Bookishly Delightful’s Best Books of 2024

Here are my favorite 2024-published books that I read in 2024. They span a wide variety of genres.

I had a phenomenal reading year in 2024! Being on Substack and feeling inspired to organize my reading around specific literary themes was amazing for my reading.

As I considered reading for this post one of my 2024 reading themes, I sampled, DNF-ed (did not finish), and read new releases all year long as well as read for my microgenre posts … even though I rarely posted about my new release reading before now. The primary exception was my most recent post (with my recommendations from among 2024 literary awards longlisted books). Subscribers will see some of those wonderful titles re-recommended in this post (but often with a little more analysis).

In addition, during the last two months of the year, most of the books that I sampled, DNF-ed, and read were books that I found on other readers’ “Best Books of 2024” lists, which helped me find even more incredible 2024-published books.

I soon will be posting the massive list of “Best Books of 2024” lists that I collected, similar to the massive list that I posted a year ago of other readers’ “Best Books of 2023” lists.

My goal was for my own favorite books of the year list to be as close to “My Best Books of Everyone Else’s Best Books of 2024” list that I could reasonably make it.

It turns out (not surprisingly) that a number of the 2024-published books that can commonly be found on many readers’ “Best Books of 2024” lists, I greatly enjoyed too. However, the books that I took particular delight in finding on others’ lists are the rare gems that are not yet widely known but are deeply loved by those lucky enough to have read them.

What I looked for in my “best books” of 2024

My favorite books move me in some way with great writing about interesting, layered characters. I love when fiction authors pre-plan their plots cleverly and write about characters for whom I want to root. I love when nonfiction authors write about interesting topics about which their knowledge is masterful, and about which they have something insightful to say. And I want to be captivated, entertained, made to think, and made to feel along the way.

When it comes to graphic works, I care a lot about both the visual and written storytelling. I also care about the text to graphic ratio.

I am definitely not the only one who loves the books that made it onto my “Best Books of 2024” list. As of the time of this post being published, over 95% of the books that I recommend in it have a 4.0 or greater out of 5 stars average rating on Goodreads. And over 25% of them have a 4.4 or greater average rating.

All of the children’s books that I recommend below are ones that have enough depth and layers for me to appreciate them greatly as an adult reader.

I chose my favorite 2024-published books by genre for fiction and sub-genre for nonfiction. Usually, there was one book that most stood out to me in each genre/sub-genre. However, sometimes there were two or three. And I could not manage to narrow down my fictional picture book selections even that much.

Feel free to skim through the post to reach your favorite categories. And be forewarned, there are recommendations for some books about very heavy topics mixed in with recommendations for books about lighter topics.

You can click on the links on book titles if you would like to be taken to the Goodreads pages for those books where you can see book covers and find ratings and reviews.

I hope that you enjoy some of these books as much as I did!

Best Historical Fiction

• James by Percival Everett. This book, which is a retelling of Mark Twain’s classicThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the character Jim’s perspective, already feels like a classic itself. It is hard to imagine that the two books will not often be taught side by side in the future. And at the same time that it already feels as if this book has been around for a long time—because of course Jim would have had his own perspective—James also seems to have become the “it” book of the year. I do not think that any other book was recognized by as many literary awards in 2024 as James was, nor do I think any other book has been listed on as many prestigious “Best Books of 2024” lists. And the acclaim is understandable. James has important things to say, and it says them in an interesting way. While I cannot say that I enjoyed reading about some of the horrors of slavery in the US, I am glad that I read this book that grapples with them.

