31 Days, 31 Lists: Day Thirty-One – 2017 Picture Books
And just like that . . . *poof!*
It’s gone!
Not gone, exactly. The 31 Days, 31 Lists series may indeed continue next year. Just so long as the books or my eyesight holds out. In the meantime, it’s been a blast, guys. I appreciate that not a single one of you pointed out to me my atrocious spelling mistakes. When one is finishing blog posts at approximately 1 a.m., something’s gotta give and that something is usually the ability to accurately spelling the word “approximately”.
Why end with picture books? Because they are, in many ways, the bread and butter of the children’s book world. Their sales allow publishers to take a chance on other kinds of books. They hold a kind of sway on the public imagination that novels and comics still only dare dream of attaining. And, happily, they’re short enough that I got to see a nice wide swath this year. Here then are the books I’d bury in a time capsule for the future, if I could. A brief, glorious glimpse of a time that was and a year that, crummy as it was, had a couple bright spots in it for the youngest of readers.
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Thanks for reading, everybody.
2017 Picture Books
ABCs From Space by Adam Voiland
Accident! by Andrea Tsurumi
After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again by Dan Santat
All Around Us by Xelena Gonzalez, ill. Adriana M. Garcia
All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle, ill. Mike Curato
The Alphabet Thief by Bill Richardson, ill. Roxanna Bikadoroff
The Antlered Ship by Dashka Slater, ill. The Fan Brothers
Be Quiet! by Ryan T. Higgins
Bertolt by Jacques Goldstyn
Betty’s Burgled Bakery: An Alliteration Adventure by Travis Nichols
Big Cat, Little Cat by Elisha Cooper
The Blue Hour by Isabelle Simler
Boat of Dreams by Rogerio Coelho
Boo! by Ben Newman
The Boy and the Whale by Mordicai Gerstein
But I Don’t Eat Ants by Dan Marvin, ill. Kelly Fry
Chicken in the Kitchen by Nnedi Okorafor, ill. Mehrdokht Amini
Chicken Wants a Nap by Tracy Marchini, ill. Monique Felix
City Mouse, Country Mouse by Maggie Rudy
Claymates by Dev Petty, ill. Lauren Eldridge
Come With Me by Holly M. McGhee, ill. Pascal Lemaitre
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, ill. Gordon C. James
Danny McGee Drinks the Sea by Andy Stanton, ill. Neal Layton
A Different Pond by Bao Phi, ill. Thi Bui
Dog On a Frog? by Kes & Claire Gray, ill. Jim Field
Double Take! A New Look at Opposites by Susan Hood, ill. Jay Fleck
Find Me: A Hide-and-Seek Book by Anders Arhoj
Firefighter Duckies! by Frank W. Dormer
Flowers for Sarajevo by John McCutcheon, ill. Kristy Caldwell
Fred & the Lumberjack by Steven Weinberg
Full of Fall by April Pulley Sayre
Gum by Nancy Willard, ill. Jeff Newman
Hello Goodbye Dog by Maria Gianferrari, ill. Patrice Barton
Here We Are: Notes for Living On Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers
HIC! by Anushka Ravishankar, ill. Christiane Pieper
Home in the Rain by Bob Graham
How It Feels to Be a Boat by James Kwan
I Give You My Heart by Pimm van Hest, ill. Sassafras De Bruyn
In Your Hands by Carole Boston Weatherford, ill. Brian Pinkney
The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by Drew Daywalt, ill. Adam Rex
Letters to a Prisoner by Jacques Goldstyn
Little Fox in the Forest by Stephanie Graegin
Little Iffy Learns to Fly by Aaron Zenz
Lucia the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza, ill. Alyssa Bermudez
Mama Lion Wins the Race by Jon J. Muth
Manjhi Moves a Mountain by Nancy Churnin, ill. Danny Popovici
Me Tall, You Small by Lilli L’Arronge
Mighty Moby by Barbara Dacosta, ill. Ed Young
Mine! by Jeff Mack
Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament by Anne Renaud, ill. Felicita Sala
Mr. Fuzzbuster Knows He’s the Favorite by Stacy McAnulty, ill. Edward Hemingway
Mrs. White Rabbit by Gilles Bachelet
My Beautiful Birds by Suzanne Del Rizzo
My Pictures After the Storm by Eric Veille
My Valley by Claude Ponti, translated by Alyson Waters
On a Magical Do-Nothing Day by Beatrice Alemagna, translated by Jill Davis
The One Day House by Julia Durango, ill. Bianca Diaz
The Only Fish in the Sea by Philip C. Stead, ill. Matthew Cordell
Ossiri and the Bala Mengro by Richard O’Neil and Katharine Quarmby, ill. Hannah Tolson
A Perfect Day by Lane Smith
Pigeon P.I. by Meg McLaren
Please Please the Bees by Gerald Kelley
The Pomegranate Witch by Denise Doyen, ill. Eliza Wheeler
Prince Ribbit by Jonathan Emmett, ill. Poly Bernatene
Princess and the Peas by Rachel Himes
Professional Crocodile by Giovanna Zoboli, ill. Mariachiara Di Giorgio
Rabbit Magic by Meg McLaren
Red & Lulu by Matt Tavares
The Road Home by Katie Cotton, ill. Sarah Jacoby
The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet! by Carmen Agra Deedy, ill. Eugene Yelchin
Rosie and Crayon by Deborah Marcero
Short Stories for Little Monsters by Marie-Louise Gay
Somewhere Else by Gus Gordon
Spring for Sophie by Yael Werber, ill. Jen Hill
Spunky Little Monkey by Bill Martin Jr. & Michael Sampson, ill. Brian Won
Stack the Cats by Susie Ghahremani
Still Stuck by Shinsuke Yoshitake
There Might Be Lobsters by Carolyn Crimi, ill. Laurel Molk
This Book Will Not Be Fun by Cirocco Dunlap, ill. Olivier Tallec
