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Picture Books

Suggested grade level for all entries: PS–2

Not Just the Driver! by Sara Holly Ackerman; illus. by Robert Neubecker (Beach Lane/Simon)

Ahoy! by Sophie Blackall (Schwartz/Random)

Together We Swim by Valerie Bolling; illus. by Kaylani Juanita (Chronicle)

The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants by Philip Bunting (Crown)

Sumo Libre by Joe Cepeda (Little, Brown)

Don’t Blow Your Top! by Ame Dyckman; illus. by Abhi Alwar (Orchard/Scholastic)

The Last Stand by Antwan Eady; illus. by Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey (Knopf)

Let’s Go! by Julie Flett (Greystone Kids)

A Friend for Eddy by Ann Kim Ha (Greenwillow)

My Block Looks Like by Janelle Harper; illus. by Frank Morrison (Viking)

Monster Hands by Karen Kane and Jonaz McMillan; illus. by Dion MBD (Paulsen/Penguin)

Hello: How Nüwa Created the World by Viola Wang (Little Bee)

Are You Big? by Mo Willems (Union Square)

Beginning Readers and Primary Grades

Suggested grade level for all entries: 1–3

The Best Worst Camp Out Ever [I Like to Read: Comics] by Joe Cepeda (Holiday)

Sometimes I Feel like an Oak by Danielle Daniel; illus. by Jackie Traverse (Groundwood)

Everyone Gets a Turn by Marianne Dubuc; trans. from French by Celyn Harding-Jones (Princeton Architectural)

The Cozy Home: Three-and-a-Half Stories [Bat, Cat & Rat] by Ame Dyckman; illus. by Mark Teague (Beach Lane/Simon)

Fungi Grow by Maria Gianferrari; illus. by Diana Sudyka (Beach Lane/Simon) 

Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day by Astrid Kamalyan; illus. by Anait Semirdzhyan (Charlesbridge)

Monti and Leo: A Newcomer in Pocketville by Sylvie Kantorovitz (Walker US/Candlewick)

A New Car for Pickle [I Like to Read: Comics] by Sylvie Kantorovitz (Holiday)

Desert Song by Laekan Zea Kemp; illus. by Beatriz Gutiérrez Hernández (Porter/Holiday)

The Seventh Direction: A Legend of Creation by Kevin Locke; illus. by Kristy Cameron (Medicine Wheel)

Time to Make Art by Jeff Mack (Holt)

Bompa’s Insect Expedition by David Suzuki with Tanya Lloyd Kyi; illus. by Qin Leng (Greystone Kids)

Gotta Go! by Frank Viva (TOON)

Intermediate

Suggested grade level for all entries: 4–6

Maggie Lou, Firefox by Arnolda Dufour Bowes; illus. by Karlene Harvey (Groundwood)

The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day; illus. by Brett Helquist (Random House Studio/Random)

The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo; illus. by Julie Morstad (Candlewick)

Max in the House of Spies [Operation Kinderspion] by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton)

My Head Has a Bellyache: And More Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris; illus. by Andrea Tsurumi (Little, Brown)

A Little Bit Super: With Small Powers Come Big Problems edited by Leah Henderson and Gary D. Schmidt; illus. by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Clarion/HarperCollins)

Bumps in the Night by Amalie Howard (Delacorte)

The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow)

Continental Drifter by Kathy MacLeod (First Second)

Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem [Blue Stars] by Kekla Magoon and Cynthia Leitich Smith; illus. by Molly Murakami (Candlewick)

The Lumbering Giants of Windy Pines by Mo Netz (Clarion/HarperCollins)

The Queen of Thieves [Moonwind Mysteries] by Johan Rundberg; trans. from Swedish by A. A. Prime (Amazon Crossing Kids)

A Royal Conundrum [Misfits] by Lisa Yee; illus. by Dan Santat (Random)

Middle School

Suggested grade level for all entries: 6–8

Super Boba Café by Nidhi Chanani; illus. by the author; color by Sarah Davidson (Amulet/Abrams)

Abeni’s Song by P. Djèlí Clark (Starscape/Tor)

Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo by Adrianna Cuevas (Harper/HarperCollins)

The Astrochimps: America’s First Astronauts by Dawn Cusick (Chicago Review)

The Hurricane Girls by Kimberly Willis Holt (Ottaviano/Little, Brown)

Slugfest by Gordon Korman (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)

Unhappy Camper by Lily LaMotte; illus. by Ann Xu; color by Sunmi (HarperAlley/HarperCollins)

Enlighten Me by Minh Lê; illus. by Chan Chau (LB Ink/Little, Brown)

Forsooth by Jimmy Matejek-Morris (Carolrhoda)

We Built This City by Cat Patrick (Paulsen/Penguin)

The 21: The True Story of the Youth Who Sued the U. S. Government Over Climate Change by Elizabeth Rusch (Greenwillow)

Grounded by Aisha Saeed, Huda al-Marashi, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, and S. K. Ali (Amulet/Abrams)

Summer at Squee by Andrea Wang (Kokila/Penguin)

High School

Suggested grade level for all entries: 9 and up

Icarus by K. Ancrum (HarperTeen)

Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol (First Second)

Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender (Tor Teen)

Looking for Smoke by K. A. Cobell (Heartdrum/HarperCollins)

The Boy Lost in the Maze by Joseph Coelho; illus. by Kate Milner (Candlewick)

So Let Them Burn [Divine Traitors] by Kamilah Cole (Little, Brown)

The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II by Candace Fleming (Focus/Scholastic)

The Girl, the Ring, & the Baseball Bat by Camille Gomera-Tavarez (Levine Querido)

Catfish Rolling by Clara Kumagai (Amulet/Abrams)

Sheine Lende: A Prequel to Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger; illus. by Rovina Cai (Levine/Levine Querido)

Danger and Other Unknown Risks by Ryan North and Erica Henderson; illus. by Erica Henderson (Penguin Workshop)

American Wings: Chicago’s Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky by Sherri L. Smith and Elizabeth Wein (Putnam)

Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa (Wednesday/St. Martin’s)

From the April 2024 issue of Notes from the Horn Book: Summer Reading. For past years’ summer reading lists from The Horn Book, click on the tag summer reading.