The Best Children’s Books of 2019 as Chosen by Booksellers

Once again, Jackie and I had the pleasure of heading to Children’s Book World in Haverford for their yearly educators’ night. On this particular night, a few of the booksellers showcase their favorite children’s book releases of the year. They relate it to lessons for the classroom, but you can easily adapt these picks for the home. Some are just plain fun, while other books have a serious message. We always walk away with fantastic picks for our home libraries. Below you’ll find CBW’s picks for the best children’s books of 2019. You can also see their picks from 2018 and 2017.

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Fiction

Picture Books

Always my personal favorite category, I’ll be sad when my days of buying Picture Books come to an end. This year’s crop features books that teach kids about embracing differences (Sulwe, Just Ask, Count on Me) and some are aimed at teaching kids about current events (The Pirate Tree, Between Us and Abuela, Room on Our Rock.) Of course, we added in some just for fun books like Because, Stretchy McHandsome, and I Want a Dog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early Readers

This year, publishers are creating early reader books that look like big kid books. This movement does double duty in helping younger kids feel more grown up with their book picks while delayed readers feel more confident holding chapter books that are at younger reading levels around their peers.

Middle-Grade

So many great choices on this list from the fun – Finding Orion, A Kind of Paradise, Batting Order, to the serious. White Bird is a graphic novel about WWII and The Day The World Stopped Turning deals with the same time period. The Boy in the Back of the class deals with the timely topic of Syrian refugees. Also on my personal to-read list is More to the Story which is a modern retelling of Little Women.

 

 

Nonfiction

This list contains picture books, reference books, and some early readers as well. The “From an Idea to” series, in particular, is fascinating for most kiddos. The books about the female animators and actress-turned-inventor Hedy Lamarr are great examples of STEM for girls, while Hector and What is a Refugee aim to relate current events to young kids.