We continue to see ourselves in the golden age of children's books, which is evident in the best children's books of 2021 this year. From ghost stories to true historical stories, the books nominated here show how children's books are not only essential for young readers, but also suitable for young readers. These books also cover many forms, from what we think of as traditional novels with narratives to picture books that really show how art tells and enhances stories. That’s why—whenever illustrated books are involved—illustrators and authors are noticed together, because their work is also worthy of applause.
This list is limited to books published for children or intermediate readers, as our Best Books of 2021 contains a considerable number of YA selections. We have compiled a separate list of the best children’s books so that they can also keep up with other excellent children’s books.
Grab your to-read list and prepare to watch it grow as you learn more about our selection of the best children's books of 2021. Of course, you also want to peruse the list of last year’s best children’s books to get more inspiration and excellent reading and learn about the best books for children of all ages through our ultimate guide.
Smith brought together a wealth of local talents and wrote short stories from the perspective of various local teenagers. They all participated in a large-scale powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Whether in writing or in the story, it is cross-tribal, and everyone's voice makes this powwow come to life. There is joy and sorrow, but also mystery, humor, and even a little love.
Each piece is seamless and contains some surprising points. This is just a cool book.
Recently someone asked me where all the black werewolves were, and I had to think about it seriously. Then I stumbled upon this beautiful graphic novel. Atty lives and goes to school in a predominantly white area, and she is often bullied. All Artie wants to do is take pictures with her camera. Atty asked her mother if she could go out to shoot the moon at night, and her mother told her to go again next time. Atty sneaked out of the house by herself, and when she was outside, she watched a werewolf. The werewolf ran to her house, and suddenly she became her mother! Of course, Artie has many questions, but one of my favorite aspects of this book is the story behind why black people turned into werewolves. It is touching and adds a beautiful social justice perspective that young readers can understand.
This story takes place in a medieval world, and it begins in a monastery. This is a non-religious monastery: these monks came here to record what happened in the world, but nothing more. One day, a little girl appeared in the monastery. Before that moment, she had no memory of her life, and a kind monk took her in. Soon, he realized that she could write, which was illegal on their land. When Beatrice recovered her memory, she realized that her background might be more special than she thought. Beatrice and her friends, including a cute and strong-willed goat, set out on an adventure to confront the king. This is about the power of a story. It is a perfect reading book.
The flexible rhythm of this fantastic picture book complements the various bodies in the illustrations. We rarely see the true physical diversity more widely in books. When I read to my baby, it was obvious that children's books did not provide them with the physical tolerance they deserve. This is a comfort for the obvious absence and provides representation in a way of pride, joy and joy.
Read this word, but its real power lies in the ability to study art in depth. Whenever my husband and I read this book to a baby, we stop at each painting and point out all the bodies that correspond to the description in the text ("dark skin, olive skin, various browns Skin, pale pink or peach skin. The body is cool!").
I was struck by the beauty and vulnerability of the protagonist Olivia to support her sister Ruth who suffers from depression. Because adolescence is when many people begin to experience mental illness, I think this kind of performance is especially needed in middle school books. When Olivia and Ruth embark on a dream road trip, Olivia is determined to help her sister find happiness so that they can return to "the way they were" before Ruth's depression worsened. But when they traveled together, she realized that loving her sister without asking her to change might be more important than trying to go back to their past lives.
Hinis Lockwood is the captain of an all-black softball team trying to win the district championship. However, when she discovered the family secrets of her great-grandfather being framed as one of the first black players in the major leagues, Hines felt it necessary to learn more. She felt the tension between making history and showing to other mostly white teams that her team can win and discouraging her family and restoring her great-grandfather's legacy. The combination of humor and poignant moments about racism and sports creates a rich and nuanced story.
The cute character design—especially the vegetable people who live in the garden—really convinces me. It is not only one of my favorite middle school readings this year, but also one of my favorite readings. When there were rumors that vampires moved near their garden, other villagers encouraged Garlic to confront him. After all, vampires are evil, and everyone knows that garlic is their weakness... right?
