Our picks for best children’s titles 2018

Books displayed on a table: "Crown: Ode to a Fresh Cut," "Little Fox in the Forest," and "Windows."
Books displayed on a table: "The First Rule of Punk," "Orphan Island," "The Hate U Give," "Forget Me Not," and "Wishtree."

Each year, our Children’s Services team loves to reflect (and vote!) on their personal picks for best titles in the world of children’s literature.

The Caldecott and Newbery awards recognize the year’s best, according to the American Library Association. While 2018’s winners were announced Monday, our “mock vote” was last week, choosing Crown for the Caldecott and The First Rule of Punk for the Newbery.

“We think Crown has the best art in a book published for kids in 2017, andThe First Rule of Punk is the most distinguished book written for kids in 2017,” says Early Childhood Literacy Librarian Shelley Harris. “Those both won our ballots with wide margins, and the other titles pictured were our honors.”

The results? Crown won an honor for both Caldecott and Newbery, and The First Rule of Punk won a Pura Belpré honor.

See the 2018 and previous years’ winners: