19 Favorite Picture Books of 2019

The end of the year always brings “Best of” lists and lists of favorites. And honestly, it’s a love-hate relationship I have at this time of year. I love learning about books that I may not have gotten to or heard about yet. But, I prefer to focus on sharing books that were my personal favorites of the year, rather than highlighting the best books. I cannot in any stretch of the imagination read everything being published in a year and I highly doubt most people can. Here are my 19 favorite picture books of 2019.

I’ll caveat that by saying, these are just a few of the amazing books that have been published this year. It might not include your favorites, but I’d love to hear about them in the comments or even what you loved about some of these titles.

19 Favorite Picture Books of 2019

1. Astro Girl by Ken Wilson-Max
2. Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris
3. Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard
4. Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry
5. Hey, Water! By Antoinette Portis
6. High Five by Adam Rubin
7. Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor
8. The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes
9. Lubna and Pebble by Wendy Meddour
10. My Heart by Corinna Luyken
11. My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero
12. Once Upon a Goat by Dan Richards
13. The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali
14. Saturday by Oge Mora
15. A Stone Sat Still by Brendan Wenzel
16. Ten Rules of the Birthday Wish by Beth Ferry
17. Vroom! By Barbara McClintock
18. When You Are Brave by Pat Zietlow Miller
19. William’s Winter Nap by Linda Ashman

For even more titles, check out the Best Pictures Books 2019 in School Library Journal.