On our list of the best children's books of 2023, we select good books for kids that have come to our attention, as well as books that have won or been shortlisted for prestigious prizes. In the US, the American Library Association has a number of awards including the Newbery Medal. The most prestigious UK prizes are the Yoto Carnegie Medals. We'll continue to keep a lookout for good new books for children of different ages throughout the year, as well as adding books to our lists of popular book series for kids.
If you're looking for books for older children (ages 12 and up) we also have a list of the best books of 2023 for teens.
Part of our best books of 2023 series.
Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II
Lia Levi, Jess Mason (illustrator), translated by Sylvia Notini
🏆 2023 Mildred L. Batchelder Award for outstanding children’s book translated into English
Six year old Lia has spent the summer of 1938 with her family at the seaside. To her, being Jewish means going to synagogue some Saturdays, lighting candles, getting presents for Hanukkah, and not eating bread at Passover. Why does it suddenly mean she is not allowed to go back to school? The young Lia is a perceptive and resilient narrator of her experiences as she is uprooted by fascism and war from her family life in Turin and sent to hide in a convent. This is an adaptation for children of Levi’s award-winning memoir published in 1994.
Ages 7-11
Ludwig and the Rhinoceros
Noemi Schneider, Golden Cosmos (illustrator)
“It simply cannot be proven that there is not a rhinoceros in the room”. This is a fun picture book with striking illustrations, reimagining the encounter between Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein when Wittgenstein refused to admit that it was certain that there was no rhinoceros in the room. Here, the argument of philosophical enquiry is reframed in a simple narrative around a child’s imagination. Many a parent will recognise the situation: an argumentative young child and an exasperated father who is, of course, unable to prove a negative. The perfect bedtime story for philosophers young and old.
Ages 3-6
Nowhere Island
by Tania Unsworth
Four runaways are living on an anonymous patch of green dividing the lanes of a busy highway, shielded behind the trees. They are all children, who have ended up in this unexpected haven for different reasons. Just as they are starting to trust each other, they witness something that places them in terrible danger. An engaging contemporary survival story.
Ages 9-12
How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend
by Elena Bulay & translated by Lena Traer
This charming book is full of practical advice for children who dream of one day having a dog, are preparing to get a dog, or who already have a dog and want to understand more about how to care for it. The helpful guide is interspersed with personal anecdotes about the author and Jo, the rescue dog that became her best friend. 96 richly illustrated pages.
Ages 7-12
The Moon Is a Ball: Stories of Panda & Squirrel
Ed Franck, Thé Tjong-Khing (illustrator), translated by David Colmer
With large font and plenty of colour illustrations, early readers can read this for themselves, but really it is a lovely book to read aloud to children. With a calm and philosophical tone and the comfort of the friendship between panda and squirrel, each chapter works particularly well as a bedtime story.
Ages 5-7
Hot Dog
by Doug Salati
🏆 2023 Caldecott Medal Winner
A dog is overwhelmed by the heat and noise of summer in the city. The loving owner understands, and they go to spend a fabulous day on an island beach. When they come back to the city in the evening things have cooled and calmed down. This picture book has sparse text; young readers will notice plenty to talk about in the colourful, detailed illustrations.
Ages 3-6
The Fire of Stars
Kirsten W. Larson, Katherine Roy (illustrator)
This is a very clever picture book (48 pages) with two parallel stories beautifully interwoven. One is that of the birth of a star, written in poetic, sparse language. The other is the inspirational biography of astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne who, in 1925, discovered what stars are made of. With the two stories, plus a few pages at the end that explain the birth of a star in more scientific terms, this is an excellent book for siblings of different ages.
Ages 3-8
Who Ate What?
Rachel Levin, Natalia Rojas Castro (illustrator)
Subtitled A Historical Guessing Game for Food Lovers, this is a fun and interactive information book. After finding out what cavepeople, Ancient Egyptians, Aztecs, ninjas, pirates and others ate, readers learn about what astronauts eat and what we will eat in the future. This book provides an enjoyable way to learn about the history of food, and about history through food. A large format, quality edition with illustrations inspired by the colours and nature of Colombia.
Ages 7-12 and fun for the whole family
The Case of the Lighthouse Intruder
by Kereen Getten & Leah Jacobs-Gordon (illustrator)
Fayson spends as much time as possible reading detective stories and daydreaming about being a special agent. Then when she visits her cousins on an island off Jamaica during the holidays, she gets the chance to solve a real mystery. This is the first volume in a series called Di Island Crew Investigates, with a lively group of young detectives. Not too scary and with large font, this novel is a gentle introduction to mysteries for young readers.