Katie Zhao is recently known for her dark academic world, YA How We Fall Apart. She pointed this out in this story about Reyna Cheng. She is a 12-year-old gamer playing a VR disguised as TheRuiNar. Competitive Games. Although she is a skilled gamer, the game is still a boy's world, and she desperately wants to prove her all. One day, she got this opportunity because she was selected to participate in a game tournament with a main prize of $10,000. Enter a mysterious troll, if she does not exit as soon as possible, she threatens to reveal her true identity and destroy her chances of winning. Reyna did not sit down in the novel because she struggled with her talents, family problems, and the toxic gaming community at the beginning of the game. Full of heart-wrenching moments, action and adventure, as well as a powerful and wonderful intermediate bibliography, this is definitely one of my favorites in 2021.
This long picture book is the definition of pastoral, fantasy or tweed. Some people might even call it cottagecore. It is a mix of top-notch beautiful illustrations and four stories about a year in the life of the little forest witch. Each story shows Hazel as a forest helper, from raising abandoned owl eggs to acting as a midwife to rabbits. For me, the most important cherry in this book is the portrayal of Hazel as an obese character in a book that never mentions weight. This 96-page book may be long to read before going to bed, but it is a book that young and older readers want to read again and again.
Regardless of the category, this is one of the best games of 2021. It is also one of my favorite children's characters in children's literature. This was the only time I thought of this at the beginning of the reading. I was so impressed by how well it was written, so I reread it before continuing to read the rest of the book. This is also great. Ophelia Harrison's life changed suddenly. She found out that she lived in Pittsburgh in 1922 and left school to work as a maid. Suddenly she could see ghosts. But in fact, you don’t even need to know this book: as soon as you start reading it, you will be immediately attracted by Ophie’s voice. I really hope that with all my book love, we can get another book with Offi.
--Jamie Canaves
Allie is fat and is bullied mercilessly because of her size. Her biggest torment? Her mother. With the help of a conversation therapist, Ellie realized that she shouldn't be treated like this (this is an extremely difficult first step) and started to stand up for herself. I like that this is not a linear process. Some defensive methods feel good. Some did not. Some people apologized and were not immediately forgiven. It is cruel to read this article, especially if you are a fat guy who has dealt with some of the comments and actions. However, there is catharsis here. I wish I had read it when I was young.
Sophie needs to attend audition training for her in the best magic school in the kingdom, so she is sent to live with relatives she has never met. The air and water magic used by Sophie is beautifully depicted. But when Sophie accidentally entangled her magic with a water dragon named Lil, things got complicated. I like the fascinating world of this graphic novel and the sincere but rarely emphasized message that children deserve to apologize when an adult does something wrong.
Douban is a gorgeous autobiographical picture book about a Chinese-American girl living in rural Ohio. When her parents stopped by the road to pick watercress, she felt embarrassed and uncomfortable, worried that the white children at school would see her. After returning home, my mother cooked watercress and the family sat at the table for dinner. The mother told the story of how and why her family foraged in China, and why watercress is so important to her and their common Chinese tradition. This is a moving picture book with stunning illustrations. This is my first choice for next year's Catic Awards.
Picture books with representatives of the disabled are often daunting (I have read two books published this year that compare disabled children with dogs), so when a picture book is released, it is so refreshing, like life The body is the same in the disabled, which is not surprising considering that it was written by a disabled author. (It is worth noting that the two creepy books mentioned above are not written by disabled authors.) In this picture book, Joe with one leg just wants to play pirates, but the children keep preventing him from asking him Legs! Finally the children realized that playing with Joe was much more fun than interrogating his legs. This is an indispensable book on the children's bookshelf, and a good way for parents to start talking about disabled bodies. I interviewed James because I published an article about the current state of disability representatives in the children's publishing industry.