Looking Back at 2023 Fiction

​Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus
 
As reviewers, we read extensively in all genres of children’s and young adult fiction during the year and have done a lot of rereading during the last few months to select 20 of our favorite books published in 2023. 

​Bear Is Never Alone. Marc Veerkamp. Trans. by Laura Watkinson. Illus. by Jeska Verstegen. (2023). Eerdmans.
The music of piano virtuoso Bear is so beautiful that all the forest animals, even the birds, are silent as he plays. When Bear stops, he hears “More, more, Piano Bear!” Seeking solitude, he runs away pursued by his audience and their cries for more songs. Finally, his “BIG ROOOOAAAAR” frightens them away. Bear is alone—until a lone zebra shows him that it is sometimes good to be alone together. Verstegen’s exquisite black-and-white illustrations include just a few touches of red. (PreK Up) 

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​Big. Vashti Harrison. (2023). Little, Brown.
Big begins with a Black baby girl with “a big laugh and a big heart and very big dreams.” As she grows older, the word “big” takes on a different meaning as she hears unkind remarks about her size in the classroom, on the playground, and at her dance studio. Harrison’s spare text and expressive pink-hued digital artwork tell the story of how the girl begins advocating for herself, letting people know that their words are hurtful and surrounding herself with words of self-acceptance and self-love. (author’s note) (PreK-Gr 2) 

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Big Tree. Brian Selznick. (2023). Scholastic.
In his signature style of intertwining brief sections of text and expansive sections of exquisite graphite pencil artwork, Selznick creates an intriguing survival saga that begins late in the Cretaceous Period with the early release of two Sycamore seeds, Louise and Merwin, from their seedball during a forest fire, and they must use their wings to find a safe place to put down roots and grow. The final chapter, “Sixty-Six Million Years Later,” concludes with a seedling nurtured by a young child and father in a city. (afterword, selected bibliography, author’s note, index) (Gr 3 Up) 

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The Blood Years. Elana K. Arnold. (2023). Balzer + Bray.
Based upon Arnold’s grandmother’s experiences during the Holocaust, The Blood Years is the compelling story of Jewish teen Frederieke (Reike) Teitler, whose life with her family (older sister Astra, mother, and grandfather Opa) changes drastically as their hometown Cernowitz, Romania, is occupied by the Soviets, then the Nazis, and then reoccupied by the Soviet between 1939 and 1945. Reike’s survival amid hatred, violence, and hunger is complicated by sexual abuse and life-threatening tuberculosis. (foreword, brief history of Cernowitz, author’s note, photographs, reading list) (Gr 9-12) 

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The Demon Sword Asperides. Sara Jean Horwitz. (2023). Algonquin.
Thirteen-year-old Nack Furnival, a banished knight-in-training, seeks a quest but lacks a sword until he encounters Asperides, a powerful 2,000-year-old demon sword, in the burial cave of its former master, evil sorcerer Amyral Venir. After Amyral is resurrected, he recovers Asperides, planning to carve a doorway into the underworld to retrieve a missing piece of his soul and let demons loose on the world. Under the Missing Moon Prophecy, it becomes inevitable that the demon sword, the sorcerer, and the young teen will do battle upon the return of the missing third moon. (Gr 6-8) 

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Elena Rides. Juana Medina. (2023). Candlewick.
Elena, a purple elephant, wants to ride her bicycle. “She readies, / she steadies… // she pushes, / she pedals! // She wobbles / and bobbles . . .  // KA-BANG!” After trying again and again with more spills and tears, Elena almost quits but with encouragement from her sidekick, a small red bird, she tries again. “Elena rides!” With its spare, rhythmic text and expressive cartoonlike illustrations, Elena Rides is both a good choice for beginning readers and a delightful read-aloud. Elena monta en bici was published simultaneously. (PreK-Gr 2) 