Ages 7-11
A Bird Day
by Eva Lindström & translated by Julia Marshall
A quietly joyous picture book (28 pages) by the 2022 recipient of the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Both child and adult readers will recognise familiar human behaviours and family dynamics in this quirky story of an ordinary day in the life of an anthropomorphic bird family. Perfect as a bedtime story.
Ages 3-6
A Different Kind of Freedom: A Romani Story
by Richard O'Neill
In Edwardian era Sheffield, Lijah is developing a passion for football, and he is very good at it. Unfortunately, his father thinks it’s a daft game which Romani people should stay away from. Lijah is torn between the feeling of freedom and power that he gets from playing football, and love for his family and their traditions. Can he find a way to do what he has set his heart on, without disrespecting his father and losing touch with his family’s way of life? A thoughtful novel by an author from a traditional nomadic Romani community in England, this book is part of Scholastic’s excellent Voices series of historical fiction.
Ages 8-12
Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion
Shannon Stocker, Devon Holzwarth (illustrator)
🏆 Winner 2023 Schneider Family Book Award for young children
This is a picture book story of the inspiring life of Evelyn Glennie, who started to go deaf from the age of 10. Instead of giving up on her love of music, she switched instruments from piano and clarinet to percussion, going on to become the world’s first full-time solo percussionist and winning Grammy Awards for her recordings. Having pushed the boundaries of percussion and access to music education, Dame Evelyn has also established a charitable foundation to Teach the World to Listen. Holzwarth’s pictures are clearly intended to illustrate that we can feel sound, that touch is another way of interpreting vibrating air.
Ages 3-6
One Chance Dance
by Efua Traoré
When Jomi’s mother left for the big city years ago she promised to come back for him as soon as she had put together enough money. Now age 12, Jomi decides to go to Lagos to look for her, accompanied by a bushbaby whose forest habitat has just been bulldozed. Luckily, he makes friends with a resourceful crew of street children who love to watch Lagos Let’s Dance on television, just like his mother used to. They decide to audition for the dance competition so that Jomi’s mother will see him on TV and come running to the studio for their reunion. What could possibly go wrong? A lovely novel of hope, friendship and creativity.
Ages 8-12
The Starling's Song
Octavie Wolters, translated by Michele Hutchison
Flying above the land, the starling is enchanted with everything he sees. He sings about the beauty in nature to anyone who will listen. Everyone he sings to has something that is important to them which they ask the starling to include in his song. In black and white with splashes of yellow, this picture book has unique linocut illustrations and poetic text which builds nicely. It was awarded the Silver Brush for best illustrated children’s book in the Netherlands in 2022.
Ages 3-6
The Braniac's Book of Robots and AI
Paul Virr, Harriet Russell (illustrator)
This is a fun book about robots and automata, their history and how they work. There are some interactive pages including one that invites the reader to identify the bots among various mechanical devices. More discussion of ethical issues and potential risks associated with AI would be welcome, but overall this is an interesting book which will definitely appeal to readers age 8-12.
Freewater
by Amina Luqman-Dawson
🏆 2023 Newbery Medal Winner
Loosely based on maroon communities of escaped slaves and their descendants, this is an exciting novel of courage and resistance. With plantation overseers and their dogs hot on the trail, 12 year old Homer and his younger sister Ada flee into the swamp of the American South where they join a secret community named Freewater. Adventure inspired by history.
Ages 9-12
How Our Solar System Began
by Aina Bestard & translated by Matthew Clarke
By the same author who wrote and illustrated How Life on Earth Began, this is a beautifully produced book about our solar system, its planetary orbits and the unique and fascinating worlds of each planet and their moons. The large illustrations pay tribute to the graphic style of prints from a time before sophisticated equipment for studying space was available. A gorgeous nonfiction book with scientific contributions by ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array) and Dr. Antonio Hales at the ALMA Observatory.
Ages 8-12
Vita and the Gladiator
by Ally Sherrick
A fast-paced novel of political intrigue and rebellion set in Londinium (Roman London) in the year 125. When her father – a Roman magistrate – is murdered, Vita ends up disguised as a slave at the gladiator’s arena. There she meets Brea, a fierce gladiatrix with a very different view on the Roman occupation. Vita is determined to find out who killed her father, and discovers that she and Brea have a dangerous enemy in common. Gripping and well-researched historical fiction that vividly brings the past to life.