Best Literary Story Collection

• The Goodbye Process: Stories by Mary Jones. The fictional stories in this collection are each utterly unique, while still fitting together wonderfully around the theme of goodbyes. They are unsettling, strange, sometimes speculative, and always pleasingly surprising. Early on, I worried that the stories would become too disturbing for me to enjoy. But I soon realized that every time Jones takes her readers to the edge of getting too dark (at least for me); there is a sudden, abrupt turn to an unexpected, more satisfying destination. Once I realized that I could trust Jones skillfully to conduct me on a series of emotionally captivating rollercoaster rides that would leave me feeling pensive and a bit off balance rather than upset, I buckled up and could not wait for the next ride to begin. I was not just surprised by the stories’ destinations. I was often surprised, to my delight, by the journey from one paragraph to another and from one sentence to another. Jones’s choices left me in awe of her creativity.

Best Humorous Story Collection

• Glory Days by Simon Rich. This cleverly funny, often speculative, short story collection by Harvard and SNL alum Simon Rich is an absolute delight! In one of the stories, its narrator—New York City—explains why it is upset and how it takes revenge on its citizens. In another, its narrator—a participation trophy—has an important message for its now grown-up recipient. A few of the stories are epistolary in very creative ways (for example, one is written as the minutes of a co-op’s board meeting). If you read my post about epistolary works, you know how much I LOVE finding great epistolary writing. 🥰 Wonderfully, the stories in this collection often make you think at the same time that they are making you laugh. Comedian John Mulaney narrates the audiobook edition, and except for the one story he narrates in what is supposed to be an Italian accent, his narration is fantastic.

Best Humorous Poetry Collection for Adults

• A Bit Much by

  Lyndsay Rush
  . With humor, kindness, insight, and some bite; Rush’s poetry grapples with her experiences as a woman living in our current times. The summary of this delightful collection describes it as “a book of poetry for people who didn’t even know they liked poetry.”

Best Science Fiction

• Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! by T.J. Klune. This thought-provoking, dystopian short story is about a robot who reads Descartes, watches the Wizard of Oz, and makes a few human friends just days before he is scheduled to be recycled. It is a precursor to Klune’s book In the Lives of Puppets, although it could be read as a standalone. It is my favorite work of Klune’s that I have read so far. And its audiobook narration is excellent. However, you can also read the story for free here. I do not understand why this wonderful short story has not gotten any buzz at all yet, especially considering how famous Klune has become. I ran across it by chance on the Libby (library) app and have not yet seen it mentioned by any of the book reviewers or other book-news sources that I follow, or on anyone else’s best of the year list.

Best Fantasy

• The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. Reading this book is like getting a comforting hug (while sipping tea and eating delicious jam, with fantastical creatures frolicking nearby) in book form. A shy, socially awkward librarian who would rather spend time with books than people, returns to her parents’ abandoned home on a remote island with her assistant (a nerdy, sentient spider plant with a great personality) and some precious spellbooks. Much of this book is about how she slowly blossoms in her kind, new, cooperative, magical community. She also finds a little bit of (chaste) romance with a socially awkward, sweet neighbor.

“[T]he Spellshop is like reading the opposite of a panic attack. Antagonists become friends. Problems are solved with caring and generosity. Magic is used not to gain power but to help people and make life beautiful. I didn’t realize how much I needed this in my life in 2024. Maybe we all do.” — fantasy author Peter V. Brett in his Goodreads review of The Spellshop

• Demon Daughter by Lois McMaster Bujold. After having recently experienced a miscarriage, the sorcerer Penric and his wife stumble into becoming parental figures to a little girl in need of magical guidance. It is a big-hearted story, very thoughtfully written. This is the 12th novella in a series of short fantasy novellas, and it is a particularly excellent addition to a strong series. The audiobook editions of all of the novellas are wonderfully narrated by Grover Gardner. The series begins when Penric is a young man and new to magic in the book Penric’s Demon. Although I do not love this series as much as I do Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga series (a series that I wrote about in an earlier post), I greatly enjoy it, and I appreciate how it reflects the increasing maturity and wisdom that Bujold has gleaned with age.

