It was another year of phenomenal stories. Check out our list of favorite picture books from 2021 below!
It was another wild year. Yet, as always, phenomenal stories took center stage in our home once again.
Good books were at the forefront of our life at home and my work at school, always there when we needed a laugh, a spring point for an important discussion, or to learn about current events and the world around us.
With so many remarkable stories hitting the shelves in 2021, narrowing down this list proved to be incredibly challenging. So remember this: when looking at this list of our favorite picture books from 2021, remember that book reviews and recommendations are subjective!
A book I love may be just “meh” to another blogger. What my family finds meaningful may not resonate with another. The books on this list are the ones that wowed my family and my students — the ones that moved us, spoke to our hearts, reflected on current challenges in our country, or inspired us to think bigger and deeper. These are the books we have turned to again and again – the ones we havent stopped thinking about.
Enjoy!
This was an absolute standout for me in 2021, an inspiring and encouraging book that speaks to every child who has ever had challenges with reading. Not all children are typical, mainstream learners, and those who are not often struggle with feeling different or less than their classmates. This evocative and tender story of a boy with dyslexia recognizing that he struggles when reading long sentences highlights the beauty of moving at your own pace. It conveys that learning is not a one size fits all process and instead can be a journey unique to each and every child. Reading slowly – reading differently – is not just normalized but celebrated, as are the notions of persistence and love of words and story.
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Something bad was discovered on the wall of a school bathroom (we never learn what it is). It shocks the students, upsets everyone, and all feel nervous, confused and even angry. But through the sadness, the whole school comes together to heal from the awful words, creating a beautiful mural – something good – over the something bad that sought to tore them apart. I love this ode to community, and the way it sparks such important discussion about the power of words and the ways we can pull together to create beauty from destruction.
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Andrea Beaty and David Roberts do it again! In the latest installment of The Questioneers picture books, the dynamic duo tells the story of Aaron Slater, a young boy who loves stories and dreams of telling them himself. Yet how can he write his own stories when he struggles to read, and all the letters look like squiggles to him? When Aaron is asked to write a story in class, he finds a way to tell a tale that is totally, uniquely his own. I love the way this empowering book imparts that there are so many ways to tell stories. Learning disabilities like dyslexia don’t define us and instead encourage our creativity and resilience. A gem!
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Have you ever wondered what you can make with a yellow circle? How about a lion?! What would you make with a green square? Maybe a frog! This brilliant book is a playful mashup of pictures, poetry and spatial relationships, all wrapped up in vibrant colors and shapes. We see transformations in each page turn, from shape to color to thing. Moving gracefully from red to yellow to magenta, a beautiful array of colors will capture your eyes and heart. This is a puzzle of a book, certain to engage and captivate young readers!
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Between the beautiful prose and exquisite illustrations, I fell SO hard for this stunner! This beautiful and empowering story is a children’s anthem, an ode to kids who want to make positive changes around them, and a lyrical meditation on our innate abilities to create a bright future. My favorite part about it? It serves as a call to action- encouraging children to stand up, speak out, practice kindness, and work towards a just and compassionate world. This is powerful book has a home in every personal library and classroom, and I can’t rave about it enough!
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Oh, how I love this book! We all know someone like Jenny Mei, the kind of friend who always smiles and makes others laugh. But her good friends know that behind that outer cheer, Jenny Mei is sad. And a really good friend will be there to support Jenny when she needs it most. With tenderness and a keen insight into the childhood mind and psyche, this book helps little ones understand sadness, friendship, and how we can support our cherished pals not only through the fun times, but through the tough ones too.
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This is a darling story about a lovebird who does not like to be kissed. In fact, she squeaks emphatically, “no kissies!” if another bird tries to get too close! This causes drama among the other affectionate birds, and this huge chasm setting her apart from the other lovebirds makes Rissy feel weird too. When Rissy talks to her mother, mom imparts a valuable message: “Your body and your heart are yours, and you choose how to share./ You get to pick the ways you want to show us that you care.” This is a perfect book about consent for kids and an important story to introduce the concept of bodily autonomy to children of all ages.
