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- Ryan

The Best Picture Books of 2024

The Best Picture Books of 2024

Welcome to the 7th Annual Dad Suggests Picture Book Awards! Once again we have spent the entire year tirelessly researching the world of picture books (well, picture books published in the US). We read, and we fought, and we threw books across the room, and we screamed, and we read again. We shred the books apart and burned them over a Bunsen burner in a test tube to look for interesting reactions like Jack Skellington. What does it mean!

And now, finally, we’ve come out safely on the other side with our list of the best 10 picture books of 2024. These 10 books will go down in history, joining the ranks of previous Dad Suggests Picture Book Awards winners, as recipients of one of the greatest honors a picture book could hope for - the approval of Dad.

As you may already be aware, the annual Caldecott award ceremony is fast approaching as well, although you shouldn’t expect to see many crossover titles between these two very prestigious awards (of course there is some debate out there about which award is more prestigious). That is perhaps because the Caldecott is an award for illustrations and illustrators only, not for the author. So while the pictures of the winners are often very good, the committee is not beholden to the same rigorous rubric and criteria that we are, such as, for instance, how good of a book it is.

In fact, speaking of criteria, the first thing I ask myself during the review process every year is often “is this book good?” I’ve found this to be a very reliable system so far, and it seems to really set us off on the right foot. Other useful questions are “is reading this book at all enjoyable?” and “would a child hate this book?” You’d be surprised at how quickly the piles start to dwindle away!

But the books that remain! These are good piles of books. These books are special. We need to slap a sticker with Dad’s face on these books so that customers know what’s up. And, as an aside, the stickers are truly about to roll out. This year you can expect to see all previous honor books and all previous Dad Suggests Picture Book Awards winners get the official sticker treatment in our bookstore. The people will finally know what’s up and what’s what.

I hope you enjoy learning about our favorite picture books of the year. As always, when you get to the top 5 things become very difficult all of the sudden. But we are extremely satisfied with the results, and I hope you find something new and fun to read.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. Clicking on those links will lead you to view the books’ listings on the website of our affiliate partners Amazon or Bookshop.org, where purchases support local bookstores across the nation.


Honorable Mentions

These are all of the picture books that were in serious consideration this year, and were a part of our debates. At some point during 2024, they were shortlisted and placed in contention for making this list of the best picture books of 2024. Listed in no particular order, these books are certainly among the best of the year.

Ahoy! - Written and Illustrated by Sophie Blackall

If You Run Out of Words - Written and Illustrated by Felicita Sala

Drawn Onward - Written by Daniel Nayeri and Illustrated by Matt Rockefeller

We are Definitely Human - Written and Illustrated by X. Fang

We Go to the Park - Written by Sara Stridsberg and Illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna

Milo the Knight - Written by Gregoire Laforce and Illutrated by Charlotte Parent

When You Find the Right Rock - Written by Mary Lyn Ray and Illustrated by Felicita Sala

The Teeny-Weeny Unicorn - Written and Illustrated by Shawn Harris

The Remarkables - Written and Illustrated by Clotilde Perrin

The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods - Written and Illustrated by Mikey Please

What Makes us Human - Written by Victor D. O. Santos and Illustrated by Anna Forlati

The Dictionary Story - Written and Illustrated by Sam Winston and Oliver Jeffers

Roy is Not a Dog - Written by Esme Shapiro and Daniel Newell Kaufman and Illustrated by Esme Shapiro

The Grumpus and His Dastardly, Dreadful Christmas Plan - Written and Illustrated by Alex T. Smith

Santa’s First Christmas - Written by Mac Barnett and Illustrated by Sydney Smith

Wolfgang in the Meadow - Written and Illustrated by Lenny Wen


The Top 10 Picture Books of 2024

10. The Last Zookeeper

Written and Illustrated by Aaron Becker

The Last Zookeeper is a wordless picture book - and that’s kind of a funny coincidence because last year’s list had a wordless picture book in last place too! And of course Aaron Becker is no stranger to beloved wordless books.

Out of all of Becker’s highly acclaimed wordless picture books, I think The Last Zookeeper is my favorite one yet. It seems to be a post-apocalyptic tale where a giant robot is still taking care of all the animals from a zoo. That is until things get even worse and the world starts flooding.

I don’t want to give away too much, but what the robot does first is start building a Noah’s Ark of sorts to make sure all the animals can survive. I’ve always enjoyed post-apocalyptic setups for stories - and this book simultaneously speaks to my sense of imagination and adventure and my love for animals. Not to mention that it’s extremely gorgeous with art worthy of hanging on the wall.


9. Pepper & Me

Written and Illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna

Pepper & Me is perfectly and wonderfully absurd. It’s funny, and it’s paired with Beatrice Alemagna’s perfect, unique, offbeat art. Sometimes (most times) kids books just need to entertain, and Pepper & Me entertains us quite a bit.

In case you can’t tell from the cover, Pepper is a scab. The little girl in this book hurts her knee, and of course it’s scary and new to have such a huge scab. But soon she names the scab and starts talking to it.

