The 2024 New York Times / New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books

The 10 winners of The New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Award are chosen each year by a rotating panel of three expert judges. On the 2024 panel were the Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Doug Salati; the Hans Christian Andersen Medal-winning author Jacqueline Woodson; and the children's librarian Daniella Pagan. Children's book publishers were invited to submit up to 10 picture books published this year in the United States. The judges made their selections from the nearly 800 books we received, by authors and illustrators around the world, purely on the basis of artistic merit. The Cat Way Written and illustrated by Sara Lundberg. Translated by B.J. Woodstein. "The Cat Way" explores the complex relationship between a cat and her human, and what happens when their everyday walk together takes a turn for the unexpected. In Part 1 of the story, Lundberg's playful watercolor and gouache art conveys her human protagonist's desperation as the cat decides she needs a change of scenery and goes off on her own path, leaving the human behind to contend with a world that has grown uncomfortably large and lonely. In Part 2, the human follows the cat, crawling through dense brush, climbing over logs and going places only cats usually go, ultimately leading the human to a small cliff, a nasty fall and a healing cuddle from the now-purring feline. After this tumultuous journey, the human, the cat and the reader are rewarded with a breathtaking illustration of a blue night sky dotted with twinkling yellow lights and a crescent moon. — Daniella Pagan Animal Albums From A to Z Written and illustrated by Cece Bell This brilliantly quirky book opens with an illustration of Arnie Dillow, an armadillo in cowboy boots playing an accordion. In warm, child-friendly brown typography against a green background, his album cover boasts a myriad of "A" songs. "B" is all red, white and blue, as we meet The Barbershop Beagles, a trio of dogs and one banjo-strumming bat. The fun continues through the rest of the alphabet, complete with lyrics and music. Bell's materials (from hand-painted papers and collage to embroidery) and lettering styles are as varied as the musicians gracing the albums' covers. — Jacqueline Woodson Planting Hope: A Portrait of Photographer Sebastião Salgado Written by Philip Hoelzel. Illustrated by Renato Alarcão. Sebastião Salgado grew up on a farm in Brazil encircled by the rainforest, a paradise that commanded deference and shed a warm light — illustrated by Alarcão in rich layers of watercolor — on his childhood. But once he left his family farm for the city, that light diminished, replaced by the gray and rust hues of cars, factories and human suffering. Not until he picked up a camera did the light appear again, enabling Salgado to make sense of the world. In "Planting Hope," Alarcão juxtaposes the muted oranges and reds of harsh reality with the vivid blues and greens of Salgado's dreams of a better future. — D.P. Yaya and the Sea Written by Karen Good Marable. Illustrated by Tonya Engel. In beautifully rendered acrylic and oil, we are taken on a journey from the streets of Harlem through Brooklyn to the vast ocean. It is spring in New York. And early, for everyone save our travelers: four women and a young girl, wrapped in brightly colored coats and jackets and carrying bags loaded with flowers. As their subway train moves through the city beneath a sky at the edge of dawn, it is hard not to be pulled in by all the beauty and color on the page. At the beach, the group spreads their blanket where the shore meets the sea, and the illustrations melt into a balm of pale sand, blue-green ocean and yellow-gold sunlight. The young girl looks on as the women take their offerings to the water. This child's-eye view — filled with awe and wonder, magic and love — speaks to the beauty of how young people see beloved adults and the natural world. — J.W. The Man Who Didn't Like Animals Written by Deborah Underwood. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. This epic twist on Old MacDonald opens with a crotchety gentleman in his very neat home. The first spread features a bird's-eye view of his orderly existence, as he contentedly dusts a Scrabble board while wearing a frilly apron. Then the animals come. A cat. And another cat. A dog. And another. As the once near-empty pages begin to bulge with animals, the muted browns, blues and grays chosen by Pham suggest there is still a quietude to the man's life. Until there isn't. And then there is again. Deepening hues and vast white space tell us what we already know: The old man, who was once not a lover of animals, has been changed forever. — J.W. Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains Written by Anita Yasuda. Illustrated by Yuko Shimizu. Shimizu wields her calligraphy brush and India ink to dazzling effect. Her dynamic, digitally colored art sets the high-energy tempo behind Junko Tabei's journey to become the first woman to summit Mount Everest.Compositions of sweeping action and ascending movement enhance the reader's experience of Tabei's preparations, setbacks and moment of triumph above the clouds. Shimizu's agility with figurative gesture and her sensitivity to nuanced facial emotion are reflected in her portrayal of Tabei and the people who supported her along the way. — Doug Salati Here & There Written and illustrated by Thea Lu Lu orchestrates a soothing and lyrical visual study of the contrasting milieus of a cafe owner named Dan and a sailor named Aki. Each double-page spread mirrors Dan's brown-toned, geometric life on land with Aki's organic, blue-toned life at sea. Lu's impactful and elegant use of negative space provides rhythm and a visual through line from start to finish. As Edward Imagined: A Story of Edward Gorey in Three Acts Written by Matthew Burgess. Illustrated by Marc Majewski. Edward Gorey is as iconic as he was enigmatic: a child prodigy who grew up to live exactly as he wished, surrounded by books, cats and the macabre. Majewski's bold, fluid, colorful illustrations are in sharp contrast to Gorey's gothic style, but they perfectly encapsulate a life that was full of wonder, whimsy and, did I mention, cats? Little Shrew Written and illustrated by Akiko Miyakoshi Miyakoshi's lovingly drawn, civilized shrew looks out from the page with beady, alert eyes, velvety fur and delicate whiskers. Carefully considered shadow and light rendered with pencil, charcoal and watercolor give a scumbled softness to the story's settings (home, office and in between) and characters (animal and human). The book's small trim size and well-designed, stage-worthy vignettes conjure a subtle intimacy and an irresistible desire to pull up a chair to the candlelit kitchen table where Little Shrew and his friends are taking stock of the year gone by and musing about the one to come. — D.S.