2021 Kirkus Best Books of the Year (Awarded by Kirkus)

Awards List

Affirming Picture Books

Eyes That Kiss in the Corners
(*)
Joanna Ho

What Will You Be?
(*)
Yamile Saied Mendez

The Wind May Blow
(*)
Sasha Quinton

When We Say Black Lives Matter
(*)
Maxine Beneba Clarke

Bedtime Books

I Sang You Down from the Stars
(*)
Tasha Spillett-Sumner

Full Moon
(*)
Camilla Pintonato

Moon Pops
(*)
Heena Baek

As Babies Dream
(*)
Leslea Newman

Before We Sleep
(*)
Giorgio Volpe

Little Bird's Day
(*)
Sally Morgan

Board Books

Ollie Feels Fine
(*)
Toni Yuly

This Is Still Not A Book
(*)
Jean Jullien

Sharkblock
(*)
Christopher Franceschelli

Book Club Fiction

Bina
(*)
Anakana Schofield

The Committed
(*)
Viet Thanh Nguyen

Foregone
(*)
Russell Banks

Second Place
(*)
Rachel Cusk

Wayward
(*)
Dana Spiotta

Beautiful World, Where Are You
(*)
Sally Rooney

Our Country Friends
(*)
Gary Shteyngart

The Sentence
(*)
Louise Erdrich

Books for Beginning Readers

The Protest
(*)
Samantha Thornhill

I'm On It!
(*)
Andrea Tsurumi

Fish and Sun
(*)
Sergio Ruzzier

Shell Quest
(*)
Steph Waldo

See the Dog
(*)
David LaRochelle

Fergus and Zeke and the 100th Day of School
(*)
Kate Messner

Debut Fiction

Detransition, Baby
(*)
Torrey Peters

Milk Blood Heat
(*)
Dantiel W. Moniz

No One Is Talking About This
(*)
Patricia Lockwood

Land of Big Numbers
(*)
Te-Ping Chen

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
(*)
Dawnie Walton

Winter in Sokcho
(*)
Elisa Shua Dusapin

The Fugitivities
(*)
Jesse McCarthy

The Other Black Girl
(*)
Zakiya Dalila Harris

Walking on Cowrie Shells: Stories
(*)
Nana Nkweti

Build Your House Around My Body
(*)
Violet Kupersmith

Afterparties: Stories
(*)
Anthony Veasna So

Damnation Spring
(*)
Ash Davidson

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
(*)
Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

