Children’s Book Awards, Picture Book Love, And Tigers, Oh My!

This stunningly illustrated picture book was one of the 10 books that won in the Future Classics category. A young girl asks her mother “Will it be okay?” in a variety of scenarios, from being stung by a bee to wondering what would happen if her mother died. The mother’s reassurance is shown through the lyrical prose and Jessica Love’s (of Julián Is a Mermaid fame) absolutely beautiful, emotion-filled illustrations.

This picture book speaks to me on so many personal levels: as a mom with a chronic illness, as a daughter who grew up with a father with a chronic illness, and as a daughter now whose father has cancer. It’s so difficult to depict chronic illness, agency, and the nuanced emotions a child will feel when a parent has a chronic illness — in this book’s case, cancer. Sheetal Shesh pulls from her own experiences as a mom with cancer to create one of the truest portrayals of what it’s like to live with a parent who has a chronic illness that I’ve ever seen, and she does so with simplicity and grace. Khoa Le’s tapestry-like illustrations are as lovely as they always are. This book is a winner on the Conversation Starters theme, and needless to say, is one of my favorites.

This queer-affirming sweet bedtime picture book won in the Best Read Aloud category. It’s time for Sweet Pea to go to bed, but Mama and Mommy have a bit of a problem — Sweet Pea is procrastinating by pretending to be different animals. How would a koala sleep? How about an emperor penguin? My child has forever been difficult at bedtime, and Cornwell perfectly captures that child bedtime mischievousness.

This powerful picture book tells the true story of how Estela Juarez’s mother was deported to Mexico when she was eight years old. Her mother had lived in the United States since she was 18, working and eventually marrying a man in the military with whom she had two children. But that did not prevent her from being deported to Mexico during Trump’s term. Estela wrote a moving letter to Congress asking for her mother’s return, which was eventually granted during Biden’s presidency. It’s a poignant story about a family torn apart and a young girl’s bravery. It won in the Best Biography category.