Ten Children’s Books To Read and Enjoy Before The Year Ends
This month’s column is my twelfth for Lit Hub, which means I’ve been sharing new children’s book releases with you for a full year now. And 2024 has been a wonderful year for young readers! As I’ve reviewed each month’s new releases, I’ve found some of my own favorite new books, and I hope I’ve helped you find a few of your favorites, too.
The only real challenge I’ve faced while writing this column has been whittling down my recommendations to only ten each month; for every book I’ve mentioned here, there have been at least three or four more I’ve loved equally well. Since I can’t stop thinking about those titles, I’d like to share a few of them with you now. Here are ten more books published throughout 2024 that I think are well worth your time, perfect for giving as a gift to a young reader or enjoying after a family feast.
No matter how you celebrate the year’s end, I’m wishing you peace amid the bustle, strength to exercise your reading muscles in the months to come, and the joy that comes from sharing a new book with someone you love.
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Kyo Maclear, Noodles on a Bicycle
Illustrated by Gracey Zhang
(Random House Studio, August 27)
Recommended for ages 4-8
This heartwarming, stomach-rumbling picture book has been adored by readers since it came out in August, and I think it’s great, too! Kyo Maclear and Gracey Zhang’s story is based on the history of noodle deliverymen who rode their bicycles to bring noodles and soup to customers in Tokyo in the mid-20th century. The book is narrated by children who watch the deliverymen at work and marvel at the near-impossible acrobatics required to balance the piping hot orders and bring them safely to customers. When their favorite deliveryman comes home with soba for his own family, the children are grateful for the feast and for their father’s hard work.
Alex London, Still Life
Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
(Greenwillow, September 3)
Recommended for ages 4-8
“In a still life painting, nothing moves.” So says the artist who narrates this clever picture book—but who can trust the artist’s words about the stillness of his still life painting when mice are finding their way into the painting’s jam jar, a knight shows up on the canvas ready to fight a dragon, and a princess runs across the scene to rescue the dragon in question? The juxtaposition of Alex London’s deadpan text and Paul O. Zelinsky’s jubilantly chaotic illustrations is very funny, and young readers will want to point out all the decidedly un-still details they notice on every page.
Akiko Miyakoshi, Little Shrew
(Kids Can Press, June 4)
Recommended for ages 5-8
Little Shrew leads a quiet life. He packs his lunch each morning, takes the train to work at eight minutes past seven, counts the dogs he passes on the street, and chats with his colleagues (all of whom are human. Our hero appears to be the only shrew on the company payroll, but to my total delight, this fact is never remarked upon in the text). In the evenings, Little Shrew eats dinner, does the laundry, and looks forward to one day visiting Hawaii. Once a year, his friends come over to enjoy some warm soup together. No larger-than-life adventures fill the pages of this illustrated chapter book, but readers may find the same sense of satisfaction and peace that Little Shrew discovers in the smell of fresh bread or the solving of a Rubik’s Cube. Originally published in Japan, Little Shrew is written and illustrated by Akiko Miyakoshi, whose picture books like The Tea Party in the Woods and The Way Home in the Night have won awards and acclaim worldwide.
Monique Duncan, Freedom Braids
Illustrated by Oboh Moses
(Lantana, September 10)
Recommended for ages 5-9
Fascinating and expertly crafted, Freedom Braids tells the story of African women enslaved on a sugarcane plantation in Colombia. As they plan their escape to freedom, the women develop a complex code of secret messages that they braid into one another’s hair. Plans, warnings, and even maps of the routes they hope to take are communicated through braided hairstyles like “tropas” (to show that troops are nearby) and “El Undihito” (designed to hide gold and seeds during their travels). Author Monique Duncan uses historical research as the basis for her literary narrative about a young enslaved girl named Nemy, and illustrator Oboh Moses’ beautifully detailed artwork helps readers visualize the braided codes and the landscape of Nemy’s journey.
Adam Rex, The Story of Gumluck and the Dragon’s Eggs (Gumluck the Wizard #2)
(Chronicle, September 10)
Recommended for ages 6-9
I’d like to use this space to recommend The Story of Gumluck and the Dragon’s Eggs specifically, the illustrated Gumluck the Wizard series more broadly, and all of Adam Rex’s laugh-out-loud children’s books most generally of all. When our family reads Rex’s Nothing Rhymes with Orange or The True Meaning of Smekday, the adults have just as much fun as the kids do—and believe me, the kids are having a lot of fun.
