Bank Street College of Education has released their 2024 edition of The Best Children’s Books of the Year (2023), and we saw a lot of familiar names on the list! For those who don’t know, Bank Street’s Children’s Book Committee selected the best of the best books published in 2023. They looked into aspects such as a book’s potential emotional impact, authenticity, plot and characterization, and more. Every book on the list (600 total) is reviewed by two committee members, then discussed by the entire committee as a whole!
Upon reading, we saw that the list had many WB instructors, students and faculty featured. Some writers even have multiple stories included! If you haven’t already, be sure to support and check out as many of these books as you can. Here are all of the books that made it on the list:
Under Five
Abuela’s Super Capa by Ana Siqueira
Full Moon Pups by Liz Garton Scanlon
Penny & Pip by Candace Fleming
Nesting Dolls by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Nell Plants a Tree by Anne Wynter
Ways to Play by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Stinkbird Has a Superpower by Jill Esbaum
Five to Nine
Ali the Great and the Market Mishap by Saadia Faruqi
Building a Dream: How the Boys of Koh Panyee Became Champions by Darshana Khiani
Masala Chai, Fast and Slow by Rajani LaRocca
Summer is for Cousins by Rajani LaRocca
Never Forget Eleanor by Jason June
Only Only Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly
The Courage of the Little Hummingbird: A Tale Told Around the World by Leah Henderson
Rivka’s Presents by Laurie Wallmark
The King Penguin by Vanessa Roeder
Animals in Surprising Shades: Poems About Earth’s Colorful Creatures by Susan Johnston Taylor
All Rise: The Story of Ketanji Brown Jackson by Carole Boston Weatherford
How Do You Spell Unfair? MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee by Carole Boston Weatherford
Kati’s Tiny Messengers: Dr. Katalin Karikó and the Battle Against COVID-19 by Megan Hoyt
To See Clearly: A Portrait of David Hockney by Evan Turk
Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem by Melissa Stewart
The Bees of Notre Dame by Meghan P. Browne
A River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon by Jilanne Hoffmann
Your One and Only Heart by Rajani LaRocca, MD
Nine to Twelve
Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
A Walk in the Woods by Nikki Grimes
Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm by Lesa Cline-Ransome
A Vaccine is Like a Memory by Rajani LaRocca, MD
Before Colors: Where Pigments and Dyes Comes From by Annette Bay Pimental
Twelve to Fourteen
Museum of Lost and Found: A Novel by Leila Sales
Fourteen and Older
An Appetite for Miracles by Laekan Zea Kemp
The Minus-One Club by Kekla Magoon
For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Be sure to view the full edition here!
We want to acknowledge all of the writers whose books made the list. All of your hard work is paying off. Your stories are important and they’ve been heard. Congratulations, everyone! The Writing Barn shelves sure are looking beautiful.
-The Writing Barn team