This House, Once by Deborah Freedman
The Town is By the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, ill. Sydney Smith
Triangle by Mac Barnett, ill. Jon Klassen
Trio, the Tale of a Three-Legged Cat by Andrea Wisnewski
The 12 Days of Christmas by Greg Pizzoli
The Unexpected Love Story of Alfred Fiddleduckling by Timothy Basil Ering
Up Up Up Skyscraper! by Anastasia Suen, ill. Ryan O’Rourke
Waiting for Pumpsie by Barry Wittenstein, ill. London Ladd
The Way Home in the Night by Akiko Miyakoshi
What What What? by Arata Tendo, ill. Ryoji Arai
What’s My Superpower? by Aviaq Johnston, ill. Tim Mack
When the Moon Comes by Paul Harbridge, ill. Matt James
When the Rain Comes by Alma Fullerton, ill. Kim La Fave
Where Is Grandma? by Peter Schossow
Where, Oh Where, Is Baby Bear? by Ashley Wolff
Where’s Rodney? by Carmen Bogan, ill. Floyd Cooper
Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell
Yo Soy Muslim: A Father’s Letter to His Daughter by Mark Gonzales, ill. Mehrdokht Amini
You Can’t Be Too Careful! by Roger Mello
Interested in the other lists of the month? Here’s the schedule of everything covered this month. Enjoy!
December 1 – Board Books
December 2 – Board Book Reprints & Adaptations
December 3 – Wordless Picture Books
December 4 – Picture Book Readalouds
December 5 – Rhyming Picture Books
December 6 – Alphabet Books
December 7 – Funny Picture Books
December 8 – CaldeNotts
December 9 – Picture Book Reprints
December 10 – Math Picture Books
December 11 – Bilingual Books
December 12 – Translated Picture Books
December 13 – Books with a Message
December 14 – Fabulous Photography
December 15 – Fairy Tales / Folktales
December 16 – Oddest Books of the Year
December 17 – Poetry Books
December 18 – Easy Books
December 19 – Early Chapter Books
December 20 – Comics for Kids
December 21 – Older Funny Books
December 22 – Fictionalized Nonfiction
December 23 – American History
December 24 – Science & Nature Books
December 25 – Transcendent Holiday Picture Books
December 26 – Unique Biographies
December 27 – Nonfiction Picture Books
December 28 – Nonfiction Chapter Books
December 29 – Fiction Reprints
December 30 – Middle Grade Novels
December 31 – Picture Books
Filed under: Best Books, Best Books of 2017
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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Hello Elizabeth/Betsy,
Thank you so much for putting our book “I give you my heart ❤️” into the spotlight in your last blog post of 2017. That means a lot to MMe and Sassafras. It is so wonderful to see and read that this book reaches so many children ánd adults all over the world. Warm greetzz from MMe – PiMM van Hest (author of this book) from the Netherlands ánd I wish you a magical and enchanting new (book) year ???? PiMM ????
My sole regret is that I wasn’t able to give it the full attention it deserved. It’s a remarkably beautiful book. I only received it last week in the mail, otherwise I would have promoted it more widely. You should be proud.
Good afternoon Betsy,
Is it too late to give the book some extra attention/the attention you think it deserves?
We would be extremely honoured and it would mean the world to us if you would review our book in 2018 (we are almost there already)…. #timeisrelative
We keep our fingers crossed and hope to hear from you ánd we hope “I give you my heart ❤️” will magically enchant you once more in 2018 ❤️
Happy New Year from MMe from the Netherlands,
PiMM
Alas, my rules are that all official reviews are to be completed in the publication year of the book being examined. That said, I have something up my sleeve. Stay tuned.
Thank you for these wonderful lists all month! I has been fun!
Hi Betsy,
It’s an honor to be on your list! And thank you for recognizing photographic books, among all the other wonderful ones.
Happy New Year to you.
Maggie
Betsy,. I have just spent a very enjoyable New Year’s Eve reading , among other things, your 31 Days, 31 Lists. What fun. Happy New Year and thanks for the memories.
I’m a list lover from way back, Betsy! And book lists are the very best kind! What’s lovely is that I see books by author friends…and I’m discovering books I hadn’t seen before. Here’s to a new year filled with infiiite possibilities…and lots of beautiful new books!
Hi Betsy. You reviewed The Antlered Ship and included it in this list. I’m curious, because you know books, if you’ve read The Friend Ship by Kat Yeh (published in 2016) and noticed how very similar The Antlered Ship is to The Friend Ship. I read The Friend Ship first and fell in love. I’m just dropping this here to see what you think because your opinion of books is trusted.
An interesting comparison. I’m rather intrigued by the variety of books in which animals board a ship in search of something ineffable, only to find they’ve had it all along. Quests are easier to pull off when animals rather than children are involved. I think the goal and the art are dissimilar enough that the comparisons between the two books can be considered minimal but thank you for the keen idea!
Wow, thank you so much for including Claymates – and for all of the book love throughout the year! What an awesome year it’s been for picture books!