I don’t know how it possibly turns into a sweet story about missing Pepper when she’s gone, but somehow it manages to do it. So there’s a little bit of loss to deal with there, and I love that thinking about the injury actually brings back childhood nostalgia for her grandparents’ house.

But most importantly this story is just so perfectly and absurdly wacky. There’s dry humor in it - and one line that makes me really laugh out loud. And Alemagna’s art is quite frankly some of our very favorite.


8. Barnaby Unboxed!

Written and Illustrated by The Fan Brothers

I think it’s well documented at this point that we are big fans of the art and stories that The Fan Brothers create. And The Barnabus Project is one of our very favorite books they’ve ever made. So we were over the moon when we heard that Barnabus would be getting a sequel.

Barnaby Unboxed! does not follow our old beloved Barnabus - it actually follows one of the perfect pets that he was based on. Barnaby is purchased in a store to be given a forever home by a little girl in a very Corduroy-like way - but over time it seems the little girl starts to forget about him in the way that kids do with their toys.

But this is different than outgrowing a toy, because Barnaby and the other perfect pets are living creatures - which we see clearly when Dad has to start taking Barnaby on his walks. But Barnaby feels unloved when the little girl sees a new rainbow Barnaby on TV, so he runs away from home. It’s interesting that Barnabus felt less than the perfect pets, while Barnaby the perfect pet feels less than the new-and-improved rainbow perfect pet.

At the end of the day I just love the full package that we get from a book by The Fan Brothers. It’s a sweet story, it’s fantastic art, and the details are just wonderful. Great secret cover, great endpapers, a beautiful final page including what I think might be a very sweet Easter egg. A lot of care went into this book, and quite simply it’s just fun to read.


7. As Edward Imagined

Written by Matthew Burgess and Illustrated by Marc Majewski

A biography in the top 10! Now this is a rare sight - but well-deserved in every way! This biography of Edward Gorey is magnificent. It’s a very heartfelt tribute, and I have to say I’m just very impressed with the whole thing.

The art is perfect for this story, and the words are much more than the straightforward biographical information that usually puts kids to sleep in your average picture book biography. This biography has been woven into a very engaging story of Gorey’s life.

We get to follow along as his childhood passions turn into an inspiring life’s work. It’s a story of imagination and creativity - and a story about being yourself. It’s got Dracula, it’s got cats, it has ballet, and it has just one of the coolest and sweetest and most heartfelt two-page spreads at the end to wrap up the whole thing.

You don’t even have to be a fan of Edward Gorey and his books to be a fan of this biography. Interestingly enough, I think this book would be a wonderful book even if Edward Gorey was a made up character, and that’s going to be my new criteria for judging picture book biographies going forward.


6. John the Skeleton

Written by Triinu Laan and Illustrated by Marja-Liisa Plats

If there was an award for strangest book of the year, I think there’s no doubt I’d be giving it to John the Skeleton. But you know I like strange, original, and quirky - so obviously John the Skeleton was a very big hit around here.

John is a skeleton, and he is brought home from a school’s science room by an old man who lives with his wife in a cottage in the woods. John, the actual skeleton, becomes a companion. And from beginning to end the narrator just describes his actions and feelings and even his words as if he’s just another character.

It’s a mysterious book, and it’s also a beautiful story about life and love and loss. It’s the type of book where you could enjoy entirely because of it’s absurdity, or you could spend some time thinking about if there’s some sort of enlightened meaning behind the whole thing. In some ways it reminds me of another favorite - Duck, Death, and the Tulip - because it seems this skeleton might be around to help Grams and Gramps accept and deal with mortality as a friend.


5. Into the Goblin Market

Written by Vikki VanSickle and Illustrated by Jensine Eckwall

Just recently I read Diane Zahler’s interpretation of the Goblin Market story - and I loved it. So I was ready instantly excited when I saw that there was going to be a picture book interpretation this year by Vikki VanSickle and Jensine Eckwall.

It’s an old tale about a market run (secretly) by goblins, with the intention of luring away young girls with magic. It seems the story is also consistently about two sisters - one who is lured away and one who is tasked to be the hero and rescuer.

What I like about the story is the fantasy elements and slightly spooky atmosphere - very similar to the reason I love the movie Labyrinth so much. It’s an adventure story, and it has sisterly love at its core too which is nice.

Now this particular version of Goblin Market is done in rhyme, which I could honestly do with or without. I think the story could flourish without it, but it’s not completely out of place in an old Grimm’s Fairy Tale type of world - and of course it’s still slotted into the top 5 of the year after all.

It’s not everyday you get a picture book for kids about a little girl being stolen away by goblins. Quite frankly that’s all you need to know. It’s a spooky and high stakes framing and setup for the story - and that deserves a lot of appreciation and love I think.


2024 Dad Suggests Picture Book Awards Medal Winners

Honor Books

 
 

There is no hard rule for exactly how many books in the top 10 can be medal winners in a given year. The following books made the final cut, and were actually part of our discussions for winning the 2024 Dad Suggests Picture Book Awards. If the winning book didn’t exist, any one of these books might have won. And they are all awarded with a 2024 Honor Medal.