Best Literary Fiction

• My Friends by Hisham Matar. I LOVE this powerful book. The writing in it is absolutely gorgeous. And the narrator is wonderfully pensive and bookish. Among other things, My Friends can be read as a work of political philosophy. And some of that political philosophy is brilliantly articulated through a very short, very strange, very captivating allegory about a cat 🐈‍⬛. This book delves into the ramifications of political violence and exile. It also contains lovely ruminations about friendship.

“I remain in my spot, inside this coat and this minute, as time folds all around me.” — My Friends

• Small Rain by

  Garth Greenwell
  . The last thing that I had thought I wanted to do was read a book about what it feels like to be a patient in a hospital (as I, like many people, already have my own unpleasant, hospital-related memories). I only decided to give it a try it after I happened to run across it on a library app, noticed that I could borrow it immediately without any wait, and remembered that I had seen glowing, 5-star reviews of it from two book reviewers whose recommendations often work well for me (
  Deedi Brown
  and Brett of Brett’s Book Stack). I started it expecting to DNF it. Instead, I was shocked to find myself utterly captivated. It is beautifully written. It is almost as if it is an extended poem about both the inner drama and physical drama that can occur while one is simply lying down quietly in a hospital. Greenwell shining a light on such drama reminded me of how Jane Austen helped shine a light on how dramatic women’s quiet drawing room experiences could be. And Greenwell, much to my amazement and my deep appreciation, showed that even medical traumas and medical banalities can be experienced, understood, and remembered at the “frequency” of a poem. I also appreciated how likable the narrator and his partner are. And I enjoyed the author’s narration of his own work in the audiobook edition. This is an incredibly special book!!!

“The point was to perceive reality, I wanted to tell them, to see things that are only visible at a different speed, a different pitch of attention, the value of poems is tuning us to a different frequency of existence.”— Small Rain

Best Translated Fiction

• Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum. This lovely, cozy, bookish Korean story is about a small, independent bookshop and the people who find warmth, second chances, inspiration, and community there.

Best Mystery/Thriller

• Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera. Lucy does not remember what happened the night her best friend died, nor whether she was the one who killed her. And now Ben, a true crime podcaster, is drawing attention to the unsolved case and stirring things up again. The narration of this book alternates between Lucy’s emotionally complicated first-person perspective and Ben’s true crime podcast episodes. Eventually the two of them team up, both to try to solve the mystery and for a little romance. Although the subject matter and Lucy’s outlook are dark, the story is told in an irreverent, somewhat playful tone. This book is sometimes thrilling. And it is always a lot of fun. Plus, the audiobook narration is fantastic.

Best Romance

• Funny Story by

  Emily Henry
  . Henry uses the fake-dating trope adeptly in this skillfully written romance between two layered characters. Daphne (a book-loving librarian) becomes Miles’s roommate after her fiancé leaves her for Miles’s girlfriend and she needs a place to stay. In order to salvage their pride, Daphne and Miles pretend to date, but of course end up falling in love instead.

• Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez. Everyone who dates either Justin or Emma finds their soulmates right after they break up with them. So, Justin and Emma (who are both very likable and meet online) decide to try dating each other—just for the summer—to see if they can change each other’s romantic luck for the better. Emma takes a temporary job in Minnesota (Jimenez’s home state, which she writes about lovingly) and stays in a picturesque cottage on a lake. Justin introduces her to local sites while falling for her and hoping that she will stick around for the long term. Not only is this book entertaining, but it also has emotional depth as both Emma and Justin are grappling with difficult family issues.

Best Nonfiction: Art

• Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey Among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See by Bianca Bosker. This book is fun to read. Bosker takes her readers on an insider’s journey through the New York contemporary art world. I loved her amusing writing style. I also loved the cultural, intellectual, visual-arts-loving journey. I hope that there is a movie adaptation someday, especially of the first part of the book, which reminds me of The Devil Wears Prada and Ugly Betty (but set in the world of contemporary art instead of fashion).

