10 Favorite Children’s Books of 2019

I read over 500 books last year from various genres. Many of these were children’s picture books. I devoured them in droves during a bad depressive swing. I checked them out in stacks from the library and took them to bed where I curled up to read myself to sleep. There were so many lovely ones, but I’ve picked 10 of my favorites to share.

#10. If You Give a Mouse an iPhone by AnnDroyd

I do so love a good parody. This was especially funny since my daughter loves the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series by Laura Numeroff. Yes, it went over my toddler’s head, but to be honest, I check out a lot of picture books purely for my own enjoyment. I also found parody books of Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are.

#9. Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman

Bear is sleeping in his cave. Other forest dwellers decide to get out of the cold and throw a party all around the sleeping bear. The story and illustrations are so cute and sweet. This one is part of a series too!

#8. Oh, Tucker! by Steven Kroll and Scott Nash

This adorable picture book is about a dearly loved, bumbling pet who is so excited to greet his family in the morning that he rolls and tumbles all over the house. Super sweet.

#7. Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka, Mac Barnett, and Matthew Myers

This book is pretty amazing. It’s created to look like a sweet little kids book that some creative and violent little boy decided to deface. It stuck out to me on the library shelf because I thought someone had scribbled on the spine. Nope. It’s all on purpose. I seriously almost wet myself laughing over this book. I know so many little boys who would love this book forever. The only problem is that it might give them ideas. But if I’m being honest, I’ve wanted to do this myself since watching Strong Bad do it when I was a teen.

#6. Secret Pizza Party by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri

This poor raccoon just wants to enjoy a little pizza. I loved the playfulness of this story. Just a goofy, fun picture book with goofy, fun pictures.

#5. Overboard! by Sarah Weeks and Sam Williams

Maybe this book appealed to me more because when I found it, my daughter was going through a throwing phase. It just felt so real to watch this cute little bunny throwing stuff around the house just for the sheer joy of watching it fall. Super sweet.

#4. Cynthia Rylant

Cynthia Rylant is an author I discovered last year. My little one wanted everything princess. I found out three beautiful fairy tale retellings all by the same author: Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. There is so much cynicism arising about princess stories, and Rylant stripped them back to their purest forms. After this, I took out her books from the library in stacks. I loved so many that I couldn’t pick just one to talk about here. Her poetry is as exquisite as her prose. She also has beautiful Christian themed stories like Creation and Nativity.

#3. Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton

I loved the simple illustrations in this book. These cute little boys chasing a bird through the forest were sweet enough that I smiled the whole way through it.

#2. Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri

I love a good offbeat read in a children’s book. Something goofy enough to make both me and the little ones smile. This book was pretty funny and the illustrations are adorably goofy. My girl loved it so much that I think we both ended up with it memorized before the end. Even now, if I say to her, “What do dragons love?” she will chirp back “Tacos!”

#1. Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

So simple. So cute. This little book only has two words on every page. The illustrations are just perfect and everything about it made me smile. Just a lovely little read for little ones with a short attention span.

Happy Reading!