The 10 Best Children's Books of 2012

Thousands of kids' books were released this year, but librarians and kids agreed that these are the top of the stack.

By Karen Cicero from Parents Magazine

  • Bryan McCay

    Best Alphabet Book

    Z Is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky

    This topsy-turvy tale of a moose who wants to move up his letter despite Zebra's call for order isn't as much for teaching your kid her the alphabet as it is for playing with it. "My storytime group completely got the humor," says Susan Dove Lempke, head of youth services at the Niles Public Library, in suburban Chicago. "They loved how Moose intruded on all the wrong pages." (2 to 6, $17)

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  • Bryan McCay

    Best Board Book

    Trains Go by Steve Light

    It's your ticket to keeping a toddler happy. Vibrant illustrations of eight kinds of trains—from old-timey diesels to modern streamliners—with text that's perfect for sound effects ("squeak, clang, tink," and "trip, trap, fuff, puff") make a winning combo. "My 2-year-old was so engrossed that he thought the trains were his!" says one mom reviewer. (0 to 4, $9)

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  • Bryan McCay

    Best Preschool Picture Book

    Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

    Thanks to lush die-cut illustrations and adorable rhyming text, this title about the various shades of green ("khaki green, wacky green, sea green, pea green") was red-hot among mini reviewers. "Forest green!? shouted one 4-year-old, pointing to her skirt. Adds Elizabeth Bird, youth-materials specialist at the New York Public Library: "It's the loveliest picture book of the year." (2 to 5, $17)

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  • Bryan McCay

    Best School-Age Picture Book

    Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds

    With the most kid votes of any book on Parents list, this story about a girl who is charged with painting the sky for the school mural resonates with elementary students. "I didn't know what Marisol was going to do because she didn't have any blue paint for the sky," says one 8-year-old. "But she thought of how to make the mural without using blue—and it looked so pretty." (6 to 10, $14)

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  • Bryan McCay

    Best Nonfiction Picture Book

    Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies and Mark Hearld

    Parents and kids loved the format: Short poems seamlessly weave in facts about an aspect of nature, like nesting, making hay, and tides. "I appreciate that I don't have to read it all at once," says a mom of a 5-year-old. "There's enough here to get us through bedtime stories for two weeks!" Plus, the paints, prints, and collages in the book are total eye candy. (3 to 7, $20)

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  • Bryan McCay

    Best Audio Book

    The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

    Although the plot is interesting—twins come face-to-face with fairy-tale characters that they grew up hearing about—the real treat is listening to Colfer (who played Kurt on Glee) read the book. "It kept my kids, 7 and 10, entertained during our nine-hour road trip, and I got sucked in too," admits one mom reviewer. (6 to 11, $23)

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  • Bryan McCay

    Best Pop-Up Book

    Birds of a Feather by Bernadette Gervis

    Kids initially flocked to this book because it's huge, but the 40 lift-the-flaps and more than 15 pop-ups with cool facts about all birds (like emu eggs weigh 12 times as much as chicken eggs) kept them enthralled. "My favorite part is the last page with the owl underneath flaps that look like puzzle pieces," says a 7-year-old reviewer. (4 to 12, $25)

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  • Bryan McCay

    Best Early Reader

    The Tortoise's Gift by Lari Don and Melanie Williamson

    A traditional tale from Zambia—about animals trying to find out how to address the tree that will only produce fruit if you call it by name—makes for a rich and sometimes-silly story. "I love how the tortoise said the tree's name over and over so he wouldn't forget it before he could tell his friends," says a 6-year-old reviewer. (5 to 8, $8)

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  • Bryan McCay

    Best School-Age Chapter Book

    Mrs. Noodlekugel by Daniel Pinkwater and Adam Stower

    Got an Amelia Bedelia fan? "The humor in this book is similar, though Mrs. Noodlekugel, a cat that serves cookies and tea, has a quirkiness all her own," says Jan Burkins, Ed.D., founder of Literacyhead.com. (6 to 9, $15)

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  • Bryan McCay

    Best Big-Kid Chapter Book

    Wonder by R. J. Palacio

    Touching without being pandering, Wonder tells the story of a boy with a facial deformity who switches to a mainstream school for fifth grade. "Once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down," says a 10-year-old reviewer. "I especially liked when the book switched perspectives between the main character and his friends." (8 to 11, $16)

    Originally published in the December 2012 issue of Parents magazine.

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