2022 Kirkus Best Books of the Year (Awarded by Kirkus)

Awards List

Beginning Readers

Too Small Tola and the Three Fine Girls
(*)
Atinuke

Shahrzad and the Angry King
(*)
Nahid Kazemi

Cornbread & Poppy
(*)
Matthew Cordell

Maddie and Mabel
(*)
Kari Allen

Gigi and Ojiji
(*)
Melissa Iwai

Reina Ramos Works It Out
(*)
Emma Otheguy

I Did It!
(*)
Michael Emberley

Oh, Sal
(*)
Kevin Henkes

A Place to Call Home
(*)
Lauren Castillo

Board Books

On Baba's Back
(*)
Marianne Dubuc

Bumblebee Grumblebee
(*)
David Elliot

Odd Birds
(*)
Laura Gehl

One Sky
(*)
Aaron Becker

Book Club Fiction

Devil House
(*)
John Darnielle

The Pages
(*)
Hugo Hamilton

Mecca
(*)
Susan Straight

The Candy House
(*)
Jennifer Egan

Sea of Tranquility
(*)
Emily St. John Mandel

Companion Piece
(*)
Ali Smith

We Had to Remove This Post
(*)
Hanna Bervoets

The Kingdom of Sand
(*)
Andrew Holleran

Fellowship Point
(*)
Alice Elliott Dark

The Last White Man
(*)
Mohsin Hamid

Sacrificio
(*)
Ernesto Mestre-Reed

Demon Copperhead
(*)
Barbara Kingsolver

Our Missing Hearts
(*)
Celeste Ng

Debut Fiction

Brown Girls
(*)
Daphne Palasi Andreades

Olga Dies Dreaming
(*)
Xochitl Gonzalez

Vladimir
(*)
Julia May Jonas

Lessons in Chemistry
(*)
Bonnie Garmus

Out There
(*)
Kate Folk

An Olive Grove in Ends
(*)
Moses McKenzie

A Calm & Normal Heart
(*)
Chelsea T. Hicks

Night of the Living Rez: Stories
(*)
Morgan Talty

All This Could Be Different
(*)
Sarah Thankam Mathews

Calling for a Blanket Dance
(*)
Oscar Hokeah

The Rabbit Hutch
(*)
Tess Gunty

Stories from The Tenants Downstairs
(*)
Sidik Fofana

If I Survive You
(*)
Jonathan Escoffery

Pretend It's My Body: Stories
(*)
Luke Dani Blue

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
(*)
Laura Warrell

Empowering Picture Books

Samira Surfs
(*)
Rukhsanna Guidroz

The Year We Learned to Fly
(*)
Jacqueline Woodson

Beauty Woke
(*)
Nonieqa Ramos

I Am Golden
(*)
Eva Chen

Gibberish
(*)
Young Vo

The Great Zapfino
(*)
Mac Barnett

Tomatoes in My Lunchbox
(*)
Costantia Manoli

Everything in Its Place
(*)
Pauline David-Sax

Patchwork
(*)
Matt De La Pena

Black Gold
(*)
Laura Obuobi

My Fade Is Fresh
(*)
Shauntay Grant

Fiction

Bliss Montage: Stories
(*)
Ling Ma

Dr. No
(*)
Percival Everett

Fiction in Translation

The Books of Jacob
(*)
Olga Tokarczuk

Pollak's Arm
(*)
Hans von Trotha

Portrait of an Unknown Lady
(*)
Maria Gainza

Scattered All Over the Earth
(*)
Yoko Tawada

When I Sing, Mountains Dance
(*)
Irene Sola

Witches
(*)
Brenda Lozano

Invasion of the Spirit People
(*)
Juan Pablo Villalobos

Cancion
(*)
Eduardo Halfon

Fictional Families

Olga Dies Dreaming
(*)
Xochitl Gonzalez

The Family Chao
(*)
Lan Samantha Chang

The Swimmers
(*)
Julie Otsuka

This Time Tomorrow
(*)
Emma Straub

The Family Izquierdo
(*)
Ruben Degollado

The Furrows
(*)
Namwali Serpell

The Hero of This Book
(*)
Elizabeth McCracken

Fictional Voices

My Volcano
(*)
John Elizabeth Stintzi

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English
(*)
Noor Naga

Young Mungo
(*)
Douglas Stuart

2 A.M. in Little America
(*)
Ken Kalfus

Scary Monsters
(*)
Michelle de Kretser

More Than You'll Ever Know
(*)
Katie Gutierrez

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
(*)
Gabrielle Zevin

Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta
(*)
James Hannaham

Now Is Not the Time to Panic
(*)
Kevin Wilson

The Passenger
(*)
Cormac McCarthy

Funniest Picture Books

Mina
(*)
Matthew Forsythe

Knight Owl
(*)
Christopher Denise

A Gift for Nana
(*)
Lane Smith

Lou
(*)
Breanna Carzoo

Two Dogs
(*)
Ian Falconer

Creepy Crayon!
(*)
Aaron Reynolds

NO! Said Custard the Squirrel
(*)
Sergio Ruzzier

Graphic Middle-Grade

Science Comics: Bridges: Engineering Masterpieces
(*)
Dan Zettwoch

Historical Fiction

Afterlives
(*)
Abdulrazak Gurnah

The Books of Jacob
(*)
Olga Tokarczuk

Yonder
(*)
Jabari Asim

Pollak's Arm
(*)
Hans von Trotha

Trust
(*)
Hernan Diaz

The Book of Goose
(*)
Yiyun Li

Shrines of Gaiety
(*)
Kate Atkinson

Middle-Grade Activist

Omar Rising
(*)
Aisha Saeed

The Secret Battle of Evan Pao
(*)
Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Singing with Elephants
(*)
Margarita Engle