Best Nonfiction: Autobiographical Essays

• I’ve Tried Being Nice: Essays by Ann Leary. Leary not only writes very well, but she is also entertaining and thoughtful. Some of her essays made me laugh out loud. She writes about trying to be nice, attending red carpet events with her husband (comedian Denis Leary), selling a beloved home, and her dogs … among other topics. I enjoyed her narration of her own stories in the audiobook edition too. This book is a treat.

Best Nonfiction: Autobiography

• Manboobs: A Memoir of Musicals, Visas, Hope, and Cake by Komail Aijazuddin. I was utterly captivated by this autobiography. Aijazuddin was raised by his Shia Muslim family in Pakistan, where he attended a conservative, all-male high school. As he is gay, effeminate, and experiences body dysmorphia; many of his youthful experiences were not easy. He then attended college and graduate school in North America, where he had expected to feel more accepted. But in North America, he was forced to grapple with racism. After he finished school, he returned to Pakistan and established himself there as an artist and experienced the challenges of being an adult gay man in a country where that is a dangerous thing to be. Eventually, he returned to the US. Despite how challenging some of his circumstances have been, Aijazuddin tells his own story in a very entertaining way. He also shares interesting observations and is courageous. I greatly enjoyed looking online at images of Aijazuddin‘s captivating art after I finished reading.

Best Nonfiction: Book about Books

• The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss. If you enjoy books about books and are interested in American history, this is the book is for you. Author Evan Friss affectionately tells the history of bookselling in the US. His writing shines most when he delves into the real-life characters who ran particularly notable bookstores. As much as I enjoyed Friss’s writing, I feel particularly grateful to him for drawing my attention to the book Parnassus on Wheels. It is an American classic, delightful, rom com, book about selling books and I had an absolute blast reading it. It was among my favorite reads of the year overall.

Best Nonfiction: Language

• Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words by Anne Curzan, PhD. If you have ever felt like grammatical decision points can be no-win situations (because the grammar rules that you have been taught do not match the way that people speak) you are probably going to love this book. Curzan is a grammar expert and a professor of English, linguistics, and education at the University of Michigan. What sets her book apart from the pack of other grammar books is how thoughtful, nuanced, inclusive, nonjudgmental, and entertaining it is. She provides a roadmap for “how you can care deeply about the details of language and open the gates to invite in more linguistic diversity and celebrate language change.” I particularly appreciate her meta writing style. She points out her own grammatical choices as she writes about grammatical choices. And I enjoyed her selection of grammatical examples. Her sources range from Shakespeare to Jane Austen to Star Trek. I also enjoyed her own narration of the audiobook edition of her book (which I borrowed from the library). The audiobook edition is especially helpful when she discusses alternative pronunciations. However, before I had even finished listening to it, I also bought a copy of the ebook edition to keep on hand for future reference because she gets into the nitty gritty of many of the most complicated grammatical decision points facing us today.

Best Nonfiction: Oral History

• The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of The Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture by

  Tricia Romano
  . If you are interested in journalism history, NYC history, American history, women’s history, queer history, African-American history, urban history, music history, social action history, and/or oral histories generally; I think you will find this oral history about The Village Voice newspaper to be greatly enjoyable. The breadth of Romano’s research and her skillful organization of that research are impressive. And the anecdotes shared by The Village Voice’s staff—a staff full of colorful characters skilled at telling stories (including their own)—are, delightfully, extremely entertaining. If you decide to listen to the audiobook edition as I did, I recommend that you skip (at least initially) the very lengthy “Cast of Characters” and “Timeline” at the beginning.

Best Nonfiction: Psychology

• It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People by Ramani Durvasula, PhD. This book will help you learn how to spot narcissists, give you the vocabulary to articulate to yourself and to others how they are affecting you, and provide you with tools to help you become more resilient to them. I found it to be enlightening. You do not need to be in a close relationship with a narcissist to benefit from this book’s lessons, as narcissists can be encountered in a variety of realms (including the public realm) as well. As of the time of this post being published, this book has an average rating on Goodreads of 4.57 out of 5 stars, which is both remarkably and deservedly high.