Skinship: Stories
(*)
Yoon Choi

Three Rooms
(*)
Jo Hamya

My Monticello: Fiction
(*)
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

Environmental Fiction

How Beautiful We Were
(*)
Imbolo Mbue

Hummingbird Salamander
(*)
Jeff VanderMeer

Damnation Spring
(*)
Ash Davidson

Bewilderment
(*)
Richard Powers

Harrow
(*)
Joy Williams

Chronicles from the Happiest People on Earth
(*)
Wole Soyinka

What Storm, What Thunder
(*)
Myriam J.A. Chancy

Fiction in Translation

Loop
(*)
Brenda Lozano

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
(*)
Mariana Enriquez

In Memory of Memory
(*)
Maria Stepanova

Untraceable
(*)
Sergey Lebedev

The Twilight Zone
(*)
Nona Fernandez

Winter in Sokcho
(*)
Elisa Shua Dusapin

Kin
(*)
Miljenko Jergovic

Bolla
(*)
Pajtim Statovci

The Corpse Flower
(*)
Anne Mette Hancock

Trust
(*)
Domenico Starnone

Fictional Families

The Removed
(*)
Brandon Hobson

The Arsonists' City
(*)
Hala Alyan

The Five Wounds
(*)
Kirstin Valdez Quade

Monkey Boy
(*)
Francisco Goldman

Secrets of Happiness
(*)
Joan Silber

Golden Girl
(*)
Elin Hilderbrand

The Netanyahus
(*)
Joshua Cohen

The War for Gloria
(*)
Atticus Lish

Crossroads
(*)
Jonathan Franzen

Fight Night
(*)
Miriam Toews

Funniest Picture Books

Something's Wrong!
(*)
Jory John

How to Apologize
(*)
David LaRochelle

What Does Little Crocodile Say?
(*)
Eva Montanari

The Mysterious Sea Bunny
(*)
Peter Raymundo

Invasion of the Unicorns
(*)
David Biedrzycki

Ruffles and the Red, Red Coat
(*)
David Melling

Historical Fiction

The Rib King
(*)
Ladee Hubbard

Zorrie
(*)
Laird Hunt

Great Circle
(*)
Maggie Shipstead

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
(*)
Rivka Galchen

The Great Mistake
(*)
Jonathan Lee

Harlem Shuffle
(*)
Colson Whitehead

Matrix
(*)
Lauren Groff

Palmares
(*)
Gayl Jones

The Lincoln Highway
(*)
Amor Towles

Informational Picture Books

The Snail with the Right Heart
(*)
Maria Popova

Without Separation
(*)
Larry Dane Brimner

Joyous Picture Books

Mel Fell
(*)
Corey R. Tabor

My First Day
(*)
Phung Nguyen Quang

To Carnival!
(*)
Baptiste Paul

Your Mama
(*)
Nonieqa Ramos

We All Play
(*)
Julie Flett

Best Day Ever!
(*)
Marilyn Singer

Room for Everyone
(*)
Naaz Khan

Middle-Grade Family Stories

Summer of Brave
(*)
Amy Noelle Parks

Treasure of the World
(*)
Tara Sullivan

Unsettled
(*)
Reem Faruqi

Rez Dogs
(*)
Joseph Bruchac

Sisters of the Neversea
(*)
Cynthia Leitich Smith

Bad Sister
(*)
Charise Mericle Harper

Born Behind Bars
(*)
Padma Venkatraman

How to Find What You're Not Looking For
(*)
Veera Hiranandani

Playing the Cards You're Dealt
(*)
Varian Johnson

Stuntboy, in the Meantime
(*)
Jason Reynolds

Middle-Grade Fantasy and SF

The Strangeworlds Travel Agency
(*)
L.D. Lapinski

Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt
(*)
Rhiannon Williams

Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls
(*)
Kaela Rivera

Da Vinci's Cat
(*)
Catherine Gilbert Murdock

River Magic
(*)
Ellen Booraem

Willa of Dark Hollow
(*)
Robert Beatty

Time Villains
(*)
Victor Pineiro

The War to Save the Worlds
(*)
Samira Ahmed

Dust & Grim
(*)
Chuck Wendig

The Great Bear
(*)
David A. Robertson

The Last Cuentista
(*)
Donna Barba Higuera

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne
(*)
Jonathan Stroud

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy
(*)
Anne Ursu

Middle-Grade Fiction

Can You Whistle, Johanna?
(*)
Ulf Stark

Boy Meets Ghoul
(*)
Birdie Milano

Knight of the Cape
(*)
Terry Catasus Jennings

The House That Wasn't There
(*)
Elana K. Arnold

Merci Suarez Can't Dance
(*)
Meg Medina

Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend
(*)
Dawn Quigley

Ways to Grow Love
(*)
Renee Watson

Maya and the Robot
(*)
Eve L. Ewing

Temple Alley Summer
(*)
Sachiko Kashiwaba

Cold-Blooded Myrtle
(*)
Elizabeth C. Bunce

The Mailbox in the Forest
(*)
Kyoko Hara

Middle-Grade Graphic Fiction

Island Book
(*)
Evan Dahm

The Legend of Auntie Po
(*)
Shing Yin Khor

Monster Friends
(*)
Kaeti Vandorn

Lilla the Accidental Witch
(*)
Eleanor Crewes

Borders
(*)
Thomas King

Barb the Last Berzerker
(*)
Dan Abdo

The Golden Hour
(*)
Niki Smith

Manu
(*)
Kelly Fernandez

When Pigs Fly
(*)
Rob Harrell

Living With Viola
(*)
Rosena Fung

Middle-Grade Historical Fiction

Barbed Wire Baseball
(*)
Marissa Moss

Voyage of the Sparrowhawk
(*)
Natasha Farrant

Root Magic
(*)
Eden Royce

Amber and Clay
(*)
Laura Amy Schlitz

Dawn Raid
(*)
Pauline Vaeluaga Smith

Soul Lanterns
(*)
Shaw Kuzki

Being Clem
(*)
Lesa Cline-Ransome

Cuba in My Pocket
(*)
Adrianna Cuevas

The Beatryce Prophecy
(*)
Kate DiCamillo

The Swallows' Flight
(*)
Hilary McKay

Middle-Grade Novels About Growing Up

The Sea in Winter
(*)
Christine Day

Take Back the Block
(*)
Chrystal D. Giles

The Year I Flew Away
(*)
Marie Arnold

Boy, Everywhere
(*)
A.M. Dassu

It Doesn't Take a Genius
(*)
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

