Kirkus Best Books of the Year - Picture Books (Awarded by Kirkus)

Awards List

2023

An American Story
(*)
Kwame Alexander

Darwin's Super-Pooping Worm Spectacular
(*)
Polly Owen

Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!
(*)
Tonya Bolden

Glitter Everywhere!
(*)
Chris Barton

2022

A Land of Books
(*)
Duncan Tonatiuh

A River's Gifts
(*)
Patricia Newman

2020

The Ghoul
(*)
Taghreed Najjar

Bedtime for Sweet Creatures
(*)
Nikki Grimes

In a Jar
(*)
Deborah Marcero

Dandelion's Dream
(*)
Yoko Tanaka

Old Rock (is not boring)
(*)
Deb Pilutti

Story Boat
(*)
Kyo Maclear

The Bear in My Family
(*)
Maya Tatsukawa

Hike
(*)
Pete Oswald

Letters from Bear
(*)
Gauthier David

Nerp!
(*)
Sarah Lynne Reul

Salma the Syrian Chef
(*)
Danny Ramadan

A Way with Wild Things
(*)
Larissa Theule

Window
(*)
Marion Arbona

The House of Madame M
(*)
Clotilde Perrin

Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy
(*)
Tara Dairman

The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish
(*)
Lil Miss Hot Mess

Lift
(*)
Minh Le

Memoirs of a Tortoise
(*)
Devin Scillian

Two Dogs on a Trike
(*)
Gabi Snyder

The Word for Friend
(*)
Aidan Cassie

Our Favorite Day of the Year
(*)
A.E. Ali

Birrarung Wilam
(*)
Aunty Joy Murphy

The Ocean Calls
(*)
Tina Cho

Where Are You, Agnes?
(*)
Tessa McWatt

The Barnabus Project
(*)
Terry Fan; Eric Fan

Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away
(*)
Meg Medina

Feathered Serpent and the Five Suns
(*)
Duncan Tonatiuh

I Am Every Good Thing
(*)
Derrick Barnes

Little Fox
(*)
Edward Van De Vendel

The Paper Boat
(*)
Thao Lam

All Because You Matter
(*)
Tami Charles

The Bear and the Moon
(*)
Matthew Burgess

The Blue Table
(*)
Chris Raschka

Every Color of Light
(*)
Hiroshi Osada

Looking for Smile
(*)
Ellen Tarlow

Migrants
(*)
Issa Watanabe

A Story for Small Bear
(*)
Alice B. McGinty

Sugar in Milk
(*)
Thrity Umrigar

The Suitcase
(*)
Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

There Must Be More Than That!
(*)
Shinsuke Yoshitake

Mexique
(*)
Maria Jose Ferrada

The Most Amazing Bird
(*)
Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak

Starcrossed
(*)
Julia Denos

A Stranger Comes to Town
(*)
Maria Kristjansdottir

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