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The Eyes and the Impossible. Dave Eggers. Illus. by Shawn Harris. (2023). Knopf.
Johannes, a free dog, is the Eyes of the park near the sea where he lives. With the aid of his Assistant Eyes (a gull, pelican, squirrel, and racoon), he surveys the park and makes daily reports to the three ancient Bison living in a fenced-in enclosure who need to know about anything that might upset the park’s Equilibrium. When Johannes gets leashed while staring at a display of paintings and needs to be rescued from human Trouble Travelers by his friends, “the glory of liberation” makes him determined to free the Bison. (Gr 3 Up) 

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For Lamb. Lesa Cline-Ransome. (2023). Holiday House.
In 1940 Jackson, Mississippi, Lamb, a Black teenage girl, secretly develops a friendship with Marny, a White girl, over a shared love of books in spite of the dangers of such a relationship in the Jim Crow South. Short chapters from the points of view of Lamb, her mother, her brother, Marny, and others tell of the terrorism, violence, and lynching that ensue. Cline-Ransome’s author’s note provides background on writing a novel about a female lynching victim as well as the history of lynching in the U.S. (Gr 9-12) 

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Henry, Like Always (Henry #1). Jenn Bailey. Illus. by Mika Song. (2023). Chronicle.
When the class schedule changes because there will be a parade on Friday, Henry, who needs routine and order, is upset. Although his teacher and classmates try to make him feel comfortable, it is Henry who comes up with a plan that helps both himself and another upset classmate participate in the parade. Song’s expressive illustrations complement this warm and gently humorous first book in this early chapter book series about a young child who appears to be on the autism spectrum. (PreK-Gr 2) 

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Hornbeam All In (Hornbeam #1). Cynthia Rylant. Illus. by Arthur Howard. (2023). Beach Lane.
Rylant and Howard’s new early reader series introduces Hornbeam, a moose, in three humorous mini adventures. In “Eureka and the Picnic,” Hornbeam accepts goose Eureka’s invitation to a picnic that turns out to be a family reunion. In “Sleeping at Cuddy’s House,” Hornbeam’s snoring leaves Cuddy, a bull, ready for a cozy nap after a sleepless night. In “At the Pool with Adorable,” Hornbeam reluctantly takes swimming lessons from Adorabelle, a skunk, and earns his swimming certificate but still likes solid ground best. (PreK Up) 

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​The Plot to Kill a Queen. Deborah Hopkinson. (2023). Scholastic.
Thirteen-year-old lutist and aspiring playwright Emilia Bassano overhears two men plotting to kill “the imposter” and reports this to her guardian, Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster. He dispatches her as a court musician to Sheffield Castle—where Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned—on a secret mission to foil the plot to kill Queen Elizabeth. Asides about theatrical productions, photographs, maps, and diagrams are interspersed throughout this spy story presented as a three-act play. (historical notes, timeline, Emilia’s one-act play “The Princess Saves the Cakes”—with production permission) (Gr 6-8) 

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The Puppets of Spelhorst (Norendy Tales #1). Kate DiCamillo. Illus. by Julie Morstad. (2023). Candlewick.
Retired sea captain Spelhorst buys five puppets—a girl (whose violet eyes remind him of Annalise, his long-lost love), king, wolf, boy, and owl—that must be purchased together. After Spelhorst’s death, his trunk with the puppets sold to the rag-and-bone man is purchased by a man for his young nieces, Emma and Martha, who involve the individual puppets in some perilous adventures before they are reunited in a play written by Emma and performed with the assistance of Martha and Jane Twiddum, the maid, that eerily mirrors the story of the Spelhorst and Annalise. (PreK Up) 

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The Real Story. Sergio Ruzzier. (2023). Abrams Appleseed.
Seeing a broken cookie jar and no cookies, Cat confronts Mouse. “How did it happen? And where are the cookies?” Mouse tells a silly story about the cookies jumping around until the jar fell off the table and then running away. After three more outrageous stories in response to Cat’s insistence on the real story, Mouse’s “I stole and ate all the cookies, and then the jar fell and broke” is so boring that Cat requests another original cookie story, which Mouse agrees to tell—for a cookie. (PreK-Gr 2)