Best Nonfiction: Sports

• The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory by Thomas Fuller. This is a captivatingly written, thoughtfully told, true story about an all-deaf, high school football team’s efforts to become state champions and about how their deafness affected their journey. You do not need to be a football fan to enjoy this book or to enjoy rooting for the team to succeed.

Best Nonfiction: World War II History

• No Road Leading Back: An Improbable Escape from the Nazis and the Tangled Way We Tell the Story of the Holocaust by Chris Heath. This is an absolutely incredible book! Its author, Chris Heath, is an outstanding storyteller, a tireless historical detective, and a nuanced thinker. You might expect that a book that successfully sheds much needed light on the mass murder of over seventy thousand Jewish people that took place at Ponar (in a Lithuanian forest) during World War II would be an overwhelmingly depressing read. However, Heath’s focus on the painstakingly planned, daring escape of some of the Jewish people who were forced to work at Ponar makes the first part of the book read like an action-packed, page-turning thriller. You are soaking up the most difficult information in the back of your mind, while the forefront of your mind is busy rooting for the escape to be a success. The second part of the book is a bit harder to explain because it is many things at once, however, all of those things are RIVETING. A lot of the second part of the book feels like a propulsive mystery. Heath recounts the detective work that he did, including the red herrings he pursued, in order to be able to tell the story of what happened at Ponar in careful detail—despite the perpetrators’ extensive cover up efforts. Heath also explores thought-provoking questions. Why do so many people know about concentration camps but not about the mass shootings that took place in Eastern European forests during the war? Why are some atrocities not remembered? And why has so much of what happened at Ponar been misremembered, when it is remembered at all? In the second part of the book, Heath also shares the life stories of the men who succeeded in escaping Ponar. And there are some very emotionally satisfying anecdotes about some of the escapees. Although the subject matter of the book is far from light and the (well-narrated) audiobook is long (it would have taken me over 21 hours to listen to it if I had listened at regular speed!), I was so captivated by Heath’s storytelling that I more-or-less binged it. I have read a lot of nonfiction and fiction about World War II, nevertheless I could not recall ever having heard about Ponar specifically before I read this book (although I might have). Now, I cannot imagine ever forgetting it.

Best Graphic Novels

• Ruth Asawa: An Artist Takes Shape by Sam Nakahira. Both the written and visual storytelling in this illustrated biography of Japanese-American artist Ruth Asawa are captivating. It is written as if it were an autobiography. Asawa is well known for her modern wire sculptures and art education advocacy. Having learned from this book Asawa’s personal history of being incarcerated in an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, I cannot look at her wire sculptures without thinking about how she knew what it felt like to be encaged. This biography also delves into Asawa’s post-war experiences studying art in Mexico with famed German born modern artist Joseph Albers, raising children in California with a husband of a different race (soon after interracial marriages were legalized there), and breaking into the art world as a female artist. I discovered this wonderful gem of a book while reading for my post “Graphic Novels, Manga, and Picture Books About Japanese, Japanese American, and Japanese Canadian Individuals’ World War II Experiences.”

• Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Love and Grief by

  Sarah Leavitt
  . In this incredible book, you will find a very moving artistic rendering of grief, often conveyed through the powerful use of color. Leavitt’s partner, who had suffered for years from myalgic encephalitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome) and fibromyalgia, and whose health had worsened; died with the aid of medical assistance (which is legal in Canada). And Leavitt expressed her feelings about what they both experienced through this amazing work of art in book form.

Best YA Fiction

• Twenty-Four Seconds from Now …: A LOVE Story by Jason Reynolds. In this sweet story; a nervous, sensitive, African-American 17-year-old sorts through all of the romantic and sexual advice he has received from various sources in the seconds before his first time.