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Gramps and Grandad were amazing adventurers, touring the country in their awesome camper. But upon Gramps’s death, Grandad doesn’t feel much like traveling. Leave it to their special granddaughter to get Grandad excited about exploring again. The spunky child decides to fix up their camper, getting it ready to take them, too, on great adventures. I love the way this book features a same sex marriage without making it the focus of the story. It is a beautiful celebration of love, loss and finding hope and fulfillment in new beginnings.
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This gorgeous book tackles one girl’s journey as she learns to love her beautiful eyes. The child comes to realize her eyes are just like those of her family before her. All of their eyes are ones she loves, values, and finds extraordinarily safe and beautiful. What I love the most about this book is the brilliant way Ho weaves Chinese culture throughout the story to bolster the child’s growing confidence in, and love for, her eyes. From lotus flowers to lychees, oolong pools to swords of warriors, the symbols give this story so much richness and a vivid backdrop for understanding the child’s pride in her beautiful eyes. An absolute stunner of a picture book. From illustration to message, it’s all perfectly on point!
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To say we loved Be Kind, the first book in this series, is an understatement. And Be Strong, just like its predecessor, is awesome! Here, Tanisha is back and she is facing something that scares her tremendously – the rock climbing wall in gym. After all, she doesn’t feel nearly as strong as her friends, and she worries she won’t reach the top. But with a little help from her family, Tanisha learns that being strong means a lot more than the size of your muscles. It has to do with being courageous, speaking up, showing up, and not giving up, too! This book conveys such an incredible message for little ones, while never feeling didactic or like it is talking down to children, and I simply love the way it speaks so organically to children who struggle with their own confidence and understanding the complex meaning of the word “strength.” Love, love, love!
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One day, something strange happened. The world seemed to come to a complete stop. The people outside went inside. Outside was quiet and wild. Inside was warm and worried. But we still laughed and grew, despite everything, everywhere, feeling so different. This is an impressive book about the pandemic, how our world changed, and the “new normal” we experienced with the onset of Covid-19, capturing everything from the heroism of essential workers to the pain of the Black Lives Matter protests to the shared lived experience challenging the entire world as the coronavirus ran rampant across the globe. Tender, harrowing, hopeful, this book is essential.
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Not only is this a fun and fabulous kindergarten read aloud, but it is also an important one for your shelves. Apologizing when you’ve made a mistake is not easy, and we all sometimes need a good reminder about how to say we’re sorry. With great tips, joyful humor, and sincerity to boot, this book helps readers young and old see that even though it’s not always easy to apologize, apologizing helps make situations and people feel better when someone messes up. This is a great primer for young readers and an important refresher for older ones!
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In this delightful story, readers meet Laxmi, a little girl who never gave much thought to the tiny hairs above her lip. Until, that is, the day a boy on the playground tells her she would make a perfect cat since she already had whiskers. His comment devastates Laxmi, who suddenly can’t stop seeing all of her body hair. Laxmi’s mother helps her recognize that hair grows everywhere, not just on top of one’s head, and that all people, no matter their gender, have body and facial hair. I love the way Mom addresses Laxmi’s concern by showing her how much pride can be found in the hair above her lip (called her “mooch,”) and how many strong women before her celebrated their facial hair. The tone is always positive, it never dismisses or diminishes Laxmi’s frustration, and it empowers not just Laxmi, but all children, to embrace their unique characteristics.
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The Fan Brothers put out yet another exquisite book this year, a whimsical story about a marble that falls from the sky. None of the insects in the garden know what it is or where it came from, but they come from miles away to marvel at the glorious object. Yet, since it fell by Spider’s house, Spider unilaterally declares that it is his, setting up a big display and charging a nominal fee to all who want to come see it. What will happen once no one shows up anymore? Was Spider in the wrong or did he have the other insects best interests at heart? This is a wonderful story about greed and community, matched perfectly by the Fan brothers remarkable illustrations.
