Books Too Good To Miss

​Nancy Brashear & Carolyn Angus
Here is our list of favorite books published in 2024 that did not get Children’s Literature and Reading reviews—books we would like to see added to classroom, school, and family library collections. 

​Animal Albums from A to Z. Cece Bell. (2024). Walker.
Readers of all ages will giggle-snort their way through Bell’s zany ABC picture book featuring 26 imaginative “animal albums” inspired by those of animal musicians from the 1940s to 1980s in her personal collection. Double-page spreads spotlight colorful, richly detailed album covers and clever songs (aka poems), such as “Eat Your Vittles, Vivian” performed by “Vampire Bat Vaudeville Revue” for the letter V. (introduction, QR code for songs, more about the animal artists). (PreK Up) 

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​The Bard and the Book: How the First Folio Saved the Plays of William Shakespeare from Oblivion. Ann Bausum. Illus. by Marta Sevilla. (2024). Peachtree.
Bausum’s witty narrative filled with fascinating facts and quotations, complemented by photographs and Sevilla’s colorful artwork, is a superb introduction to the life of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and to the First Folio (1623), the book that preserved the bard of Avon’s comedies, histories, and tragedies. (author’s notes, source notes, resources, index) (Gr 6 Up) 

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​​The Bletchley Riddle. (Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin. (2024). Viking.
In 1940, 19-year-old Jakob Novis works at Bletchley Park, Britain’s top-secret WWII codebreaking center. When his 14-year-old sister Lizzie, who refuses to believe that their mother was recently killed in a bombing raid in Poland, joins him and becomes a messenger, the contentious siblings finally team up and are immersed in codes, clues, riddles, and family intrigue amidst increasing personal and national danger in this historical mystery. (photos, historical note) (Gr 6 Up) 

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​Cornbread & Poppy for the Win (Cornbread & Poppy #4). Matthew Cordell. (2024). Little, Brown.
In this latest book in Cordell’s early chapter series about best friends who are opposites, the simple text and expressive ink-and-watercolor illustrations humorously depict Poppy and Cornbread’s entry in the Small Rodents Competitive Cycling Championship Classic. Poppy is determined to beat bully Gerald for the Winner’s Cup, but in a pants-splitting grand finale, the unexpected happens.  (PreK-Gr 2) 

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​That Curious Thing. Chris Raschka. (2024). Michael di Capua.
In Raschka’s fantasy, when 12-year-old Cleo finds her missing cat, Muffin, in a neighbor’s apartment, she discovers a secret organization of talking cats, PURR (Peace Urgently Requires Reasonableness), whose aether beam plan to solve the energy crisis has been stolen by nemesis KLAW (Cats Loving Awful Warfare). After she and Muffin join PURR, Cleo goes undercover to stop KLAW from sending all dogs into outer space—and discovers a curious thing about herself. (Gr 3-5) 

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​Fast Cheetah, Slow Tortoise: Poems of Animal Opposites. Bette Westera. Trans. by David Colmer. Illus. by Mies van Hout. (2024). Eerdmans.
In this playful concept book, 16 pairs of animals are matched to accentuate opposing characteristics introduced through poem titles as antonyms. For example, ”Relaxed”—sloth, “Busy”—ant; “Quiet”—pill bug, “Noisy”—cricket. Free verse poems written in first person are placed on opposite sides of double-spread pages with colorful, mixed media illustrations of animals displaying the behavior or emotion portrayed in the poems. (PreK Up) 

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​A Flicker of Hope: A Story of Migration. Cynthia Harmony. Illus. by Devon Holzwarth. (2024). Viking.
Told from the perspective of Lucía, a young Mexican girl, Harmony’s lyrical text, enhanced by Holzwarth’s vibrant illustrations, interweaves stories of the spring migration of monarch butterflies and her father’s journey north as a migrant farm worker. Papá’s promise to return when the monarcas do, leaves Lucía watching the autumn skies for a “flicker of hope,” the homecoming of the mariposas. (glossary, author’s notes) (PreK-Gr 2) 

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​Future Tense: How We Made Artificial Intelligence—and How It Will Change Everything. Martha Brockenbrough. (2024). Feiwel and Friends.
“The future is not what you think.” Brockenbrough offers an accessible exploration of artificial intelligence from its history to present-day acceleration of technological advances and use of AI throughout the world. In the third part of the book, she addresses the future of living with AI and the need for human intelligence to continue to guide its further development. (bibliography, endnotes, index) (Gr 9-12) 