Too Bright to See
(*)
Kyle Lukoff

Not All Heroes
(*)
Josephine Cameron

Kaleidoscope
(*)
Brian Selznick

Room to Dream
(*)
Kelly Yang

Mysteries and Thrillers

Untraceable
(*)
Sergey Lebedev

Infinite
(*)
Brian Freeman

Lady Joker, Volume 1
(*)
Kaoru Takamura

Northern Spy
(*)
Flynn Berry

A Lonely Man
(*)
Chris Power

The Other Black Girl
(*)
Zakiya Dalila Harris

False Witness
(*)
Karin Slaughter

Razorblade Tears
(*)
S.A. Cosby

Billy Summers
(*)
Stephen King

Unthinkable
(*)
Brad Parks

Harlem Shuffle
(*)
Colson Whitehead

The Corpse Flower
(*)
Anne Mette Hancock

The Man Who Died Twice
(*)
Richard Osman

Picture Books About Crossing Borders

Like a Dandelion
(*)
Huy Voun Lee

When Lola Visits
(*)
Michelle Sterling

My Two Border Towns
(*)
David Bowles

The Big Bath House
(*)
Kyo Maclear

Olu and Greta
(*)
Diana Ejaita

Picture Books Celebrating Community

Most Days
(*)
Michael Leannah

The Lost Package
(*)
Richard Ho

The Smile Shop
(*)
Satoshi Kitamura

I Am the Subway
(*)
Hyo-eun Kim

Little Witch Hazel
(*)
Phoebe Wahl

The New Friend
(*)
Charlotte Zolotow

The Big Bath House
(*)
Kyo Maclear

Dream Street
(*)
Tricia Elam Walker

Picture Books Celebrating Family

I See You See
(*)
Richard Jackson

Milo Imagines the World
(*)
Matt De La Pena

The Electric Slide and Kai
(*)
Kelly J. Baptist

The Night Walk
(*)
Marie Dorleans

Watercress
(*)
Andrea Wang

On the Trapline
(*)
David A. Robertson

Strollercoaster
(*)
Matt Ringler

Dad Bakes
(*)
Katie Yamasaki

Picture Books for Starting Conversations

The Big Bad Wolf in My House
(*)
Valerie Fontaine

The Big House and the Little House
(*)
Yoshi Ueno

Rissy No Kissies
(*)
Katey Howes

The Wind and the Trees
(*)
Todd Stewart

The Day the Rain Moved In
(*)
Eleonore Douspis

Jenny Mei Is Sad
(*)
Tracy Subisak

Black and White
(*)
Debora Vogrig

Bright Star
(*)
Yuyi Morales

Can You See Me?
(*)
Gokce Irten

The Longest Storm
(*)
Dan Yaccarino

The Sour Cherry Tree
(*)
Naseem Hrab

The Longest Letsgoboy
(*)
Derick Wilder

Picture-Book Biographies

Jump at the Sun
(*)
Alicia D. Williams

Romance

Battle Royal
(*)
Lucy Parker

Act Your Age, Eve Brown
(*)
Talia Hibbert

People We Meet On Vacation
(*)
Emily Henry

The Soulmate Equation
(*)
Christina Lauren

One Last Stop
(*)
Casey McQuiston

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb
(*)
Cat Sebastian

Seven Days in June
(*)
Tia Williams

Bombshell
(*)
Sarah MacLean

The Dating Playbook
(*)
Farrah Rochon

A Lot Like Adios
(*)
Alexis Daria

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Klara and the Sun
(*)
Kazuo Ishiguro

