As 2016 comes to an end, the children’s staff at DBRL have been reminiscing about the fabulous new books that arrived on our shelves this year. While it’s hard to pick a favorite, there were some books that stood apart from the rest. Here are our top 11 favorite picture books and chapter books published in 2016.
“We Found A Hat” by Jon Klassen
Klassen has a knack for creating an engaging story on a simple premise. The sneaky turtles are fun to watch as they try to decide who gets to wear the hat they found. It’s just a really funny book, and it is beautiful to look at. ~Josh
Jon Klassen’s illustrations are as charming as ever, and I loved the story’s conflict-free, dreamy ending. ~Otter
“Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems” by Bob Raczka
Bob Raczka says it all when he describes his book — “I like to think of poems as word paintings. A poet uses words like colors to paint pictures inside your head.” The quirky poetry is “painted” on the page in a way that both shows and tells different meanings and concepts. ~Kristy
“Everything Is Awkward” by Mike Bender
“Everything Is Awkward” features funny pictures that celebrate the awkwardness in us all. ~Hilary
“Tell Me a Tattoo Story” by Alison McGhee
This is sort of off-beat, but I really loved this book! ~Aimee
“Tell Me a Tattoo Story” is a sweet tale about a good guy with tattoos. ~Hilary
“Rain Fish” by Lois Ehlert
“Rain Fish” shows different fish that wash up in the rain. The book is made of amazing collages (from materials that have actually washed up in gutters)! ~Mark
“What Do You Do With A Problem?” by Kobi Yamada
“What Do You Do With A Problem” is wonderfully abstract and addresses why you shouldn’t avoid your problems. It proves that working through problems can bring about positive changes. ~Katie
“A Child of Books” by Oliver Jeffers
Jeffers creates imaginative and fantastical landscapes, much of it crafted from the literal written word of literary classics. There are giant, crashing waves made from passages of “Moby Dick” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and winding hillside paths created from famous lines from “The Wizard of Oz.”~Josh
“Lift-the-flap Fairy Tales” by Emma Jennings
This is my new favorite board book! ~Aimee
“Mark of the Plague” by Kevin Sands
This is the second of the series “The Blackthorn Key” that continues with intriguing puzzles, mysteries and suspense set during the last great plague of London. ~Mark
“Poor Little Guy” by Elanna Allen
“Poor Little Guy” is a funny story about how being the little guy doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be taken seriously. ~Katie
It has a fun surprise ending! ~Hilary
“Not Today, Celeste!: A Dog’s Tale About Her Human’s Depression” by Liza Stevens
This book does a great job of explaining what it looks like when a loved one is depressed (without being clinical or bleak). It normalizes a hard subject and includes 10 key helpful messages to share with a child living with a depressed family member. ~Otter
“Madeline Finn and the Library Dog” by Lisa Papp, “The Thank You Book” by Mo Willems and “The Cow Who Climbed a Tree” by Merino Gemma were also staff favorites.