Best YA Nonfiction: Autobiography

• Road Home by

  Rex Ogle
  . In this eye-opening, moving autobiography; best-selling author Rex Ogle recounts his experiences with homelessness in the US as a teenager. He struggled to survive on the streets after he was kicked out of his home by his father because he is gay. This book may change the way that you perceive homelessness and how you react to homeless people that you encounter. It definitely has a lot to offer grown-up readers as well as older teens.

Best Middle Grade and Early YA Graphic Novels

• How It All Ends by Emma Hunsinger. This delightful, coming-of-age story about Tara, a 13-year-old girl who starts high school a year early, is often laugh-out-loud funny. Tara grapples with not feeling old enough for all sorts of high school situations that she encounters, as well as having her first crush on a girl. There are lots of amusing high school anecdotes in the story for adults to enjoy nostalgically, and from which younger readers can feel seen and comforted.

• Uprooted: A Memoir About What Happens When Your Family Moves Back by Ruth Chan. The author’s family moved from Canada to Hong Kong when she was a young teen. She experienced a lot of amusing and challenging incidents during her adjustment period, and she depicted those incidents ADORABLY in this book. Also ADORABLE is her relationship with her father and their delightful nightly chats. 🥰

• We Are Big Time by Hena Khan, illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui. Inspired by a true story; this very well-illustrated, captivatingly written graphic novel is about about an all-Muslim girls’ high school basketball team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Told from a first-person perspective by a freshman who has recently moved to town, it realistically captures the feeling of what it is like to be on a high school sports team for the first time.

Best Middle Grade Fiction

• Tree. Table. Book. by

  Lois Lowry
  . Sophie (the likably precocious, eleven-year-old narrator of this book) is best friends with another Sophie, a Sophie who is an elderly Holocaust survivor who is beginning to experience dementia. The story of their friendship is very heartwarming, and the story of how the elder Sophie survived the war is quite moving. The narrator has two other friends as well, one of whom is neurodivergent. It is a lovely book. And the banter is delightful.

Best Middle Grade Fiction in Translation

• Taming Papa by Mylène Goupil, translated by Shelley Tanaka. Mélie grew up in a single-parent home not knowing anything about her father. When he suddenly arrives, traumatized, from a different country and does not even speak the same language that she does (he is a recently released political prisoner), initially neither one of them has an easy time of it. “Having a father is more complicated than I thought …” Using lessons that she learns from a variety of other experiences, she gradually figures out how to help her father adjust. Their slowly growing love for each other is absolutely lovely. There is also a bit of a star-crossed, drama-filled love story between the narrator and a kitten. The emotional complexity of the characters and the depth of layers in their relationships (in this middle grade book!) are phenomenal. The happy ending for all of the young narrator’s important relationships moved me to tears. Rare gems like this one (and Tree. Table. Book.) are what make wading into the middle grade genre worth it for me as an adult reader. The author is Canadian. The book was originally written in French.

Best Children’s Nonfiction

• My Antarctica: True Adventures in the Land of Mummified Seals, Space Robots, and So Much More by G. Neri, illustrated by Corban Wilkin. Author G. Neri had an opportunity to spend time at a research station in Antarctica in order to document what he found there for children. And the result is fantastic! This book is going to inspire kids to want to become scientists (and/or storytellers of some sort). The storytelling is spot-on. It makes Antarctica seem fascinating and fun. However, I was also surprised to find myself getting a bit teary eyed at one point while reading, after I learned what inspired the author’s journey there. Readers from a diversity of backgrounds and with a diversity of interests are invited to feel welcome on the author’s adventure. In this book, he appears to be a wonderful human being. His photos of Antarctica, while not masterfully shot, are interesting. And the illustrations added on top of them are charming.

Best Picture Book in Translation

• Loose Threads by Isol, translated by Lawrence Schinel. Reading this picture book feels like watching captivating, somewhat unsettling, very creative, experimental, performance art. The story is told ON A SCARF. And a little girl grapples with holes in her world and the frightening other side (OF THE SCARF). At the end of the book, there is a delightfully surprising, meta photo. I would love to tell you more about how cool that photo is, but I do not want to spoil the surprise. I have never seen anything else like this book. It is brilliant.

