Below is Fanfare, a list of the books that the Horn Book editors and reviewers have selected as the best of 2019. The annotated list will be published in the December issue of Notes from the Horn Book (sign up!) and in the January/February 2020 issue of the Horn Book Magazine (subscribe!). Happy reading!

Picture Books

The Little Guys

written and illustrated by Vera Brosgol; Roaring Brook

River

written and illustrated by Elisha Cooper; Orchard/Scholastic

Birdsong

written and illustrated by Julie Flett; Greystone Kids

Red House, Tree House, Little Bitty Brown Mouse

written by Jane Godwin, illustrated by Blanca Gómez; Dial

Field Trip to the Moon

written and illustrated by John Hare; Ferguson/Holiday

Saturday

written and illustrated by Oge Mora; Little, Brown

My Papi Has a Motorcycle

written by Isabel Quintero, illustrated by Zeke Peña; Kokila/Penguin

The Bell Rang

written and illustrated by James E. Ransome; Dlouhy/Atheneum

¡Vamos!: Let’s Go to the Market

written by Raúl the Third, color by Elaine Bay; Versify/Houghton

Another

written and illustrated by Christian Robinson; Atheneum

Small in the City

written and illustrated by Sydney Smith; Porter/Holiday

Fiction

With the Fire on High

written by Elizabeth Acevedo; HarperTeen

Lovely War

written by Julie Berry; Viking

Beverly, Right Here

written by Kate DiCamillo; Candlewick

Penny and Her Sled

written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes; Greenwillow

A Place to Belong

written by Cynthia Kadohata, illustrated by Julia Kuo; Dlouhy/Atheneum

Lalani of the Distant Sea

written by Erin Entrada Kelly, illustrated by Lian Cho; Greenwillow

Dig.

written by A.S. King; Dutton

The Year We Fell from Space

written by Amy Sarig King, illustrated by Nina Goffi; Levine/Scholastic

Pie in the Sky

written and illustrated by Remy Lai; Holt

Juana & Lucas: Big Problemas

written and illustrated by Juana Medina; Candlewick

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

written by Jason Reynolds; Dlouhy/Atheneum

The Fountains of Silence

written by Ruta Sepetys; Philomel

On the Come Up

written by Angie Thomas; Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Poetry

The Undefeated

written by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson; Versify/Houghton

SHOUT: A Poetry Memoir

written by Laurie Halse Anderson; Viking

This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality

written by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy; Bloomsbury

Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir

written by Nikki Grimes; Wordsong/Boyds Mills

Nonfiction

Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace

written and illustrated by Ashley Bryan; Dlouhy/Atheneum

Two Brothers, Four Hands: The Artists Alberto and Diego Giacometti

written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Hadley Hooper; Porter/Holiday

Torpedoed: The True Story of the WWII Sinking of “The Children’s Ship”

written by Deborah Heiligman; Godwin/Holt

Nine Months: Before a Baby Is Born

written by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Jason Chin; Porter/Holiday

Guts

written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier, color by Braden Lamb; Graphix/Scholastic

Moth: An Evolution Story

written by Isabel Thomas, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus; Bloomsbury

A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation

written by Barry Wittenstein, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; Porter/Holiday