4. Hekla & Laki

Written and Illustrated by Marine Schneider

Hekla & Laki is inspired by two Icelandic volcanoes by the same names - but the story has almost nothing to do with volcanoes, other than the fact that Laki is no longer active.

It does, however, perhaps explain why Hekla & Laki are so abnormal looking, and why the story is so magical - because it’s almost like they are gods and this is a mythological story.

But that’s not to say that there isn’t a lot of humanity to be found in this story. It’s very easy to interpret Hekla and Laki’s relationship like a parent and child. It’s actually extremely moving and touching - and it makes me feel a lot of different feelings during a reading.

There are moments of humor, moments of loss and sadness, and moments of love. But my favorite part is the exploration of that moment when children need to break off from their parents and discover themselves. It really taps into that bittersweet feeling of watching a child grow that parents will understand. And all of these very powerful feelings are delivered in an extremely beautiful package with characters that are easy to fall in love with.


3. Spider in the Well

Written and Illustrated by Jess Hannigan

Spider in the Well is a heck of a picture book - and one that has put Jess Hannigan on my shortlist for creators to keep a sharp eye on. In any other year, it may very well have been the picture book of the year.

Hannigan’s style is fresh and engaging and I don’t even know what I can compare it to - maybe the delightfully quirky Katamari video games? The character design is spectacular and endearing, and the aesthetic is just a real joy all around.

And the story itself is very funny. It features untrustworthy characters, and on future readings, their lies are a big source of the humor. Hannigan displays mastery of this type of humor, much like the dry humor of the rabbit lying to the bear in I Want My Hat Back.

It’s billed as a fable, and that’s a big part of why I like it. It’s structure is very similar to something like a Grimm’s Fairy Tale - and that’s always something that really speaks to me. Basically, a boy is tasked to figure out why the town’s wishes aren’t being granted, and he discovers that a spider has been catching the coins. The spider, however, got to hear the town’s wishes first hand, and this changes everything.

Spider in the Well is original in more ways than one, and it’s truly fun. It has all the qualities of a kids book with a lot of staying power.


2. Godfather Death

Written by Sally Nicholls and Illustrated by Julia Sarda

Speaking of my love for Grimm’s Fairy Tales - Godfather Death is literally a retelling of a story from the Brothers Grimm. Say no more! Why isn’t every picture book a retelling of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale?

And not only is this a spectacular story, but it’s illustrated by one of our very favorites (and former Dad Suggests Picture Book Award Winner) Julia Sarda. The art perfectly matches the story and truly makes this one of my favorite picture books in a long time.

Now I don’t want to spoil this book, so feel free to skip the rest of this recap. But I have to point out that this story is so beautifully tragic. In true Brothers Grimm fashion, mistakes are made, and lessons are learned - and things get dark and scary.

The story follows a fisherman who wants to find an honest godfather for his son. He says no to God, he says no to Satan, but he says yes to Death - the theory being that Death is equal to all men and the most honest of all. It’s magnificent. It’s the type of story that will haunt you and sit with you for a while. And it has that touch of darkness and spookiness that will have a kid sitting on the edge of their seat.

And I just can’t say enough about the work of Sally Nicholls and the aesthetic of Julia Sarda. They truly take this wonderful story and give it new life - crafting it into one of the best picture books in years.


2024 Dad Suggests Picture Book Awards Winner

 
 

1. Bog Myrtle

Written and Illustrated by Sid Sharp

Bog Myrtle is a revelation. Who knew picture books could be this good? This book is hysterical. The whole family adores it, and they hung on every word when I read it out loud. Spooky, side-splitting, endearing - Bog Myrtle has it all.

The story follows two sisters, one very sweet and naive and one quite rude and selfish. Through happenstance the nice one bumps into Bog Myrtle, the protector of the forest. And although Bog Myrtle is quite scary, the innocent sister is so polite and kind that they actually become friends, and Bog Myrtle gives her some magic silk to knit a sweater for her cold sister.

The sister, however, sees only opportunity and wants to start a magic sweater store. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg with how bad this sister is. She’s comically nasty and rude to her kind sister - which makes her fate quite acceptable to the reader by the end.

Similar to The Lorax, Bog Myrtle has a bit of an environmental message to it - which of course is a nice touch. But it certainly doesn’t bop you over the head with it. More than anything it’s a quirky character tale - and it’s about being a good person and perhaps standing up for yourself.

But I’m realizing that it’s impossible to put into words the joy of this book. The art is amazing and the details are delightful. The dialogue, the facial expressions, the humor - it’s all top notch and needs to be experienced by yourself. It’s so original and so much fun that it simply had to be the Dad Suggests Picture Book of the year - no doubt about it.

* Bog Myrtle is not currently available on Bookshop.org as of the time of writing.


Thanks for stopping by! What was your favorite picture book of the year? Did we include yours? Let us know in the comments!

And don’t forget to check out all of the past winners of the Dad Suggests Picture Book Awards!

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023

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