Ages 9-12
Glow: The Wild Wonders of Bioluminescence
Jennifer N. R. Smith, Dr. Edith Widder (consultant)
A stunningly illustrated large format science book on a topic which most children find intriguing. It is only 40 pages long but contains a lot of information. Each double-page spread is a separate chapter, so it is ideal for dipping into over time. Eye-catching and eye-opening nonfiction.
Ages 9-11
In or Out: A Tale of Cat versus Dog
Stacy Gregg, Sarah Jennings (illustrator)
This is a simple and charming picture book with plenty to talk about with young readers, from details in the bright illustrations to the facial expressions and behaviours of the cat and dog, and emotions in general. Using limited vocabulary that rhymes, this is a good story to read both with very young children and those that are learning to read. As well as the winning combination of cat and dog, there is a feel-good message about things being better when done together.
Ages 1-5
The Kingdom over the Sea
Zohra Nabi, Tom Clohosy Cole (illustrator)
A fantasy adventure with vibrant world building that pits alchemists (forces of greed and manipulation) against sorcerers (respect for learning, poetry, storytelling and nature). Yara is our brave and resourceful heroine, who goes through a portal from normal-world Bournemouth to an Arabia-inspired kingdom complete with djinn and flying carpet. In addition to saving the magical world, newly orphaned Yara has to fight her own battle with grief and try to build a sense of belonging.
Ages 8-12
The Way of Dog
Zana Fraillon, Sean Buckingham (illustrator)
This is an innovative novel in verse narrated by a scruffy dog who has a lot to teach humans about the important things in life. The energetic and playful text is accompanied by beautiful, classic-style illustrations. We follow our dog protagonist through life’s ups and downs in a moving story of love, separation and reunion. A brilliant book to read aloud to siblings of different ages.
Age 8-12
Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal about the Japanese American Incarceration
by Elizabeth Partridge & Lauren Tamaki (illustrator)
🏆 2023 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
🏆 BolognaRagazzi Award: Photography – 2023 Special Category
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, over 125,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans were incarcerated in camps. Three photographers set out to document life at the Manzanar concentration camp in the California desert. This book vividly brings history to life by weaving the photos together with atmospheric illustrations and simple text. Given the different styles of the photographs, this book is also a brilliant resource for teaching children to think about and evaluate primary sources.
Ages 10-14
The Truth Detective: How to Make Sense of a World That Doesn't Add Up
Tim Harford, Ollie Mann (illustrator)
This is an excellent book to help children learn to analyse information and think about how we interpret data. To appeal to kids, the book features ‘truth detectives’ and ‘truth villains’, but the topics are of interest to older readers as well. Concepts include confirmation bias, correlation versus causation, and the need to keep asking questions (for example, are the two things being compared equivalent; is there anything which is not being shown?). The Truth Detective engages young readers by asking them questions, and there are plenty of illustrations.
Ages 9-12
Iveliz Explains It All
Andrea Beatriz Arango, Alyssa Bermudez (illustrator)
🏆 2023 Newbery Honor Book
The verse format brings immediacy to the journal entries of 12 year old Iveliz who is having a hard time explaining her feelings to others. Iveliz struggles with loss and mental health issues, and school life and friendship suffer as she lashes out in rage and turns inwards. She also needs to navigate family and cultural dynamics in her three-generation household. Iveliz is a very relatable character who is finding her voice.
Ages 11-13
The Last Mapmaker
by Christina Soontornvat & Sura Siu (narrator)
Ages 8-12
🏆 2023 Newbery Honor Book
“This is one that was a family favourite. It’s a Thai-inspired fantasy world… I think it is an excellent audiobook, and one that stood out for its beautiful narration and also the complex story it’s telling for younger readers.” Read more...
The Best Audiobooks for Kids of 2022
Emily Connelly, Journalist
Shuna's Journey
by Hayao Miyazaki & translated by Alex Dudok de Wit
This graphic novel is an early work by the iconic Hayao Miyazaki, available in English for the first time. With simple language and not much text, children as young as 10 can enjoy it although it is primarily aimed at young adults. Read more about it in our selection of best books of 2023 for teens.
