2020 Young Reader Bestsellers & Collective Picks
Ever since we expanded our children’s section, we find ourselves drawn to that part of our store with its vibrant, joyful wall of picture books. In a year full of cancelled gatherings, these books felt like much needed celebrations for young and older readers alike who may be seeing themselves reflected on the page for the first time.
In the toughest moments of 2020, when we had trouble stomaching our usual literary diets of poignant non-fiction essays and chilling dystopias that were hitting a little too close to home, we reached for stories of friendship, family, and adventure from our middle-grade shelves. These extraordinary titles remind us that a young target audience does not decrease quality, and that children’s literature draws a remarkable type of author - one who demonstrates that it is possible to hold up mirrors to truth with loving care for their readers, and the perfect mixture of sweetness to the bitter.
Snapdragon is a unique and perfect story about a witch in the woods, girls who live in a trailer park, and the unexpected web of connections tying everyone together. It’s a book about finding your power, in more ways than one. I laughed and cried, and you will, too!
—Molly Knox Ostertag, author of The Witch Boy
WOW. Have you ever wanted to better understand who you are? What’s happening to us in this racially-divided world, and what we can do about it? This Book Is Anti-Racist is bold in its honesty, and brilliant in its illustrative breakdown of an essential vocabulary on race and identity. This racial and intersectional literacy tool models what creative anti-racist work can look like. It has renewed us to keep up the fight.
—Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi, authors of Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, and Identity
Goade’s watercolor illustrations fill the spreads with streaming ribbons of water, cosmic backdrops, and lush natural landscapes… Lindstrom’s spare, poetic text flows with the “river’s rhythm." Written in response to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, famously protested by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe—and others—these pages carry grief, but it is overshadowed by hope in what is an unapologetic call to action.
—Ronny Khuri, Booklist
A young Black Muslim girl leaves her first day of school feeling defeated because nobody can pronounce her name. So on the walk home, her Ummi offers a lesson on the musicality, rhythm and magic of names from around the world. Illustrated with an uplifting palate of oranges, yellows and greens, Your Name Is A Song is hearty encouragement for kids who endure these mispronunciations themselves and a lesson in empathy for readers of all ages.
—Annabel Gutterman, Rebecca Katzman and Shay Maunz, Time