But we’re talking about Gumluck today, so I’ll tell you a little about him. He’s a small and plucky wizard who is desperate to be a hero, though not always successful in this endeavor. His friends are a talking crow named Helvetica and a ghost named Butterscotch who haunts his hair. When Helvetica lays her eggs in a dragon’s nest and the dragon believes the eggs are her own, Gumluck does his best to help sort out the confusion, dispensing plenty of silliness and accidental wisdom along the way. Readers looking for a funny illustrated chapter book series will find Gumluck a true hero indeed.
Chanel Miller, Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All
(Philomel, April 23)
Recommended for ages 7-11
Instead of going on a summer vacation like her classmates, almost-ten-year-old Magnolia Wu is stuck at home in New York City, helping out at her family’s laundromat. But she decides that “if she was going to be stuck all summer in the Big Apple, she’d find a way to be a wild worm, freely wiggling and chewing through all of it.” Along with her new friend Iris, Magnolia launches an investigative project trying to connect the laundromat’s lost socks with their owners. With each sock they investigate, Magnolia and Iris uncover secrets, meet new people, explore the city they love, and find threads that hold their vibrant community together. Illustrated with spot art by the author, this middle grade novel is as tempting as an extra popsicle from the laundromat’s freezer.
Ann E. Burg, Force of Nature: A Novel of Rachel Carson
Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
(Scholastic, March 5)
Recommended for ages 8-12
While it’s based on the life of biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson, Force of Nature is a verse novel at heart. In lines of poetry accompanied by art from renowned illustrator Sophie Blackall, author Ann E. Burg gives readers an imagined first-person look into Rachel’s life, beginning with her childhood love of the natural world and her dreams of someday being a published writer. Burg weaves research (and some text based on Carson’s own writing) seamlessly into a narrative that today’s nature-loving kids will find easy to connect with.
For the young environmentalist in your life, pair Force of Nature with Naila Moreira’s The Monarchs of Winghaven, another great new novel for young readers about the power of wild places.
Gayle Forman, Not Nothing
(Aladdin, August 27)
Recommended for ages 10 and up
After committing a truly bad act that he doesn’t want to talk about, or even think about, twelve-year-old Alex is sentenced to a summer of working at the Shady Glen senior living facility. Now he’s stuck taking orders from bossy kid volunteer Maya-Jade and helping people he has no interest in dealing with. When Alex accidentally knocks a painting off the wall, though, he begins to develop an unlikely friendship with 107-year-old Holocaust survivor Joseph Kravitz, who also serves as the story’s narrator. Josey hasn’t spoken aloud for years, but to Alex, he tells his life’s story. As the two characters get to know each other better, they find that their connection has been truly life-changing for both of them. Middle grade, teen, and adult readers will best enjoy this thoughtful and nuanced novel with a box of tissues close at hand.
Nadine Pinede, When the Mapou Sings
(Candlewick, December 3)
Recommended for ages 12-17
A sparkling historical novel in verse, When the Mapou Sings follows sixteen-year-old Lucille as she searches for justice and tries to follow her dreams in 1930s Haiti. Lucille loves the Mapou trees that sing to her, and she’s devoted to her dearest friend, Fifina, with whom she dreams of opening a school for girls and building a life together. But Fifina is taken as the village section chief’s “outside wife,” Lucille’s most beloved Mapou tree is chopped down, and after Lucille confronts the section chief, she’s forced to leave her village for her own safety. Lucille becomes a servant to a wealthy family in Port-au-Prince and even works for author Zora Neale Hurston, but she never stops searching for Fifina, and she continues to hear Mapou’s magical songs. Author Nadine Pinede’s debut novel is a unique and compelling choice for teen and adult readers.
Monica Hesse, The Brightwood Code
(Little, Brown, May 14)
Recommended for ages 14 and up
By now, you’ve probably figured out that I love historical fiction. Learning about new-to-me places and time periods through the lens of fiction has always been one of my favorite ways of exploring the world, and I’m hopeful that plenty of today’s teen readers feel the same. Whether or not they’re already history buffs, I think they’ll enjoy The Brightwood Code, a novel about the “Hello Girls” who worked as switchboard operators for the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War I. In 1918, eighteen-year-old Edda is back in Washington, DC, trying to forget the time she spent in France connecting calls for the military—and the mistake she made that may have led to the death of American troops. When she receives an anonymous call about the incident, Edda has to figure out the caller’s identity and come to terms with her own feelings of guilt.