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​Godfather Death. Sally Nicholls. Illus. by Júlia Sardà. (2024). Viking.
 In Nicholls’ reimagining of a Grimm’s tale, embellished by Sardà’s classic folk tale style artwork, after rejecting Father God and the Devil, a poor fisherman chooses Death as his son’s godfather because of his equal treatment of humanity. Godfather Death makes the fisherman rich through predictions of living or dying, but when the fisherman changes the verdict of the king’s demise and tries to bargain with Death, he learns he can’t cheat death. (Gr 3 Up) 

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​Golden Gate: Building the Mighty Bridge. Elizabeth Partridge. Illus. by Ellen Heck. (2024). Chronicle.
Heck’s stunning artwork rendered in mixed media over red-orange paper and Partridge’s second-person narration give readers an accessible account of the seemingly impossible building of a suspension bridge across the Golden Gate strait from the beginning of construction in 1933 to its opening on May 27, 1937. The afterword provides more details about the Golden Gate Bridge, “one of the most beautiful and most inspiring bridges ever built.” (PreK Up) 

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​A Greater Goal: The Epic Battle for Equal Pay in Women’s Soccer—and Beyond. Emily Rusch. (2024). Greenwillow.
Rusch chronicles the history of gender bias and the pay gap for female soccer players from 1985 through current times including the development of the U.S. Women’s National Team, their participation in the Olympics and World Cups, labor and contract negotiations, and a winning lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation for equal pay on September 6, 2022. (resources, source notes, index) (Gr 9-12)

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​The Hotel Balzaar (The Norendy Tales #2). Kate DiCamillo. Illus. by Júlia Sardà. (2024). Candlewick.  
Young Marta, whose father is a missing soldier, quietly explores the Hotel Balzaar while her mother cleans rooms. After a mysterious guest, a countess with a pet parrot, departs before telling her the final of seven stories that seem to tie small important things in her life together and circumstances change, Marta realizes that she is now living in the missing story, one of “of love enduring.” (Gr 3-5) 

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​How to Know a Crow: The Biography of a Brainy Bird. Candace Savage. Illus. by Rachel Hudson. (2024). David Suzuki institute/Greystone Kids.
In this engaging exploration of the world of the Corvidae family, Savage’s chapters, which focus on the life of a fictional American Crow named Oki, include text boxes of fascinating facts and “Crow Lab” suggestions of activities. Hudson’s mixed media illustration provide eye-catching details of the characteristics and behavior of crows. (author’s note, glossary, resources, index) (Gr 3 Up) 

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​Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall. Lynn Brunelle. Illus. by Jason Chin. (2024). Neal Porter.
Chin’s stunning, realistic watercolor-and-gouache artwork telling the visual “whale fall” story of a 90-year-old female whale pairs beautifully with Brunelle’s informative narrative text to describe how her death will benefit the ocean ecosystem for the next 100 years. (sections on blue whales, ecosystems, and phases of a whale fall ecosystem; books about whales; websites on whale falls; bibliography) (PreK Up) 

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​Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden. Christy Mandin. (2024). Orchard.
When she and her mother move into a neglected house on the edge of Garden Glen, Millie Fleur dislikes the sameness of the town’s tidy gardens all planted with roses. She uses seeds from her old garden to create a “wonderfully weird” garden. When the Rosebud Club declares it unacceptable, Millie Fleur comes up with a plan that results in the townspeople celebrating individuality in their yards too. (“Snapdragons & Spider Plants,” author’s note) (PreK-Gr 2) 

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​Mountain of Fire: The Eruption and Survivors of Mount St. Helens. Rebecca E. F. Barone. (2024). Henry Holt.
In this compelling narrative nonfiction account of the volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington on May 18, 1980, Barone tells stories of victims, survivors, heroes, scientists, and others. She uses quotations from interviews, excerpts from media, and charts to analyze historic, scientific, and political aspects of the deadly and destructive eruption. (QR code for photos, maps, author’s note, characters, lessons learned, bibliography) (Gr 6 Up) 

