10 of the Best New Children’s Books Out in December 2022

The followup to Stacey’s Extraordinary Words follows a young Stacey Abrams as she shares her joy of the library with a new student who is still learning to read English. During recess, Stacey loves to read books, and that’s where she meets Julie for the first time. Julie loves reading, too, but can’t join in with Stacey. Stacey can’t wait to show Julie the library on Thursday, during library time, and their librarian Mr. McCormick is very welcoming. Together, Stacey and Julie explore the magic of books, and soon, more kids from their class join in. This is a lovely ode to books, libraries, and friendships; one every book-lover will adore, no matter their age.

Caldecott medalist Jason Chin follows up his big-picture nonfiction Your Place in the Universe with a microscopic journey into the minute building blocks of life. It opens with the calliope hummingbird, the smallest bird in the United States. Each page moves smaller as Chin explores microns, cells, atoms, elementary particles, and so much more, ultimately connecting it all to the universe. Anyone familiar with Chin’s work will be unsurprised by the gorgeous illustrations. The book also has extensive back matter to learn more. While not part of the narrative, the main child character is a Brown wheelchair user, which is refreshing to see.

Keyana is a girl with lots of ideas and the drive to tackle them. She decides to host a family movie night and immediately gets to planning so everything is perfect. However, when her twin cousins cause a raucous during the movie, everything is ruined. The screen falls, popcorn and cookies go flying, and the projector breaks. How will Keyana fix everything? Thankfully, her love of family and big ideas helps her find a different way to celebrate movie night with her family. This is a super fun picture book about familial love and addressing disappointment.

This delightful series of hugs written by a father/son team is part picture book, part gift book for parents. Each page illustrates a different type of hug, from “The Necklace,” where a child hangs from an elderly man’s neck while he attempts to drink coffee and look at his phone, to “The Rolling Hug,” where a child perches on a motorized wheelchair’s arm hugging a male caregiver while another child runs beside them. Each illustration is tenderly drawn with splashes of color and minimal to no background, focusing instead on a diverse array of caregivers and children sharing special, cuddly moments. The back lists even more hugs for children to try out.

In this delightful picture book, Mina shares with her class Korean customs for the Lunar New Year, Seollal. She wears her hanbok, shows the class sabae (a respectful greeting for elders), plays Korean games, and her mom brings in Korean candies for everyone’s bokjumoni — their lucky bags. But when Mina’s little brother shows up and throws a temper tantrum because his hanbok is too itchy, Mina worries the day is ruined. However, the other students in class help cheer up her brother, and they continue celebrating Seollal. The end pages show how to fold a paper bokjumoni. This is an excellent book for classrooms to use during the Lunar New Year, and great for home, too! I will definitely be making a bokjumoni with my daughter.

This is Serena Blasco’s second graphic novel compilation based on Nancy Springer’s popular middle grade historical mystery series. It contains three stories: “The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan,” “The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline,” and “The Case of Baker Street Station.” In these stories, Enola investigates tea shops, saves kidnapped women, tries to find her mother, and receives many cryptic messages that need deciphering. Oh, and she dodges her pesky brothers Mycroft and Sherlock, of course. Blasco’s illustrations are vibrant and colorful, and it’s such a fun read, whether you’ve read the original novels or not.

Middle grade readers who like the dark and disturbing will love this biography collection of 16 of the cruelest and deadliest people from ancient and contemporary history. From Attila the Hun to Hungarian serial killer Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed, these profiles, though brief, draw a disturbing picture of evil. Karl James Mountford illustrates each biography with black and white portraits.