As we wrap up 2022, we enthusiastically recommend sixteen of our favorite books from this year. We love discovering books that make us want to read and re-read them—books that we can’t wait to share with the children in our lives. We hope you enjoy them, too.
Picture Books:
- Mina by Matthew Forsythe
- Rodney Was a Tortoise by Nan Forler, illustrated by Yong Ling Kang
- Somewhere in the Bayou by Jarrett Pumphrey, illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey
- Knight Owl by Christopher Denise
- The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky by Jihyun Kim
- Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall
- A Bear, A Bee, and a Honey Tree by Daniel Bernstrom, illustrated by Brandon James Scott
Fiction:
- Healer & Witch by Nancy Werlin
- The Bluest Sky by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
- Black Bird, Blue Road by Sofiya Pasternack
- Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas
Folktales:
- The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen
Nonfiction:
- Solitary Animals: Introverts of the Wild by Joshua David Stein, illustrated by Dominique Ramsey
- A Seed Grows by Antoinette Portis
- Unbreakable: The Spies Who Cracked the Nazis’ Secret Code by Rebecca E. F. Barone
- Ain't Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jason Griffin
If you are looking for more book recommendations, browse these best-of-the year lists and award winners.
Bookpage Best Middle Grade and Chapter Books of 2022
Bookpage Best Picture Books of 2022
Kirkus Best Picture Books of 2022
Kirkus Best Middle-Grade Books of 2022
NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children 2023
NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children 2023
The New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2022
