A two page spread from The Magicians by Blexbolex.
Presented is a selection of our favorite children’s books of 2023. Books are stocked in store and they can be viewed (or ordered online) from our Bookshop.org affiliate catalogs. Thank you for your support and for shopping local.
Best of Children’s & YA Books Ages 10 and Up, 2023
The Many Masks of Andy Zhou (ages 10 and up)
Jack Cheng
Dial Books
Creative and brave sixth grader Andy Zhou faces big changes at school and at home in this new novel by the award-winning author of See You in the Cosmos, for fans of When You Trap a Tiger and The Stars Beneath Our Feet
“A joy and a journey.” –Tae Keller, Newbery Award-winning author of When You Trap a Tiger
“Sincere . . . Perceptive . . . Captures the joys and complex anxieties of middle school.” –Kirkus
“Beautiful . . . Recommended for fans of Erin Entrada Kelly and Nicole Melleby.” –SLJ
“Realistic . . . Compelling.” –Booklist
“Beautifully and naturally depicts Chinese American family life and the first year of middle school” –Common Sense Media
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
Sandy Tolan
Bloomsbury
“Gr 6 Up—In this young readers’ adaptation of the 2007 book, Tolan details the true story of the unexpected friendship between Bashir Khairi, a Palestinian man of Arab ancestry, and Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, an Israeli woman of Jewish descent. These two individuals found they shared a connection. Their families lived in the same stone house at different time periods. Nineteen years before Landau’s family moved in, Khairi’s family lived in the house. During the formation of Israel in 1948, six-year-old Khairi and his family were forced to flee their hometown. Landau and her family relocated from Europe to Israel after World War II. In 1967, soon after the Six-Day War, Khairi and Landau met as young adults. For a time, they maintained a tenuous friendship and an openness to conversation. Tolan deftly explores both sides of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He connects news stories to real people and describes the mental, emotional, and physical impact of violence, occupation, and forced relocation. Although the text would have benefitted from a time line and a little more explanation about Zionism, the compelling narrative provides readers with insight into an impossible situation. Front matter includes territorial maps and information about Tolan’s research methods; back matter features an annotated list of books, articles, and films on the topic, as well as an extensive list of sources. VERDICT Tolan makes an incredibly complicated topic comprehensible, creating empathy and understanding for people on both sides of the conflict.—Sarah Reid, School Library Journal
“Through broad sweeps of narrative going back and forward in time, Tolan’s sensitively told, eminently fair-minded narrative closes with a return to that lemon tree and its promise of reconciliation. Humane and literate–and rather daring in suggesting that the future of the Middle East need not be violent.” –Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Moving, well-crafted . . . readers will experience one of the world’s most stubborn conflicts firsthand.” -Publishers Weekly, starred review
“[Tolan] sensitively describes the tough friendship between Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, the daughter of Romanian Jewish immigrants who settled in Ramla, and Palestinian Bashir Khairi, who in 1967 knocked on her door to look at the house his family lost when it was forced to flee in 1948 . . . Tolan uses the beloved backyard lemon tree to drive home the shared humanity of the successive inhabitants of one home.” -LA Review of Books
Huda F Cares
Huda Fahmy
Dial Books
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
In this laugh-out-loud funny sequel to the graphic novel Huda F Are You?, the Fahmys are off to Disney World, but self-conscious Huda worries her family will stand out too much.
Huda and her sisters can’t believe it when her parents announce that they’re actually taking a vacation this summer . . . to DISNEY WORLD! But it’s not quite as perfect as it seems. First Huda has to survive a 24-hour road trip from Michigan to Florida, with her sisters annoying her all the way. And then she can’t help but notice the people staring at her and her family when they pray in public. Back home in Dearborn she and her family blend right in because there are so many other Muslim families, but not so much in Florida and along the way.
“Fahmy’s signature simplified cartooning style softens some ofthe tougher moments the sisters encounter, while still enabling her quick, sharp humor to stick the landing.” –Booklist
“Comedic and poignant, Fahmy’s narrative captures universal feelings of fluctuating confidence and self-deprecation, the ups and downs of family dynamics, and the growing awareness of siblings’ humanity outside the family unit. The cartoonlike, full-color artwork is dynamic, with simplified features that accentuate facial expressions. Delightfully heartwarming.” –Kirkus
Best of Children’s Picture Books, 2023
The Magicians (all ages)
by Bolexblex
Enchanted Lion Books
“An exploration of the magic and difficulty of childhood, the wonders of the imagination, and the unique properties of books themselves, The Magicians is another utterly surprising gift from the singular mind of Blexbolex. You’ll want to read it again and again.” –Brian Selznick, author & illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Big Tree
It’s a graphic novel! It’s an art book! It’s an action-packed fantasy adventure from French visionary Blexbolex, for readers young and old.