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WOW. This book is simply exquisite. Not only is the prose lyrical and lovely and just pure perfection, but the photographs are unparalleled. It is simply glorious, with each uniquely creative page an ode to childhood, the power of potential, and a meditation on self-love and internal beauty. This gorgeous book is a celebration of childhood, infused with magic and wonder on each and every page. An absolute masterpiece!
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Finally! A book for all kids that touches upon Judaism and Yiddish that is modern and fun and oh so refreshing! We simply adore this book about two unlikely friends who are as opposite as can be. Gitty always looks on the bright side of things, and Kvetch – well, he just kvetches a lot and has a really hard time staying positive. But when some bad weather rains on Gitty’s parade, will Kvetch be able to lift her spirits? We love the way Yiddish words are woven into the text, making this not just a fun and joyful read, but educational and inclusive, too. Fantastic!
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This is such a fabulous read aloud, one that will have you and your little ones begging for rereads just so you can give voice to the incredible onomatopoeia on every page. Simply put, it is such fun to read, brimming with joy on every page. When Baby Izzie wakes during the night with a startling “waaah!” she sets off a chain reaction, waking up both people and animals in the red brick building. Though the clattering sounds on each page wake folks on every floor, all of the neighbors eventually settle down again as soft noises lull them back to sleep. I love the way this book so beautifully invites kids into the story, giving them voice as they move from the baby’s sharp wails to the gentle pah-pum, pah-pum of a mother’s heart. It’s a fantastic book to wind down a busy day, and Mora’s exquisite illustrations are a perfect match for Wynter’s rhythmic text, resulting in a bedtime masterpiece.
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This perfect book for the holiday season (and, truly, all year round) celebrates all the wonderful things in the world for which one little girl is thankful. The story follows the child as she partakes in her family tradition, making a paper chain to highlight all of the things she is grateful for in a year. As one idea leads to another, her chain grows longer and longer. From homes to poems, this tender story reminds children that wonder is all around us, and there is so much to be thankful for each and every day. This book is such a joy!
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Lyrical. Vital. Powerful. Evocative. Hopeful. There is so much to say about this incredible book, another stunner from 2021. This beauty is a picture book in verse that begins with a young child yearning to trace her family back more than three generations for her family tree assignment in school. The child’s Grandma gathers the family together, and thus begins a story starting in 1619, when their ancestors were stolen and brought to America by white slave traders. Yet before this, before they were taken, they had a home, land, language. They had love. Through it all – from their origins in West Central Africa to their lives as slaves in Virginia – they fought for survival, all the while planting new dreams as they willed themselves to keep on living. This story chronicles the horrors of slavery and the beginnings of the Black resistance, told gently and tenderly to allow readers of all ages to reflect on this important piece of American history.
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I loved this touching story of community and holiday spirit! Inspired by a true story, this book centers around two friends, one who celebrates Hanukkah whereas the other celebrates Christmas. When Isaac’s family placed their menorah in a front window of their home, their window was smashed. A hate crime. Though the family was scared, they decided to light their menorah again the next night so as not to hide their Judaism. And the next night, Isaac’s friend Theresa put a hand drawn menorah in her own window, which became a catalyst for the whole town to celebrate Hanukkah and community, with menorahs and Christmas trees decorating more than 10,000 windows.
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What happens when you know you are doing something right that makes you happy, but your classmates make fun of you for it? This is the precise situation in I CAN HELP, about a girl named Zahara who is always up for helping Kyle, a boy the others in class call a weird baby. After her classmates continually ask Zahara why she helps Kyle, Zahara cuts him out, even though she knows she is being unkind. Zahara is remorseful – but she doesn’t know how to fix it until the next school year, when she goes to a new school. But how can she make things better if Kyle isn’t even there? I absolutely love the tender way this story tackles helping those who need it, peer pressure, and remorse. It’s beautifully handled, and never once feels inauthentic or didactic.
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