Bilingual Children’s Books, More “Best of 2024” Lists, and Jacqueline Woodson on Book Bans
It’s hard to keep up with all the latest news and discussions about children’s books and publishing, so I’m helping out by doing it for you. Here are a few articles that caught my attention recently, from bilingual children’s books to more “best of 2024” lists and Jacqueline Woodson on book bans.
The Future Is Bilingual
Three independent children’s book publishers believe the future is bilingual, so they’re going to publish books that meet this need. Lil’ Libros, which was already publishing board books in English and Spanish, has partnered with children’s publisher Bitty Bao to publish books in Mandarin and Cantonese. Meanwhile, Gloo Books is publishing picture books with some translated words and diverse cultural representations. I love seeing more bilingual children’s books being published.
More “Best of 2024” Children’s Book Lists
As 2024 comes to a close, it feels like every outlet is releasing their “Best Books of 2024” lists. Here are a few of my favorite of these lists.
- The Bookstagang Awards 2024: I am definitely biased here; I was a Bookstagang judge for several years, though not this year. I love this list of books, especially the range of categories, like “Innovative Nonfiction” and “Conversation Starters.” It’s a wide range of wonderful books as chosen by the wonderful Bookstagang community.
- The New York Public Library Best Books of 2024: I’ve only read half of NYPL’s best children’s books of 2024 top 10 list, and I put the other five on hold at my library!
- Literary Hub’s 10 children’s books you might have missed this year: Okay, I love underrated lists! I have read almost all of these, so I’m not sure how obscure they actually are. I particularly recommend Noodles on a Bicycle, which is absolutely delightful.
Jacqueline Woodson on Book Bans, Race, & Writing
Brittany K. Allen conducted a really lovely interview with children’s author Jacqueline Woodson over on Literary Hub. One of the topics they discussed is how book bans have changed over the decades of Woodson’s career: “If books are banned, and people try to put them into the hands of young people, they lose their jobs.” Woodson also discusses juggling multiple writing projects, talking about race with kids, Palestine, voting, and more. It’s well worth the read.