Selected for the Wall Street Journal Holiday Books Gift Guide, Publishers Weekly’s Holiday Gift Guide, and A Room of One’s Own’s Holiday Catalog – A Kirkus Best Book of 2023 – A Moonbow Best Children’s Book of 2023 – A 100 Scope Notes Most Astonishingly Unconventional Children’s Book of 2023 – A Publishers Weekly Big Indie Book of the Fall
In the corner of a quiet, long-abandoned house, something is bubbling up and protesting. Suddenly, out from their hiding spots burst three young shapeshifting magicians–an elephant, a blackbird, and a human girl–each of whom embarks on their own journey. But a fierce young Huntress and a mechanical lion-dragon named Clinker are hot on their trails… and won’t rest until every last magician is vanquished.
Books Make Good Friends
Jane Mount
Chronicle Books
“In her first-ever children’s book, Mount takes pieces from her childhood, adds in some of her own bookish art, and creates a story of a young girl who finds that books are her best friends. But, can she also find other kids who feel the same way she does?…With Mount’s trademark book stack illustrations, Lotti shares with the reader some of her favorite books and how they have helped her escape. Then Lotti starts to wonder if books could help her make friends too. When Lotti shares a stack of books, she also shares some of the reasons why she liked those books. So, I am giving you a full warning, reading this book will grow your to-read list!” – Sincerly Stacie, book review
“Offers an insightful glimpse into a young person’s feelings about friendship, self-worth, personal growth, and passion for books and reading… Books domake good friends. Add people, and you’ve got the perfect mix.” — Kirkus Reviews
“An ode to the power of bibliotherapy.” -School Library Journal
I Will Read to You: A Story about Books, Bedtime, and Monsters
Gideon Sterer (Author) Charles Santoso (Illustrator)
Little Brown Books for Young Readers
A gentle blend of spooky and sweet, I Will Read to You is a unique rhyming bedtime tale about empathy, storytime…and monsters.
Once upon a time, there was a boy who loved stories–scary ones about skeletons and witches, giants and ghosts, vampires, dragons, mummies and goblins. But he wondered…do monsters have anyone to read to them? Armed with only a book and a flashlight (and with his bemused mother in tow), he travels through the night, calling together every monster he can think of to make sure they get the bedtime story they need.
“A story about caring for the unseen and the power of books to unite and soothe….Will have young readers eagerly wondering about what goes bump in the night.”–Kirkus
“Sterer gives winning warmth to this faintly haunted readaloud celebration in verse….the horde of finely textured creatures in night-time colors by Santoso clamor to hear the story.”–Publishers Weekly
“The child takes control as leader and reader, which alleviates scariness, and the atmospheric full-bleed illustrations, done digitally combined with handmade pencil textures, make even a swarm of supernatural beings feel just cheerful enough.”–The Horn
A Day With No Words
Tiffany Hammond and Kate Cosgrove, illustrator
Wheat Penny Press
An instant #1 New York Times bestselling picture book and national bestseller!! A Day With No Words invites readers into the life of an Autism Family who communicates just as the child does, without spoken language
.
“The story is written from the boy’s first-person perspective, however–a clever choice in that it gives readers a direct look into his mind and reinforces the book’s crucial statement that nonverbal people have as many words and as much intelligence as anyone else. Cosgrove’s art, throughout, does an amazing job of transporting readers into his perspective, employing various color tones, metaphoric imagery, and ‘camera’ angles to reflect the deep expressiveness contained in every page […] through this book, neurotypicals’ eyes will be opened, and everyone in Autistic Families will feel seen–and heard.” –ALA Booklist, starred review
“It was so wonderful to see families like mine represented in A Day With No Words. As an Autistic self advocate and as the parent of an Autistic child it’s rare to find a book that both speaks to the experience of Autistic children in a way that is respectful and understanding of their humanity.”–Celeste Peña, Autistic Families of Color WA
“In my past 20 years as a developmental pediatrician, I have never read anything quite like A Day With No Words, a book that so eloquently, lyrically, and vividly captures the essence and beauty of an autistic mind. This book is a gift to all who read it.”–Wendy J. Ross, MD, Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics,
To See Clearly: A Portrait of David Hockney
Evan Turk
Abrams
From award-winning creator Evan Turk, a stirring picture book biography of world-famous artist David Hockney that celebrates seeing beauty everywhere
“It’s the very process of looking at something that makes it beautiful.” –David Hockney
Growing up under the gray skies of England during World War II, David Hockney used art to brighten his world. He discovered that the more he looked and drew, the more he could see beneath the surface to find beauty, possibility, and new perspectives. In the most ordinary things, whether a splash of water, a changing landscape, or the face of a friend, David always found something to love, uniquely capturing the vibrancy and life of his subjects.
“A loving profile of one of the world’s most renowned contemporary artists. A perceptive, thought-provoking, winning introduction.”–Kirkus, Starred Review
“Turk, illustrator of the Sibert Medal-winning The People’s Painter (rev. 7/21), adds another excellent biography of an artist to his oeuvre of picture books for older readers.”–The Horn Book Magazine
“Turk creates an affectionate, frank biography of artist David Hockney (b. 1937), a figure whose openhearted curiosity makes him particularly accessible for young readers…These pages are a fitting tribute to a joyful, restless, and fearless creative life, and to stopping and looking carefully.”–Publishers Weekly