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​Outspoken: Paul Robeson, Ahead of His Time: A One Man Show. Carole Boston Weatherford. Illus. by Eric Velasquez. (2024). Candlewick.
Weatherford’s beautifully crafted first-person free-verse poems, which incorporate quotes and lyrics of spirituals and songs, and Velasquez’s expressive oil portraits based on and inspired by photographs present the life story of African American Paul Robeson (1898-1976) in four acts: Youth, Artist, Activist, and Erased. (timeline, source notes, bibliography, copyright acknowledgments) (Gr 3 Up) 

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​Puppet. David Almond. Illus. by Lizzy Stewart. (2024). Candlewick.
In Almond’s magical novel, enhanced by Stewart’s black-and-white cartoonlike illustrations, elderly and lonely puppet master Silvester has just donated his life’s work to a museum. Visiting his old workshop, he creates child-sized Puppet, who comes to life. After meeting and making friends with young Fleur and her mother in the park, he passes on his puppet-making skills to the girl, and they put on a show in the park that brings the community together. (Gr 3-5)  

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​Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992: Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire. Paula Yoo (2024). Norton.
Yoo provides a well-researched account of the five-day deadly and destructive 1992 Los Angeles Riots ignited by the acquittal of four LAPD officers for the brutal beating of Rodney King and the history of systemic racism, police inequities, and tensions between Black and Korean communities in Los Angeles. (author’s note, “In Memoriam,” notes, bibliography, index) (Gr 9-12) 

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​Shakespeare’s First Folio: All the Plays (Children’s Edition). William Shakespeare. Abridged by Anjna Chouhan. Illus. by Emily Sutton. (2024). Shakespeare Birthplace Trust/Candlewick.
This special children’s edition of Shakespeare’s First Folio was created to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the first printed collection of Shakespeare’s plays, Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies (1623). Each of the 36 playscripts is adapted, primarily using Shakespeare’s language, and embellished with Sutton’s beautiful artwork inspired by historic items in the trust’s collection. (Gr 3 Up) 

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​The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman. Gennifer Choldenko. (2024). Knopf.
Almost twelve-year-old Hank Hooperman and his three-year-old sister, Boo, are on their own when their unreliable mother, Geri, goes missing. Left with no food and six months of unpaid rent, they might end up in separate foster homes if Hank can’t find her. Following clues that lead him to unexpected help, he makes his biggest mistake ever and learns a stark truth that brings hope for him and his sister. (Gr 3 Up) 

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​Ukraine Remember Also Me: Testimonies from the War. George Butler. (2024). Candlewick Studio.
“We dream of peace, freedom, and the joy of being without war.” Ukraine Remember Also Me is a compelling collection of testimonies from Ukrainians following the Russian invasion of their country. Their stories were told as British journalist and artist Butler drew their portraits on visits he made to Ukraine in March 2022 and March-April 2023. (foreword, map, afterword, artwork notes) (Gr 6 Up) 

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​​Wild Places: The Life of Naturalist David Attenborough. Hayley Rocco. Illus. by John Rocco. (2024). Putnam.
David Attenborough (b. 1926), who grew up exploring wild places near his home in England, has traveled all over our planet filming nature programs that have been viewed by millions. Recognizing the decrease of wild places, Attenborough is an activist for conservation. “We must rewild the World.” (author’s note, “Rebuilding Our Planet” with a chart of problems and solutions, bibliography) (PreK Up) 

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​The Wild River and the Great Dam: The Construction of Hoover Dam and the Vanishing Colorado River. Simon Boughton. (2024). Christy Ottaviano.
Boughton chronicles the construction of Hoover Dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River that began in 1931 and was completed in 1936. He provides a balanced account of the political, economic, social, and environmental impact of taming the wild river, and addresses the current crisis on the Colorado River. (timeline, “Dams of the Colorado River,” maps, notes, sources, index.) (Gr 6 Up) 

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​Witch Hunt: The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare. Andrea Balis & Elizabeth Levy. Illus. by Tim Foley. (2024). Roaring Brook.
Balis and Levy’s deeply researched exposé with Foley’s expressive black-and-white sketches explores the story of Joseph McCarthy and the histrionic Red Scare and how ordinary people were accused of being communists in a national “witch hunt.” The screenplay-style format includes excerpts from primary sources and “Fly on the Wall” contextual commentary. (author’s note, timeline, source notes, further reading, index) (Gr 6 Up) 

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Nancy Brashear is Professor Emeritus of English at Azusa Pacific University, in Azusa, California. Carolyn Angus is former Director of the George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, California.