Seattle Staff Faves 2021: Kids
Every year we ask our staff across the system for their favorite books published in a given year. Enjoy this list of some of our favorites for kids - some with staff annotations, and others with annotations from Kirkus, unless otherwise noted. (Created November 2021)
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The Sea in Winter
* LOCAL AUTHOR * CHAPTER BOOK / A Native American (Makah/Piscataway) girl learns about her inner strength. An insightful, stirring read about healing and resilience. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Milo Imagines the World
PICTURE BOOK / "This is my favorite picture book of the year! Newbery winner Matt de la Pena and Caldecott winner Christian Robinson team up for this lovely story of young Milo imagining the inner lives of the many people he passes on his way to visit his mother who is currently incarcerated." --Jane
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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We All Play
PICTURE BOOK / "A vibrant, bilingual (English/Cree) picture book from the prolific Indigenous author/illustrator Julie Flett (Cree-Métis). This simple, lilting story is perfect for showing babies, toddlers, and early readers the joyful interconnections between animals and humans." --Bean
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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We Move Together
NONFICTION PICTURE BOOK / "We Move Together is a love letter to the next generation of disabled kids, and a provocation for their nondisabled peers to rethink an ableist society's assumptions about how our bodies should move, what they should look like, and how our brains should work ... This gorgeously illustrated book offers a powerful message rooted in the Disability Justice movement—we care for and love each other, and we move together, with nobody left behind." —Lydia X. Z. Brown, disability justice advocate
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Last Cuentista
* LOCAL AUTHOR * CHAPTER BOOK / with Halley’s comet barreling toward Earth, humanity’s last hope—including a young Latinx storyteller—retreats into the stars. An exquisite tonic for storytellers far and wide, young and old. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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A Home Under the Stars
* LOCAL AUTHOR * PICTURE BOOK / "Charming book about a boy who moves to Seattle and sorely misses seeing the stars. His moms suggest creating their own, an idea he resists. One sleepless night he's visited by a lost lion, and they head out in search of the north star. This book is wonderful!" --Linda
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Mel Fell
* LOCAL AUTHOR * PICTURE BOOK / Mel, a stout kingfisher fledgling, marches to the end of her branch, jumps, flips, spreads her wings—and falls. Down she goes, beak-first, eyes shut, smiling broadly... Encourages children to feel brave, to try, and to believe they can soar. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Laxmi's Mooch
PICTURE BOOK / Laxmi, an Indian American elementary school student, has a mooch. A mooch, Laxmi explains, is a sprinkling of hairs on her upper lip; it’s also the Hindi word for mustache. Fabulous, funny body positivity. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Wonder Walkers
PICTURE BOOK / Two kids, likely siblings, take a “wonder walk” outside. They greet nature with awe and ask themselves (and, not so incidentally, readers) questions articulated in language that is spare and economic yet profound and beautifully poetic. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Year I Flew Away
CHAPTER BOOK / When her parents’ paperwork issues mean she must immigrate from Haiti to the United States alone, every heavenly thing she believes about America can’t outweigh the sense of dread she feels in leaving everything she knows behind. Pratchett-like worldbuilding centers immigrant kids in a story filled with culture, humor, and heart. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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