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The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow. Elaine Dimopoulos. Illus. by Doug Salati. (2023). Charlesbridge. 
Butternut is a young rabbit whose family uses storytelling to teach the truths that guide their lives: stories matter, rabbits have dignity, and stay alive. A rather anxious rabbit, she stays close to their burrow until she meets Piper, a fledgling robin who involves her in scary activities that have her breaking the family’s strict rules. As Butternut sneaks out at night, meeting and helping other Milkweed Meadow animals including an injured deer, she discovers that the world is not so terrifying. (Gr 3-5) 

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​See the Ghost: Three Stories About Things You Cannot See (See the Cat #3).  David LaRochelle. Illus. by Mike Wohnoutka. (2023). Candlewick.
A simple text and cartoon illustrations with speech balloons offer a lesson on the concept of seeing versus not seeing something in three short stories: “See the Ghost,” “See the Wind,” and “See the Fairy.” Cat and dog from See the Cat (2020) and See the Dog (2021)—and the book itself—interact with invisible things in this clever primer that ends with “See the dog, / the cat, / the ghost, / the wind, / and the fairy / spend the afternoon / together.” (PreK-Gr 2)

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The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale. Jon Klassen. (2023). Candlewick.
Fleeing through a creepy forest one snowy night, runaway Otilla comes across an old house. Her knock at the door and “Hello” are answered by a lonely skull, who invites her in to shelter overnight. The skull’s warning that a headless skeleton will roam the house leads resourceful Otilla to devise a plan to respond to its cries of “GIVE ME THAT SKULL” and “I WANT THAT SKULL” in the middle of the night. Master storyteller Klassen’s adaptation of this traditional folktale is deliciously scary-but-not-too-scary. (author’s note) (PreK Up) 

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​The Story of Gumluck the Wizard (Gumluck the Wizard #1). Adam Rex. (2023). Chronicle.
In this humorous illustrated chapter book, narrator Helvetica (“Old Lady Crow” to Gumluck) tells how the “Little Wizard Who Lives in the Big Hill” tries to grant everyone’s wishes and yearns to be voted Harvest Hero at the Harvest Dance. Even after the Truth Fairy reveals that the ungrateful townsfolk mock him as the “Shrinking Wizard Who Lives Next to a Big Hole” whose spells usually go awry, Gumluck, with everyone believing in him, saves them all when the greedy King’s gold-laden castle topples from its mountain top. (PreK Up) 

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​The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels. Beth Lincoln. Illus. by Claire Powell. (2023). Dutton.
Thirteen-year-old Shenanigan Swift is excited to be attending the Swift Family Reunion, a gathering of relatives every ten years during which everyone hunts for Grand-Uncle Vile’s lost treasure hidden somewhere in Swift House. Her focus shifts from discovering the treasure to solving a mystery when the family matriarch Arch-Aunt Schadenfreude is shoved down the stairs. Shenanigan is determined to track down the killer—and prove herself more than the troublemaker that her name picked from the family dictionary suggests. (Gr 3 Up) 

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Unraveller. Frances Hardinge. (2023). Amulet.
In this dark fantasy set in the country of Raddith where cursers abound, 15-year-olds Nettle (newly released from a curse as a heron) and Kellen (an unraveller of curses) are hired to hunt Jendy Pin, a curser who disappeared from a Chancery prison. As their quest takes them from Mizzleport to the Wilds to the Moonlit Market, they uncover the secret plot of Salvationists to overtake Chancery, the government of master merchants who rule Raddith. When a curse on Kellen intensifies his unraveling power, making him a danger to himself and everyone around him, he and Nettle must find a way to remove the curse if they are to save Raddith. (Gr 9-12) ​

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​Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends (Ready-to-Read Graphics). Kaz Windness. (2023). Simon Spotlight.
Worm believes he and Caterpillar are best friends because they are the same, but Caterpillar points out various ways in which they are different. Caterpillar also knows a change is coming and worries about what will happen to their friendship when he is no longer a caterpillar. In this Level 1 Ready-to-Read Graphics book, Windness’s expressive cartoon illustrations accompany the dialogue between Worm and Caterpillar to create an engaging story of a friendship that endures despite differences and change. (PreK-Gr 2) 

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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.