PLANETESME PICKS: Best Picture Books and Nonfiction of 2014

What makes a book great?  I created this list with a teacher/school librarian's eye.  These are books that are fun to share with a group;  books that children love and make children cheer;  books that connect to the wider world, and springboard us into further classroom connections or themes; books that promote empathy, history, imagination and arts appreciation; books that are exemplary in their beauty and expand what a book can be.  I create these lists with the belief that children's literature is our best hope for equalizing education in America, and recognizing also, in America, we are short on funds in homes and schools.  And so I recommend these titles that I share with my own, knowing the children will be the better for encountering them, and that in combination with best books from other years culminate in well-rounded learning through reading.  Links for information, please support your local independent bookseller!


Best picture books of 2014:

Adventures with Barefoot Critters by Teagen White (Tundra Books)
Aviary Wonders, Inc.:  Spring Catalog and Instruction Manual by Kate Samworth (Clarion)
Brother Hugo and the Bear by Katy Beebe, illustrated by S.D. Schindler (Eerdmans)
Flashlight by Lizi Boyd (Chronicle)
Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Christian Robinson (Atheneum)
Go to Sleep, Little Farm by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Green is a Chile Pepper:  A Book of Colors by Roseanne Greenfield Thong, illustrated by John Parra (Chronicle) 
I Wish I Had a Pet by Maggie Rudy (Beach Lane)
A Letter for Leo by Sergio Ruzzier (Clarion Books)
The Midnight Library by Kazuno Kohara (Roaring Brook)
The Orchestra Pit by Johanna Wright (Roaring Brook)
Peanut Butter and Cupcake by Terry Border (Philomel)
A Perfect Place for Ted by Leila Rudge (Candlewick)
Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony (Scholastic)
Rooting for You! by Susan Hood, illustrated by Matthew Cordell (Disney-Hyperion)
The Scarecrow's Wedding by Julia Donaldson, illusrtated by Alex Scheffler (Arthur Levine Books)
The Secret Life of Squirrels by Nancy Rose (Little, Brown)
Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton  (Candlewick)
Wazdot?  by Michael Slack (Disney-Hyperion)

 

 

Other great picture books of 2014:  My Teacher is a Monster! by Peter Brown (Little, Brown); Draw! by Raul Colon (Simon & Schuster); Before After by Anne-Margot Ramstein and Matthias Arégui (Candlewick); Noodle Magic by Roseanne Greenfield Thong, illustrated by Meilo So (Orchard); I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Dreidel by Caryn Yacowitz, illustrated by David Slonim (Arthur Levine); Princess Sparkle-Heart Gets a Makeover by Josh Schneider (Clarion);  The Dandelion's Tale by Kevin Sheehan, illustrated by Rob Dunlavey; The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee (Beach Lane);  The Storm Whale by Benji Davies (Holt); Happy Birthday, Madame Chapeau by Andrea Beaty; Troll Swap by Leigh Hodgkinson (Nosy Crow):  Big Bad Bubble by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri (Clarion); The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak (Dial); Never Say a Mean Word Again:  A Tale from Medieval Spain by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Durga Yael Bernhard (Wisdom Tales); Rex Wrecks It! by Ben Clanton (Candlewick);   The Odd One Out:  A Spotting Book by Britta Teckentrup (Big Picture Press).

Best nonfiction of 2014:

Ashley Bryan's Puppets by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum)
Ballerina Dreams:  From Orphan to Dancer by Michaela and Elaine DePrince, illustrated by Frank Morrison (Random House)
The Cosmo-Biography of Sun Ra by Chris Raschka (Candlewick)
Firefly July:  A Year of Very Short Poems selected by Paul Janeczko, illustrated by Melissa Sweet  (Candlewick)
Food Trucks!  by Mark Todd (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Gingerbread for Liberty!  How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Vincent X. Kirsch (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Girl from the Tar Paper School:   Barbara Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement by Teri Kanefield (Abrams)
Ivan:  The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Clarion)
Josephine:  The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson (Chronicle)
Malala:  A Brave Girl from Pakistan/ Iqbal:  A Brave Boy from Pakistan by Jeanette Winter (Beach Lane)
Miss Patch's Learn to Sew Book by Carolyn Meyer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
On the Wing by David Elliot, illustrated by Becca Standtlander (Candlewick)
The Right Word:  Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Eerdmans)
Some Bugs by Angelina DeTerlizzi, illustrated by Brendan Wenzel (Beach Lane)
Tiny Creatures:  The World of Microbes by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Emily Sutton (Candlewick)
Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

 

Other great nonfiction of 2014:  The Pilot and the Little Prince:  the Life of Antoine de Saint Éxupery by Peter Sis (Farrar Straus Giroux); Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh (Abrams);  Weeds Find a Way by Cindy Jenson-Elliot, illustrated by Carolyn Fisher (Beach Lane);  Leontyne Price:  Voice of a Century by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Raul Colon (Knopf);   Lend a Hand:  Poems About Giving by John Frank, illustrated by London Ladd (Lee & Low);  Everything is a Poem:  The Best of J. Patrick Lewis by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Maria Cristina Pritelli (Creative Editions); The Case for Loving:  The Fight for Interracial Marriage by Selina Aiko, illustrated by Sean Qualls (Arthur Levine Books);  Star Stuff:  Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos by Stephanie Roth Sisson (Roaring Brook); Buried Sunlight:  How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm (Scholastic); The Iridescence of Birds:  A Book About Henri Matisse by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Hadley Hooper (Roaring Brook);Handle with Care:  An Unusual Butterfly Journey by Loree Griffin Burns, photos by Ellen Harasimowicz (Millbrook); Feathers:  Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen (Charlesbridge); Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales (Roaring Brook).  

Best chapter books for young readers coming soon! 

What did I miss?  Please share your favorites of the past year in the comments below! 

And if you're looking for great children's literature from past years to supplement your child's education...
Best books list 2006, click here! 
Best Books 2007, click here!
Best Books 2008, click here!
Best Books 2009, click here!
Best Books 2010, click here
Best Books 2011, click here!
Best Books 2012, click here!  
Best Books 2013, click here!