Best Picture Books: Fiction

• Leo’s First Vote by Christina Soontornvat, illustrated by Isabel Roxas. A child whose immigrant father just became a US citizen, learns about the importance of voting, both at school and by helping his father prepare to vote for the first time. This powerful little story is very moving.

• Monster Hands by Karen Kane and Jonaz McMillan, illustrated by Dion MBD. Milo is scared that there there may be a monster under his bed. Using sign language and a flashlight, he asks his friend Mel across the street for advice. She signs back ideas for how to scare the monster away using finger gestures and a flashlight to make even scarier seeming shadow monsters. It is a very sweet story about friendship, overcoming anxiety, imagination, and the power of being able to communicate without spoken words.

• Afikoman, Where’d You Go?: A Passover Hide-and-Seek Adventure by Rebecca Gardyn Levington, illustrated by Noa Kelner. ADORABLY illustrated, this story is about a piece of matzo on two little legs that outwits (with its clever hiding places) all of the children searching for it at a Jewish Passover Seder. You can look for it, somewhat Where’s Waldo style, as well as enjoy the children’s antics and the story about it that is charmingly told in verse. Children having fun searching for a hidden piece of matzah (which is a flat bread eaten during the holiday) is a traditional way to celebrate Passover (similar to how children have fun searching for hidden eggs in celebration of Easter).

• The Yellow Bus by Loren Long. Who would expect a picture book about a school bus to be emotionally moving? This one is! It touches upon both environmental issues and an appreciation for all sorts of people and creatures. And it reminds me a little of the picture book classic Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. The selective use of color in it adds to the emotional power of its storytelling.

• Just Like Millie by Lauren Castillo. In this LOVELY story, a super shy girl (whose mother is sweet and understanding) gets a dog, and her dog helps her develop the confidence to make a friend.

• If You Run Out of Words by Felicita Sala. This is a SUPER SWEET story about what a loving father would be willing to do for his imaginative daughter. The colorful illustrations are full of captivating details.

Best Picture Books: Nonfiction

• The One & Only Googoosh: Iran’s Beloved Superstar by Azadeh Westergaard. I LOVE the unique, cut-out, collage-style artwork in this picture book! And I am extremely impressed by Westergaard’s touching, gentle visual storytelling about how Iran’s culture, music, female entertainers, and people have been affected by the 1979 Iranian Revolution. I found this book’s focus on Iranian singing sensation Googoosh to be very interesting; however, to me the book is more about its narrators—Googoosh’s fans who fled the country after the revolution and lovingly miss what they left behind. This picture book evoked some of the same emotions in me that (The Booker Prizes longlisted, National Book Awards finalist, and Orwell Prize for Political Fiction winner) My Friends by Hisham Matar did! Both books have pensive, emigre narrators longing for past connections to a homeland that no longer feels welcoming. This is an incredible work of visual storytelling!

• Everybody’s Book: The Story of the Sarajevo Haggadah by Linda Leopold Strauss, illustrated by Tim Smart. This picture book tells a lovely, moving, true story about a Haggadah (a book used at Jewish Passover seders). And it tells it well, both in its prose and with its illustrations. The story is about a very old Haggadah that left Spain with an escaping Jewish family at the time of the Spanish Inquisition and eventually found its way to a museum in Sarajevo. Brave Muslims risked their lives to save the Haggadah, first from the Nazis, and later from Serbian bombs. It survived two particularly ugly episodes in human history thanks to honorable and courageous people who showed compassion across cultural lines.

• Club Microbe by Elise Gravel. Who knew that microbes could be so adorable? Gravel clearly had a lot of fun drawing anthropomorphic microbes and sharing interesting facts about them. And her sense of fun is as contagious as some of the microbes that she discusses.

Enjoy your reading!

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