Attack of the Black Rectangles
(*)
Amy Sarig King

Nowhere Better Than Here
(*)
Sarah Guillory

Middle-Grade Adventures

Northwind
(*)
Gary Paulsen

The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck
(*)
Matt Phelan

Wild Ride
(*)
Keith Calabrese

The Pear Affair
(*)
Judith Eagle

The Polter-Ghost Problem
(*)
Betsy Uhrig

Windswept
(*)
Margi Preus

Tangled Up in Nonsense
(*)
Merrill Wyatt

Middle-Grade Family Stories

Just Harriet
(*)
Elana K. Arnold

Aviva vs the Dybbuk
(*)
Mari Lowe

Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence
(*)
Sonja Thomas

The Turtle of Michigan
(*)
Naomi Shihab Nye

Cress Watercress
(*)
Gregory Maguire

Different Kinds of Fruit
(*)
Kyle Lukoff

Caprice
(*)
Coe Booth

Tumble
(*)
Celia C. Perez

Middle-Grade Fantasy

The War to Save the Worlds
(*)
Samira Ahmed

Black Bird, Blue Road
(*)
Sofiya Pasternack

Middle-Grade Fantasy and SF

Ghostcloud
(*)
Michael Mann

The Legend of the Dream Giants
(*)
Dustin Hansen

The Ogress and the Orphans
(*)
Kelly Barnhill

The Last Mapmaker
(*)
Christina Soontornvat

The Marvellers
(*)
Dhonielle Clayton

The Patron Thief of Bread
(*)
Lindsay Eagar

Thunderbird
(*)
Sonia Nimr

Black Bird, Blue Road
(*)
Sofiya Pasternack

The Secrets of the Stormforest
(*)
L.D. Lapinski

Middle-Grade Fiction

Storm
(*)
Nicola Skinner

How to Catch a Queen
(*)
Alyssa Cole

Worser
(*)
Jennifer Ziegler

Shine On, Luz Veliz!
(*)
Rebecca Balcarcel

The Language of Seabirds
(*)
Will Taylor

Iveliz Explains It All
(*)
Andrea Beatriz Arango

Merci Suarez Plays It Cool
(*)
Meg Medina

They Call Her Fregona
(*)
David Bowles

Wildoak
(*)
C.C. Harrington

Holler of the Fireflies
(*)
David Barclay Moore

Lolo's Light
(*)
Liz Garton Scanlon

Nikhil Out Loud
(*)
Maulik Pancholy

The Real Dada Mother Goose
(*)
Jon Scieszka

Roll for Initiative
(*)
Jaime Formato

What the Jaguar Told Her
(*)
Alex V. Mendez

Middle-Grade Friendship Stories

Brand New Boy
(*)
David Almond

Those Kids from Fawn Creek
(*)
Erin Entrada Kelly

Moonwalking
(*)
Zetta Elliott

Our Own Little Paradise
(*)
Marianne Kaurin

Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone
(*)
Tae Keller

The Kaya Girl
(*)
Mamle Wolo

Always, Clementine
(*)
Carlie Sorosiak

Honey and Me
(*)
Meira Drazin

Middle-Grade Graphic Fiction

And Now I Spill the Family Secrets: An Illustrated Memoir
(*)
Margaret Kimball

Isla to Island
(*)
Alexis Castellanos

Little Monarchs
(*)
Jonathan Case

Swim Team
(*)
Johnnie Christmas

Twin Cities
(*)
Jose Pimienta

The Tryout
(*)
Christina Soontornvat

The Flamingo
(*)
Guojing

Freestyle
(*)
Gale Galligan

Frizzy
(*)
Claribel A. Ortega

We the People!
(*)
Don Brown

Twig, Volume 1
(*)
Skottie Young

Middle-Grade Historical Fiction

The Puffin Keeper
(*)
Michael Morpurgo

We Are Wolves
(*)
Katrina Nannestad

Dream, Annie, Dream
(*)
Waka T. Brown

Yonder
(*)
Ali Standish

Coming Up Cuban
(*)
Sonia Manzano

We Were the Fire
(*)
Shelia P. Moses

The Door of No Return
(*)
