50 Favorite Illustrated Children’s Books of 2017
This year, I had the great honor of being a judge for the 2017 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award. On a morning in early October, my fellow judges and I met in a large conference room in the New York Times building. There were two rows of tables just overflowing with 1000+ books. In the months prior to selection day, I had tried to prepare myself by reading more than 500 illustrated titles. All this reading did not fully ready me for the piles of books in that conference room. By the end of the day, we had narrowed the field down to the 10 winners. We were thrilled with our choices and a bit sad for some of our favorites that were abandoned along the way.
There were lots of wonderful books published in 2017. Not all of them are going to make the “best of” lists, but here are 50 of my favorites. As a librarian, I believe that each child should have a personal library at home with lots of library books mixed in. If you are looking for gift ideas or would like a booklist to use at your local public library, here are some titles to get you started.
Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome; illustrated by James E. Ransome
Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus; illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Bravo! : Poems about Amazing Hispanics by Margarita Engle; illustrated by Rafael López
Claymates by Dev Petty; illustrated by Lauren Eldridge
The Crane Girl by Curtis Manley; illustrated by Lin Wang
Dazzle Ships : World War I and the Art of Confusion by Chris Barton; illustrated by Victo Ngai
A Different Pond by Bao Phi; illustrated by Thi Bui
The Fog by Kyo Maclear; illustrated by Kenard Pak
The Fox Wish by Kimiko Aman; illustrated by Komako Sakai
King of the Sky by Nicola Davies; illustrated by Laura Carlin
Winner - New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award
A Letter to My Teacher by Deborah Hopkinson; illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
Priscilla Gorilla by Barbara Bottner; illustrated by Michael Emberley
Round by Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
Schomburg: the Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford; illustrated by Eric Velasquez
That is My Dream! by Langston Hughes; illustrated by Daniel Miyares
Tony by Ed Galing; illustrated by Erin E. Stead
Trees by Lemniscates
Town is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz; illustrated by Sydney Smith
Winner - New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award
When's My Birthday? by Julie Fogliano; illustrated by Christian Robinson
Where's Rodney? by Carmen Bogan; illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Why Am I Me? by Paige Britt; illustrated by Sean Qualls & Selina Alko
Windows by Julia Denos; illustrated by E.B. Goodale
The Wolf, the Duck & the Mouse by Mac Barnett; illustrated by Jon Klassen