Machinehood
(*)
S.B. Divya

Project Hail Mary
(*)
Andy Weir

A Radical Act of Free Magic
(*)
H.G. Parry

No Gods, No Monsters
(*)
Cadwell Turnbull

Destroyer of Light
(*)
Jennifer Marie Brissett

The Free Bastards
(*)
Jonathan French

Light From Uncommon Stars
(*)
Ryka Aoki

Short Fiction

Echo Tree
(*)
Henry Dumas

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
(*)
Mariana Enriquez

Milk Blood Heat
(*)
Dantiel W. Moniz

Land of Big Numbers
(*)
Te-Ping Chen

The Souvenir Museum
(*)
Elizabeth McCracken

Filthy Animals: Stories
(*)
Brandon Taylor

Walking on Cowrie Shells: Stories
(*)
Nana Nkweti

Afterparties: Stories
(*)
Anthony Veasna So

American Estrangement
(*)
Said Sayrafiezadeh

Skinship: Stories
(*)
Yoon Choi

My Monticello: Fiction
(*)
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

Five Tuesdays in Winter
(*)
Lily King

Reality and Other Stories
(*)
John Lanchester

Wordless Picture Books

Over the Shop
(*)
JonArno Lawson

The Midnight Fair
(*)
Gideon Sterer

Alien Nation
(*)
Sandro Bassi

The Dog Walk
(*)
Sven Nordqvist

Writers to Discover

The Blizzard Party
(*)
Jack Livings

The Life of the Mind
(*)
Christine Smallwood

What's Mine and Yours
(*)
Naima Coster

Early Morning Riser
(*)
Katherine Heiny

The Blackmailer's Guide to Love
(*)
Marian Thurm

The Great Mistake
(*)
Jonathan Lee

Intimacies
(*)
Katie Kitamura

Lean Fall Stand
(*)
Jon McGregor

I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness
(*)
Claire Vaye Watkins

YA Activist Reads

We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire
(*)
Joy McCullough

Off the Record
(*)
Camryn Garrett

One Great Lie
(*)
Deb Caletti

Like Other Girls
(*)
Britta Lundin

Where I Belong
(*)
Marcia Argueta Mickelson

Tell It True
(*)
Tim Lockette

YA Fantasy and SF

The Broken Raven
(*)
Joseph Elliott

The Wide Starlight
(*)
Nicole Lesperance

A Queen of Gilded Horns
(*)
Amanda Joy

Aetherbound
(*)
E.K. Johnston

Mister Impossible
(*)
Maggie Stiefvater

Blood Like Magic
(*)
Liselle Sambury

Rainbow in the Dark
(*)
Sean McGinty

Redemptor
(*)
Jordan Ifueko

The Sisters of Reckoning
(*)
Charlotte Nicole Davis

Beasts of Prey
(*)
Ayana Gray

Before We Disappear
(*)
Shaun David Hutchinson

Little Thieves
(*)
Margaret Owen

Vial of Tears
(*)
Cristin Bishara

When Night Breaks
(*)
Janella Angeles

All of Us Villains
(*)
Amanda Foody; Christine Lynn Herman

The Grimrose Girls
(*)
Laura Pohl

YA Fiction

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
(*)
Crystal Maldonado

When We Were Infinite
(*)
Kelly Loy Gilbert

The Cost of Knowing
(*)
Brittney Morris

Zara Hossain Is Here
(*)
Sabina Khan

On the Hook
(*)
Francisco X. Stork

Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun
(*)
Jonny Garza Villa

When We Make It
(*)
Elisabet Velasquez

Tonight We Rule the World
(*)
Zack Smedley

The Words in My Hands
(*)
Asphyxia

YA Graphic Novels

The Crossroads at Midnight
(*)
Abby Howard

Nubia
(*)
L.L. McKinney

The Hazards of Love Vol. 1: Bright World
(*)
Stan Stanley

Run: Book One
(*)
John Lewis

Himawari House
(*)
Harmony Becker

The Devil's Music
(*)
Nathan Page

YA Historical Fiction

The Awakening of Malcolm X
(*)
Ilyasah Shabazz

Last Night at the Telegraph Club
(*)
Malinda Lo

Mazie
(*)
Melanie Crowder

A Sitting in St. James
(*)
Rita Williams-Garcia

Walls
(*)
L.M. Elliott

Beyond the Blue Border
(*)
Dorit Linke

Traitors Among Us
(*)
Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Freedom Swimmer
(*)
Wai Chim

YA Mystery and Thriller

The Girls I've Been
(*)
Tess Sharpe

The Project
(*)
Courtney Summers

She's Too Pretty to Burn
(*)
Wendy Heard

The Block
(*)
Ben Oliver

All Our Hidden Gifts
(*)
Caroline O'Donoghue

The Box in the Woods
(*)
Maureen Johnson

The Dead and the Dark
(*)
Courtney Gould

The River Has Teeth
(*)
Erica Waters

White Smoke
(*)
Tiffany D. Jackson

YA Reads About Family and Community

Concrete Rose
(*)
Angie Thomas

One of the Good Ones
(*)
Maika Moulite; Maritza Moulite

Home Is Not a Country
(*)
Safia Elhillo

Misfit in Love
(*)
S.K. Ali

An Emotion of Great Delight
(*)
Tahereh Mafi

In the Wild Light
(*)
Jeff Zentner

Vampires, Hearts & Other Dead Things
(*)
Margie Fuston

A Snake Falls to Earth
(*)
Darcie Little Badger