Kwame Alexander

Different
(*)
Monica Montanes

Middle-Grade Nature Books

A Field Guide to Mermaids
(*)
Emily B. Martin

Mysteries and Thrillers

The 6:20 Man
(*)
David Baldacci

The Maid
(*)
Nita Prose

The Christie Affair
(*)
Nina De Gramont

Diablo Mesa
(*)
Douglas Preston; Lincoln Child

The Berlin Exchange
(*)
Joseph Kanon

Secret Identity
(*)
Alex Segura

What Happened to the Bennetts
(*)
Lisa Scottoline

Two Nights in Lisbon
(*)
Chris Pavone

The Bullet That Missed
(*)
Richard Osman

Killers of a Certain Age
(*)
Deanna Raybourn

Picture Books

A Land of Books
(*)
Duncan Tonatiuh

A River's Gifts
(*)
Patricia Newman

Picture Books About Nature

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
(*)
Robert Frost

Snow Angel, Sand Angel
(*)
Lois-Ann Yamanaka

Where Wonder Grows
(*)
Xelena Gonzalez

Apple and Magnolia
(*)
Laura Gehl

Berry Song
(*)
Michaela Goade

Moonlight
(*)
Stephen Savage

Magnolia Flower
(*)
Zora Neale Hurston

Mushroom Lullaby
(*)
Kenneth Kraegel

Still This Love Goes On
(*)
Buffy Sainte-Marie

So Much Snow
(*)
Hyunmin Park

Dark on Light
(*)
Dianne White

Picture Books Celebrating Community

Powwow Day
(*)
Traci Sorell

Big Truck Little Island
(*)
Chris Van Dusen

The World Belonged to Us
(*)
Jacqueline Woodson

Kapaemahu
(*)
Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

Keepunumuk: Weeachumun's Thanksgiving Story
(*)
Danielle Greendeer

Sal Boat
(*)
Thyra Heder

Standing in the Need of Prayer
(*)
Carole Boston Weatherford

Fire Chief Fran
(*)
Linda Ashman

Picture Books Celebrating Family

Tia Fortuna's New Home
(*)
Ruth Behar

A Day for Sandcastles
(*)
JonArno Lawson

The Rainbow Parade
(*)
Emily Neilson

See You Someday Soon
(*)
Pat Zietlow Miller

Jigsaw
(*)
Bob Graham

Farmhouse
(*)
Sophie Blackall

Playtime for Restless Rascals
(*)
Nikki Grimes

Mama's Home
(*)
Shay Youngblood

Picture Books for Animal Lovers

People Are Wild
(*)
Margaux Meganck

Tiny Dino
(*)
Deborah J. Freedman

Hot Dog
(*)
Doug Salati

Forever Home
(*)
Henry Cole

The Sun Is Late and So Is The Farmer
(*)
Philip C. Stead

Picture Books for Starting Conversations

Will It Be Okay?
(*)
Crescent Dragonwagon

Abuelita and Me
(*)
Leonarda Carranza

A Blue Kind of Day
(*)
Rachel Tomlinson

The Curiosities
(*)
Zana Fraillon

Sometimes I Grumblesquinch
(*)
Rachel Vail

The Moon from Dehradun
(*)
Shirin Shamsi

My Uncle Is Coming Tomorrow
(*)
Sebastian Santana Camargo

Until Someone Listens
(*)
Estela Juarez

The Circles in the Sky
(*)
Karl James Mountford

The Talk
(*)
Alicia D. Williams

Joao by a Thread
(*)
Roger Mello

Paradise Sands
(*)
Levi Pinfold

Picture Books To Inspire Budding Artists

Drawing Outdoors
(*)
Jairo Buitrago

Growing an Artist
(*)
John Parra

Music Is a Rainbow
(*)
Bryan Collier

Off the Wall
(*)
Theodore Taylor III

Yellow Dog Blues
(*)
Alice Faye Duncan

Picture-Book Biographies

Yes We Will
(*)
Kelly Yang

Romance

The Marquess Makes His Move
(*)
Diana Quincy

Book Lovers
