As the year’s end draws nearer, critics, reviewers, websites, and awards committees have been revealing their roundups of this year’s favorite titles. We’ve assembled a list of the more prominent best-of-the-year lists for children’s and YA books published in 2019.
Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Books of 2019: Curated from our reviews of children’s and young adult books published this year, these were our selections for the top 50 books of 2019 for readers of all ages and interests.
The 2019 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature: This year’s winner was Martin W. Sandler for his nonfiction book 1919 The Year That Changed America (Bloomsbury).
The New York Times: The Times presents 10 picture books, 10 middle grade selections, and five YA novels on their “The 25 Best Children’s Books of 2019” list.
The New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Book Award for 2019: Every year, the Times gathers an independent panel of judges to select a list of the top 10 picture books based on artistic merit. This marked the third year the prize was issued jointly with the New York Public Library.
NYPL: Librarians of the New York Public Library system indicate their favorites.
School Library Journal Best Books 2019: SLJ reviews editors’ top 2019 books, apps, audiobooks, and more.
Kirkus’s Best of 2019: The year’s best picture books, middle grade, and teen fiction and nonfiction, chosen by the Kirkus editors.
Booklist’s 2019 Top of the List: The editors share their picks in categories including adult books for young adults, books for youth, and youth audio.
The Horn Book Fanfare: The editors of the Horn Book present their picks for the year’s best picture books, as well as the best fiction, poetry, and nonfiction for children’s and YA readers.
Time: The 10 Best YA and Children's Books of 2019.
Wall Street Journal: Meghan Cox Gurdon unveils her top 10 contenders for best children’s books of 2019.
The Washington Post: Erin Entrada Kelly and the Post’s reviewers choose their yearly favorites.
Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year: The children’s book committee at Bank Street College of Education compiles more than 600 titles for its year-end lists, organized by age range.
The Guardian: Imogen Carter selects the best picture books; Kitty Empire chooses the best chapter books; Kate Kellaway picks the best poetry books; and Fiona Noble determines the best YA novels.
NPR: The editors and producers of NPR Books compile suggestions from staffers and critics in the Book Concierge, their annual breakdown of the year’s best books.
Today: 26 of the best kids' books of 2019.
Goodreads Choice Awards 2019: The year’s best books in 20 categories, as voted on by Goodreads users.
Entertainment Weekly: EW books editor David Canfield and romance-YA columnist Maureen Lee Lenker present their 10 favorite YA novels of 2019, and also look back on the best YA of the decade.
Quill & Quire’s 2019 Books of the Year: Books for Young People: Selections from the Canadian magazine’s books for young people’s editors.
Amazon’s Best Children’s Books of 2019: Amazon editors gather the top 20 books of the year for readers of all ages, as well as the top 20 in each category.
100 Scope Notes: Travis Jonker and John Schu present their 20 favorites of the year for 100 Scope Notes, a School Library Journal blog.
Buzzfeed: 31 of the Best Young Adult Books from 2019: Buzzfeed staffers Farrah Penn and Ehis Osifo compile their favorites.
The Brightly Editors’ Favorite Books of 2019: The two Brightly editors reveal their top picks for kids ages zero to seven and for kids eight and up in two videos.
Brightly’s Most Exciting Picture Books of 2019
Brightly’s Most Exciting Middle Grade Books of 2019
Brightly’s Most Exciting Young Adult Books of 2019
Paste: Eric Smith names 19 YA novels to Paste’s Best of 2019 list.
Smithsonian: Editor Megan Gambino’s 10 favorite 2019 titles.
