The B&N Kids Blog’s Favorite Picture Books of 2018

Dreamers, by Yuyi Morales
With Dreamers, Yuyi Morales tells the true story of her first years in the United States. In 1994, Morales immigrated from Mexico to marry her son’s father. Her first years in the U.S. were difficult. She felt lost, invisible, and unvalued. She couldn’t speak English and missed home terribly. Morales’s life changed when she visited a public library for the first time. The library became a second home for Morales and her son. There, she learned to read and developed a love for picture books. What makes Dreamers spectacular is its inventive use of collage. Yuyi uses pen, paint, and embroidery to create the world of her book. She also incorporates photos from her life, including pictures of childhood drawings, images from her hometown, and photos of Mexican fabrics. With so many artistic elements at play, the result should feel disconnected or overdone, but Dreamers feels beautifully balanced.

LOVE, by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Loren Long
LOVE has one of the best opening pages of the year. Matt de la Peña’s initial text describes two parents seen through the eyes of their infant, “In the beginning there is light and two wide-eyed figures standing near the foot of your bed, and the sound of their voice is love.” It’s a perfect first page. And, the book gets better. In de la Peña’sbook, love is found in many places. It is heard in the voice of a mother and seen in the creases of a grandfather’s face. Though LOVE seems to travel all over the world, offering glimpses into what love means to many different people, de la Peña keeps the story in second person, making the book feel both very personal and powerfully universal.

Drawn Together, by Minh Lê & Dan Santat
A grandfather and grandson speak different languages. They struggle to communicate until they find a shared tongue: drawing. Using art to tell each other stories and imagine wild adventures, they merge the grandson’s love for vibrant color and the grandfather’s penchant for highly detailed black and white illustrations. When their two aesthetics are drawn together, they create masterpieces. Drawn Together is a poignant and impactful story of few words. Dan Santat’s gorgeous illustrations do much of the book’s narrative heavy lifting. Santat is the Caldecott Award-winning author and illustrator of The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend.

We Don’t Eat Our Classmates, by Ryan T. Higgins
Ryan T. Higgins is the picture book author behind the wonderfully comic Mother Bruce and Santa Bruce. Higgins’s latest picture book, We Don’t Eat Our Classmates, follows Penelope Rex, a young tyrannosaur beginning a new school. Penelope is eager to make friends but keeps getting distracted. Her classmates look delicious! Throughout the book, Penelope hilariously struggles with her desire to eat her classmates. It isn’t until a fish bites the young dinosaur’s finger that Penelope truly has a change of heart.  The fish has taught her that it’s not much fun to be someone else’s snack. Tucked within this comical tale is the lesson that we should treat others as we would like to be treated. In Penelope’s case, this means not eating her classmates!

She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History, by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger
Chelsea Clinton has written another fantastic picture book celebrating history-shaping women. While her first book centered on American women, Clinton’s second focuses on women around the globe. Some names, such as Marie Curie and Malala Yousafzai will be familiar to many readers and their parents. But others, like Mary Verghese, a doctor who founded the first functional rehabilitation center in India, are less well-known. Clinton’s book highlights many women who have not received the acclaim they deserve. These are women like Aisha Rateb, Egypt’s first female ambassador, and Wangari Maathai, who founded a movement responsible for planting millions of trees. Maathai was also the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s impossible to read this book without having a profound gratitude for the great women who have persisted despite facing unrelenting prejudice. The book is a must-have for any children’s library.

Festival of Colors, written by Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal, illustrated by Vashti Harrison
Festival of Colors begins quietly, two children whisper in a garden filled with flowers. Chintoo and Mintoo are preparing for Holi, the book’s eponymous Indian festival. Each flower the children pick will be used to make a different color.  The petals of orchids, marigolds, hibiscuses, and irises are plucked and ground into fine, colorful powder. Chintoo and Mintoo will later fling blues, oranges, reds, and purples in the air to celebrate the birth of spring. Though the book begins quietly, as it progresses, it becomes an uproarious celebration of culture and community. Friends and neighbors join Chintoo and Mintoo as they make their way to the festival. Soon, the streets are filled with splashes of color. Clouds of blues, oranges, reds, and purples float around the joyful crowd. Festival of Colors is a lovely and spirited introduction to Holi. At the end of the book, the authors describe the meaning of the holiday, which celebrates “inclusiveness, new beginnings, and the triumph of good over evil.”

ELMORE, by Holly Hobbie
Up in an old maple tree there is a hedgehog named Elmore. He lives a solitary life, though not by choice. In fact, the hedgehog longs for friends. Unfortunately for Elmore, his prickly quills keep others at a distance. When he posts a sign that says, “Friends Wanted,” he doesn’t have much luck. The other animals are afraid of being “needled, nettled, pricked.” Elmore despairs. But after some deep thinking, he comes up with a solution. The hedgehog will offer his quills to the other animals. They can be used as quill pens! In the coming days, Elmore receives many notes from new friends, each penned using his quills. Holly Hobbie’s picture book is a delightfully sweet story that highlights how our perceived weaknesses can become our greatest strengths.

Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World, by Vashti Harrison
Vashti Harrison’s Little Dreamers is her follow up to Little Leaders, a book which highlighted forty incredible women in black history. The second book of the series also features forty outstanding women, including Wang Zhenyi, Chinese poet and astronomer, Asima Chatterjee, Indian organic chemist, and Amalia Hernández, Mexican dancer and choreographer. Though similar to Clinton’s picture book, Harrison’s Little Dreamers is aimed at an older audience. The book is perfect for those in grades three to seven. Fans of Little Leaders will adore this book!

Julian Is a Mermaid, by Jessica Love
Jessica Love’s first picture book is a joyful ode to self-expression and whimsy. Julian is a young boy who loves mermaids. As he travels through the city with his abuela, Julian sees mermaids in person! Three people glimmer in gold and blue on the subway. Each wears a long mermaid’s tail. Julian is mesmerized. When his abuela steps out, he decides to dress up. Using a curtain to create a fishy tail and flowers and fronds to make a headdress, Julian quickly transforms into a mermaid. Though he is nervous when his abuela first sees his attire, his grandma surprises Julian by offering a necklace to complete his costume. Julian and his abuela then join other mermaids on their bright and colorful parade through the city!

The Day You Begin, by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Rafael López 
Feeling like an outsider is an inevitable part of life. Everyone has experienced loneliness. Jacqueline Woodson’s picture book is a hopeful message to those who feel like they’re watching life from its perimeter. Woodson includes several examples of children who struggle with loneliness and shame. The book opens with a boy introducing himself to a class for the first time. His classmates laugh at his accent. Later in the book, a girl eats kimchi with meat and rice, a meal that seems unacceptable to her peers. But in presenting these examples, Woodson’s tone is hopeful. She often repeats the phrase, “There will be times when…” emphasizing that though there are hard times, they do not last forever. By the end of the book, the outlook for each of Woodson’s characters is bright. They find themselves and each other, and become proud of what makes them different.