(*)
Emily Henry

The Bride Goes Rogue
(*)
Joanna Shupe

From Bad to Cursed
(*)
Lana Harper

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris
(*)
Adriana Herrera

Heartbreaker
(*)
Sarah MacLean

The Hookup Plan
(*)
Farrah Rochon

Ruby Fever
(*)
Ilona Andrews

Where We End & Begin
(*)
Jane Igharo

Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Paradox Hotel
(*)
Rob Hart

Moon Witch, Spider King
(*)
Marlon James

Saint Death's Daughter
(*)
C.S.E. Cooney

When Women Were Dragons
(*)
Kelly Barnhill

The Art of Prophecy
(*)
Wesley Chu

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence
(*)
R.F. Kuang

Nona the Ninth
(*)
Tamsyn Muir

The Spear Cuts Through Water
(*)
Simon Jimenez

A Taste of Gold and Iron
(*)
Alexandra Rowland

The World We Make
(*)
N.K. Jemisin

Short Fiction

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
(*)
Kim Fu

The Last Suspicious Holdout
(*)
Ladee Hubbard

Seeking Fortune Elsewhere: Stories
(*)
Sindya Bhanoo

New and Selected Stories
(*)
Cristina Rivera Garza

Nobody Gets Out Alive: Stories
(*)
Leigh Newman

Out There
(*)
Kate Folk

Your Nostalgia is Killing Me
(*)
John Weir

A Calm & Normal Heart
(*)
Chelsea T. Hicks

God's Children Are Little Broken Things
(*)
Arinze Ifeakandu

The Angel of Rome
(*)
Jess Walter

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories
(*)
Jamil Jan Kochai

Night of the Living Rez: Stories
(*)
Morgan Talty

Stories from The Tenants Downstairs
(*)
Sidik Fofana

If I Survive You
(*)
Jonathan Escoffery

Natural History
(*)
Andrea Barrett

Liberation Day: Stories
(*)
George Saunders

Pretend It's My Body: Stories
(*)
Luke Dani Blue

YA Coming-of-Age Novels

All My Rage
(*)
Sabaa Tahir

Lakelore
(*)
Anna-Marie McLemore

The Color of the Sky Is the Shape of the Heart
(*)
Chesil

Breathe and Count Back from Ten
(*)
Natalia Sylvester

Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl
(*)
Joya Goffney

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet
(*)
Jen Ferguson

Man o' War
(*)
Cory McCarthy

How You Grow Wings
(*)
Rimma Onoseta

We Deserve Monuments
(*)
Jas Hammonds

YA Fantasy and SF

The Obsidian Butterfly
(*)
Lani Forbes

Gallant
(*)
V.E. Schwab

A Thousand Steps into Night
(*)
Traci Chee

Hotel Magnifique
(*)
Emily J. Taylor

Scout's Honor
(*)
Lily Anderson

A Darkness at the Door
(*)
Intisar Khanani

Wind Daughter
(*)
Joanna Ruth Meyer

Beasts of Ruin
(*)
Ayana Gray

The Drowned Woods
(*)
Emily Lloyd-Jones

When the Angels Left the Old Country
(*)
Sacha Lamb

YA Fiction

I Was Born for This
(*)
Alice Oseman

Ain't Burned All the Bright
(*)
Jason Reynolds

Lawless Spaces
(*)
Corey Ann Haydu

Bitter
(*)
Akwaeke Emezi

Full Flight
(*)
Ashley Schumacher

The Gaps
(*)
Leanne Hall

Lakelore
(*)
Anna-Marie McLemore

The Words We Keep
(*)
Erin Stewart

The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin
(*)
Kip Wilson

Nothing Burns as Bright as You
(*)
Ashley Woodfolk

The Ghosts of Rose Hill
(*)
R.M. Romero

