Now is a great time to stock up on new books for the new school year. Here is my list of the best YA, middle grade, and early reader books published in 2019 (or late 2018).
My overall pick for Book of the Year 2019 is:
Lubna and Pebble by Wendy Meddour
Picture books and early reader books:
1. Lubna and Pebble – Wendy Meddour
2. Counting on Katherine – Helaine Becker
3. Moonlight the Unicorn’s High Tea Hiccup (Miniwings Book 6) – Sally Sutton
4. Oi, Duck-Billed Platypus! (Oi Series) – Kes Gray
5. Oi, Puppies! (Oi Series) – Kes Gray
6. Yasmin in Charge – Saadia Faruqi
7. Tiggy and the Magic Paintbrush : A Hide and Seek Sleepover
8. Tiggy and the Magic Paintbrush : A Very Wobbly Tooth
Books for older readers:
9. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, edition fully illustrated by Jim Kay – JK Rowling
10. Calling All Witches – Laurie Calkhoven (a celebration of the witches of JK Rowling’s wizarding world)
11. The Velvet Fox – Catherine Fisher (sequel to the Clockwork Crow)
12. Witch in Winter – Kaye Umansky (book 4 in the Elsie Pickles, Witch series)
13. Tom Gates : Spectacular School Trip (Really) – Liz Pichon
14. The Seven Keys (sequel to The Turnkey) – Allison Rushby
Biography & General Non-fiction:
15. The Extraordinary Life of Malala Yousafzai – Hiba Noor Khan
16. The Extraordinary Life of Michelle Obama – Dr Sheila Kanani
17. Eddie Woo’s Magical Maths – Eddie Woo
18. General Knowledge Genius – Peter Crisp
19. 6000 Awesome Facts – pub. Miles Kelly
20. Epic Encounters in the Animal Kingdom (Brave Adventures Vol. 2) – Coyote Peterson
Elle Carter Neal is the author of the middle-grade chapter book The Convoluted Key, picture book I Own All the Blue, and teen science-fantasy novel Madison Lane and the Wand of Rasputin. She has been telling stories for as long as she can remember, holding childhood slumber-party audiences entranced until the early hours of the morning. Elle decided to be an author the day she discovered that real people wrote books and that writing books was a real job.