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These Are Amazon's Picks for the Best Children's Books of 2020 (So Far)

Looking for baby’s next read? Check out one of these options.
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By Nehal Aggarwal, Editor
Updated June 25, 2020
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Looking for more books for your young readers? Check out Amazon’s top picks. Yesterday, on June 24, Amazon’s book editorial team announced their list of the Best Books of the Year so far.

To create the list, editors ready hundreds of titles over the last six months. The list includes the top 20 books of the year, published between January and June 2020, as well as top picks across literary fiction, mysteries, biographies, young adult novels, kids’ books and more.

Without further ado, here are their picks for the Best Children’s Books of the Year (so far), broken down by age group.

Top 20 Children’s Books of 2020 Overall

  1. Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes
  2. The Old Truck by Jerome Pumphrey
  3. InvestiGators by John Patrick Green
  4. The Little Dreamer: An Inspirational Primer by Joan Holub
  5. The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard
  6. The One and Only Bob (One and Only Ivan) by Katherine Applegate
  7. Ronan the Librarian by Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie
  8. A Book for Escargot by Dashka Slater
  9. Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
  10. Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park
  11. How To Solve A Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion by Ashima Shiraishi
  12. Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson
  13. Race to the Sun (Rick Riordan Presents) by Rebecca Roanhorse
  14. Be You! By Peter Reynolds
  15. Our Friend Hedgehog: The Story of Us by Lauren Castillo
  16. The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead
  17. Play Outside! By Laurent Moreau
  18. Curse of the Night Witch (Emblem Island Book 1) by Alex Aster
  19. Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration by Samara Cole Doyon
  20. Madame Badobedah by Sophie Dahl

Top 20 Children’s Books of 2020: Baby to Age 2

  1. The Little Dreamer: An Inspirational Primer by Joan Holub

  2. Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi

  3. Dad By My Side by Soosh

  4. A Parade of Elephants Board Book by Kevin Henkes

  5. Hello World! Construction Site by Jill McDonald

  6. Welcome to the Party by Gabrielle Union

  7. A World of Opposites by Gray Malin

  8. The Babies and Kitties Book by John Schindel

  9. The Cookie Book of Colors by Holly Fox

  10. Up Cat Down Cat by Steve Light

  11. Mail Duck: A Book of Shapes and Surprises by Erica Sirotich

  12. Brown Baby Lullaby by Tameka Fryer Brown

  13. Great Inventors (Baby’s Big World) by Alex Fabrizio

  14. Little Hippo by Julie Abery

  15. Yoga (Baby’s Big World) by Jenny Burrill

  16. ABC Dance!: An Animal Alphabet by Sabrina Moyle

  17. Your Nose! by Sandra Boynton

  18. Wilma Rudolph: My First Wilma Rudolph by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara

  19. I Love Us: A Book About Family by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Top 20 Children’s Books of 2020: Age 3 to 5

  1. The Old Truck by Jerome Pumphrey
  2. A Book for Escargot by Dashka Slater
  3. Be You! By Peter Reynolds
  4. Play Outside! By Laurent Moreau
  5. Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind by Jessica Hische
  6. Cat Dog Dog: The Story of a Blended Family by Nelly Buchet
  7. The Paper Kingdom by Helena Ku Rhee
  8. Jules vs. the Ocean by Jessie Sima
  9. Llama Unleashes the Alpacalypse by Jonathan Stutzman
  10. You Matter by Christian Robinson
  11. Bedtime for Sweet Creatures by Nikki Grimes
  12. Love, Sophia on the Moon by Anica Mrose Rissi
  13. Smart George by Jules Feiffer
  14. Tiny T. Rex and the Very Dark Dark by Jonathan Stutzman
  15. Hurry Up!: A Book About Slowing Down by Kate Dopirak
  16. Snail Crossing by Corey R. Tabor
  17. The Bold, Brave Bunny by Beth Ferry
  18. The Box Turtle by Vanessa Roeder
  19. Mermaid and Me by Soosh
  20. All Aboard the Moonlight Train by Kristyn Crow

To learn more about the editors’ picks, visit Amazon.com.

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