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester
(*)
Maya MacGregor

We Weren't Looking to Be Found
(*)
Stephanie Kuehn

Baby Teeth
(*)
Meg Grehan

The Dragons Club
(*)
Cyn Bermudez

This Is Why They Hate Us
(*)
Aaron H. Aceves

What's Coming to Me
(*)
Francesca Padilla

The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen
(*)
Isaac Blum

What the Fact?
(*)
Seema Yasmin

I Miss You, I Hate This
(*)
Sara Saedi

YA Graphic Novels

Crushing
(*)
Sophie Burrows

Amazona
(*)
Canizales

Shuna's Journey
(*)
Hayao Miyazaki

YA Historical Fiction

The Deep Blue Between
(*)
Ayesha Harruna Attah

The Silent Stars Go By
(*)
Sally Nicholls

I Must Betray You
(*)
Ruta Sepetys

My Imaginary Mary
(*)
Cynthia Hand

Destination Unknown
(*)
Bill Konigsberg

Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix
(*)
Anna-Marie McLemore

My Good Man
(*)
Eric Gansworth

Torch
(*)
Lyn Miller-Lachmann

YA Horror

The Last Laugh
(*)
Mindy McGinnis

Hell Followed with Us
(*)
Andrew Joseph White

Our Crooked Hearts
(*)
Melissa Albert

Wake the Bones
(*)
Elizabeth Kilcoyne

The Getaway
(*)
Lamar Giles

The Weight of Blood
(*)
Tiffany D. Jackson

Man Made Monsters
(*)
Andrea L. Rogers

YA Mystery and Thriller

Queen of the Tiles
(*)
Hanna Alkaf

Very Bad People
(*)
Kit Frick

Family of Liars
(*)
E. Lockhart

Hollow Fires
(*)
Samira Ahmed

The Arc
(*)
Ben Oliver

I'm the Girl
(*)
Courtney Summers

Nothing More to Tell
(*)
Karen M. McManus

The Lies We Tell
(*)
Katie Zhao

YA Reads About Family and Community

High Spirits
(*)
Camille Gomera-Tavarez

This Place Is Still Beautiful
(*)
XiXi Tian

Echoes of Grace
(*)
Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Four for the Road
(*)
K.J. Reilly

The Epic Story of Every Living Thing
(*)
Deb Caletti

The 9:09 Project
(*)
Mark H. Parsons

The Secrets We Keep
(*)
Cassie Gustafson

We Are All We Have
(*)
Marina Budhos

YA Romance

Kiss & Tell
(*)
Adib Khorram

Ready When You Are
(*)
Gary Lonesborough

Right Where I Left You
(*)
Julian Winters

See You Yesterday
(*)
Rachel Lynn Solomon

Love Radio
(*)
Ebony LaDelle

Lia and Beckett's Abracadabra
(*)
Amy Noelle Parks

Beating Heart Baby
(*)
Lio Min

A Girl's Guide to Love & Magic
(*)
Debbie Rigaud

Love from Mecca to Medina
(*)
S.K. Ali

Salt and Sugar
(*)
Rebecca Carvalho

Award Categories

Affirming Picture Books

Bedtime Books

Beginning Readers

Board Books

Book Club Fiction

Books for Beginning Readers

Debut Fiction

Empowering Picture Books

Environmental Fiction

Fiction

Fiction in Translation

Fictional Families

Fictional Voices

Funniest Picture Books

Historical Fiction

Informational Picture Books

Joyous Picture Books

Middle-Grade About Speaking Up

Middle-Grade Activist

Middle-Grade Adventures

Middle-Grade Family Stories

Middle-Grade Fantasy and SF

Middle-Grade Fiction

Middle-Grade Friendship Stories

Middle-Grade Graphic Fiction

Award Years

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019