With a Killer Final Twist
\n Read More<\/b>\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n 2023\n <\/p>\n

\n X. Fang\n <\/p>\n

Dim Sum Palace<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The very first page of this dreamy, funny story overflows with personality, introducing readers to Liddy, who in X.\u00a0Fang\u2019s colored-pencil drawing stands atop her bed, hero-posed, \u201cexcited for bedtime, because the next day her family was going to the Dim Sum Palace.\u201d Dim Sum Palace feels perfectly modern, while still casting an eye back to the classics. Like Mickey in Maurice Sendak\u2019s In the Night Kitchen<\/a>, Liddy will go on a dream journey, this one to the kitchen of a real dim sum palace, where she wanders among giant chefs, gets wrapped up into a dumpling, and is served to the Empress. This fantasia by a rising picture-book star is both a treasure of cultural specificity (witness the congee and chicken feet in the endpapers) and a story every kid will find themself inside. After all, what child hasn\u2019t dreamed of eating so many treats her belly is round and full\u2014or woken up with a playful scribble of messy hair? Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cA perfect picture book. When I got to the last page, I could hear the trumpets in my brain heralding the arrival of a major new talent who\u2019d be making great work for decades to come. And then I saw the back flap, where she drew herself as a giant dumpling, and my esteem for her doubled.\u201d \u2014Mac Barnett, author (<\/strong>Extra Yarn<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI am awed by Fang\u2019s storytelling talent. An homage to In the Night Kitchen, this delightful story about a child\u2019s nighttime visit to a busy kitchen captures the spirit of Sendak\u2019s book and matches it with a sense of imagination, humor, and adventure all its own.\u201d \u2014Kelly Proudfit, youth services librarian, Greensboro, North Carolina<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Where\u2019s Halmoni?<\/a> by Julie Kim, Sophie\u2019s Squash<\/a> by Pat Zietlow Miller and Anne Wilsdorf<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom<\/a> by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr, Maizy Chen\u2019s Last Chance<\/a> by Lisa Yee, Chinese Menu<\/a> by Grace Lin<\/p>\n

\n 2023\n <\/p>\n

\n Jon Klassen\n <\/p>\n

The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Otilla runs away from home and finds a mansion in the woods inhabited only by a talking skull. So far, so mildly scary, but as soon as Otilla feeds the skull a bite of pear and it falls through him and onto the floor, the reader\u2019s sense of peril recedes. The Skull, 112 pages long, has more words than many picture books\u2014indeed, it has chapters\u2014and Jon Klassen\u2019s willingness to follow his story as far as it takes him marks this book as a true original. Its horror-movie setting gets cozy-fied by the roly-poly look of the skull, and by the truly genuine friendship that emerges between the girl and this empty mansion\u2019s only resident. When Otilla performs a ghastly middle-of-the-night service to liberate her skull pal from a pesky skeleton that wants to own him, a certain type of baby goth will be thrilled. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe Skull defies nearly every \u2018rule\u2019 of 21st-century children\u2019s books: Don\u2019t be too scary. Don\u2019t allude to death, unless it\u2019s a book about coping with grief. Don\u2019t retell or reinvent stories not directly related to your own culture. Don\u2019t leave any plot points, especially unsettling ones, unresolved. Don\u2019t show children in precarious situations on their own without an adult nearby. Don\u2019t use a format that doesn\u2019t fit squarely on either a picture-book or a chapter-book shelf in a store. I don\u2019t just admire the book for breaking the rules; I admire that it does so brilliantly, creating something entirely new.\u201d \u2014Andrea Spooner, vice president and editorial director, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> Duck, Death and the Tulip<\/a> by Wolf Erlbruch, A Big Mooncake for Little Star<\/a> by Grace Lin<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories<\/a> (Cautionary Fables and Fairytales, Vol.\u00a03), The Singing Bones<\/a> by Shaun Tan<\/p>\n

\n 2025\n <\/p>\n

\n Neil Sharpson and Dan Santat\n <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Trust Fish<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The picture-book world has gotten more comfortable with absurdity in the past 25 years, and Don\u2019t Trust Fish might represent the pinnacle of laugh-out-loud folly. It first adopts the guise of a kids book about nature, with scientific-looking illustrations of snakes and birds and staid descriptions of their characteristics. Then, Neil Sharpson\u2019s words and Dan Santat\u2019s illustrations explode out of the box and become a manic, brightly colored manifesto against, well, fish. Fish, the book proclaims, cannot be trusted! (\u201cWe don\u2019t know that fish have giant battle aquariums with laser beams and big long legs that they will one day use to take over the world,\u201d the narrator says. \u201cWe don\u2019t know that they DON\u2019T have them either.\u201d) Sophisticated readers\u2014ones nearly at the level of the middle-grade graphic novels this clever book resembles\u2014will giggle at the mounting allegations leveled against the innocent fish and will howl at the last-page twist, which reveals that the ichthyophobic \u201cauthor\u201d has his own particular ulterior motives. Buy it from <\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a> or <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you liked this:<\/strong> We Are Definitely Human<\/a> by X. Fang, Mother Bruce<\/a> by Ryan Higgins<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older:<\/strong> The Aquanaut<\/a> by Dan Santat, Plain Jane and the Mermaid<\/a> by Vera Brosgol<\/p>\n

Update, Sept. 22, 2025: This list has been updated to clarify that\u00a0Last Stop on Market Street\u00a0was a Caldecott Honor book but did not win the Caldecott Medal.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Read all of Slate\u2019s stories about the 25 Greatest Picture Books of the Past 25 Years. On Oct.\u00a08,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[52959,359,3914,18,117,4152,1652,19,17,3917],"class_list":{"0":"post-86057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-best-picture-books","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-children","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-evergreen","14":"tag-family","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-kids"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}