Erin Dealey

This annual post brings together the 36 books we celebrated in 2024. Wow! ICYMthem, click on the titles and check out the fascinating behind-the-scenes stories and writing/Illustrating tips shared by #kidlit creators who joined us this year. (Perfect for Author Studies, Teacher friends.)

*Please note that many of the wonderful titles herein fit into multiple categories. Feel free to mix and match, and click the links to learn more!

Happy 2024 #BookBirthdays to…

Picture books
Kindness, Friendship, Hope, and Inclusion

Listen, Wonder, Ask — Elly Berke & Luciana Navarro Powell (Tilbury House)

A Star Shines Through — Anna Desnitskaya (Eerdmans) 

Clovis Suspects a Sneak — Katelyn Aronson & Benji Williams (Page Street Kids

Let the Light In — Laurie Ann Thompson & Adriana Predoi (Worthy Kids).

No School, My Rules! — Stephanie Henson & Mai Tran (Tielmour Press)

Jacob’s Missing Book –Sarah & Ian Hoffman & Chris Case (Magination Press)

Just Flowers — Erin Dealey & Kate Cosgrove (Sleeping Bear Press)

The Reindeer Remainders — Katie Howe & Marie Hermansson ( Sourcebooks).

Celebrations and Cultures

Waiting to Welcome: A New Baby Story from West Africa — Samantha Cleaver and Reuben Nantogmah & Bri Marie McNish (Feiwel & Friends)

Juneteenth Is… —Natasha Tripplett & Daniel J. O’Brien (Chronicle)

Purple Up! We Salute Our Friends — Sarah Scheerger & Leah Giles (Albert Whitman)

Get Ready For Halloween — Janet Nolan & Amy Zhing (Albert Whitman)

BroomMates —Lynne Marie and Brenda Sturgis & Nico Ecenarro (The Little Press) 

Imagination and Discovery

Bear’s Big Idea — Sandra Nickel & Il Sung Na (Carolrhoda Books).

Walkies: a Dog’s Tale Estrela Lourenço (Page Street Kids)

Hope and the Sea — Andrew Hacket & Svetla Radivoeva (WorthyKids)

Don’t Wash Winston — Ashley Belote (Feiwel and Friends).

Imagine You and Me — Benson Shum (Dial Books)

Family –Changes Big and Small

Papa and Pearl: A Tale About Divorce, New Beginnings, and Love That Never Changes — Annette M. Clayton & Kimberley Barnes (Free Spirit Publishing)

Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime — Mia Wenjen & Kai Gietzen (Eifrig Publishing)

Miri’s Moving Day — Stephanie Wildman and Adam Ryan Chang & Dream Chen (Kar-Ben Publishing).

The Blue Pickup — Natasha Tripplett & Monica Mikai (Harper Collins) 

Fascinating Nonfiction

I Am Gravity — Henry Herz & Mercè López, Tilbury House

Reaching for the Stars — Roxanne Troup & Amanda Lenz (Schiffer Kids)

I Ship: A Container Ship’s Colassal Journey — Kelly Rice Schmidt & Jam Dong (Millbrook).

Bats Beneath the Bridge — Janet Nolan & Emily Cox (Albert Whitman)

Taking Care of Our World

One Small Koala on the Big Blue Earth — Tory Christie & Luciana Navarro Powell (Amicus)

One Day This Tree Will Fall — Leslie Barnard Booth & Stephanie Fizer Coleman (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

The World in Our Backyard — Jami Gigot (Simon & Schuster)

Picture Book Biographies

We Sing From the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court –Mia Wenjen & Victor Bizar Gomez (Red Comet Press).

Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei A Life In The Mountains — Anita Yasuda & Yuko Shimizu (Clarion Books)

Mamie Tape Fights To Go To School: Based on a True Story — Traci Huahn & Michelle Jing Chan (Crown Books for Young Readers )

Giant Rays of Hope –Patricia Newman (Millbrook Press/Lerner)

Pedal. Balance, Steer: Annie Londonderry, the First Woman to Cycle Around the World — Vivian Kirkfield & Illus. Alison Jay (Calkins Creek)

A Grand Idea How William J. Wilgus Created Grand Central Terminal  — Megan Hoyt & Dave Szalay (Quill Tree)

Else B. in the Sea: The Woman Who Painted the Wonders of the Deep — Jeanne Walker Harvey & Melodie Stacey (Cameron Kids).  

#ShopIndie 

Or check these books out of the Library (Request them if they don’t have them yet.)

and please leave a review online.

Again–huge thanks to all of the incredible #kidlit authors and illustrators

who joined us on the blog this year.

Happy and Healthy Book-filled 2025 to ALL.

To make sure you don’t miss our 2025 Book Birthday celebrations, you can subscribe to our blog at the top right of this page. See you next year with more wonderful books to celebrate!