These are the books on the top of the totally casual PLEASE LOVE THIS kid book pile in my head.

Not all of these books were published in 2019, but these are the ones my two-just-turned-three-year-old and four-not-quite-five-year-old and I fell in love with this year.

The trickle of LGBTQ-inclusive titles published in the last 20 years appears to be increasing somewhat, and there are several new books out now and forthcoming in 2020 that are pretty darn cute.

The happy-pilgrims-and-Indians narrative common in preschool Thanksgiving books really bothers me, for a lot of reasons—here’s a start on some of them. I don’t want to hand this myth down to my kids. But if you celebrate Thanksgiving, books about the people we love, the bounty in our lives, and our gratitude for what’s going right are a joy to share with children. Here are some board books that might suit the occasion…

We love seasonal and holiday-prep books at my house. The offerings for Diwali are a little slim, but since I first started looking for these a couple years ago there are lots of new books to consider!

Because it is October 1 and we have already read every Halloween book in the house twelve times.

Warning, if you are by chance related to me and have maybe asked me about these a couple of times and I have been less than helpful, these are already on their way to your house so don't buy them. 

A couple of lovely change-of-season books--and some that help navigate some complicated spring holidays: Purim, Holi, Passover, and Easter.

Here are a couple books that make a great excuse for red-letter snuggles with small people, whether they’re in Holiday Celebration Bonanza mode or you just want to mark the event yourself.

My quest for January is to break the chain of hot dogs and takeout and feed my two toddlers as many different vegetables as I can manage. Here are the books that are going to help me. 

My baby is now a whole year old. She loves song and wordplay, texture and motion, turning the pages herself, and when she’s done the book is over. So in celebration of an intense little person, here are the books that get dropped in my lap with an “Eeee! Eeee! Eeeee!” ... and what happens next, transliterated into words for easier perusal.

This is my master list of books that hit my sweet spot of great illustration, words I don't mind memorizing, and tried-and-tested kid appeal. It's a really short list. It's so short I published a book to put on it. If you know of more, please, for the love of llamas, tell me about them. 

Board books you can touch, pet, poke, strum, jiggle, and tweak. These books let babies and toddlers lift the flap, push the squeaker, pull the tab, prod the nubbin, find the doodad, turn the gear, and in general play with their books. 

When you're only a year or two old, summer is a big deal. 

Here's my best advice on how to read Shakespeare to babies, again, and again, and again. 

I've done a pretty good amount of traveling with a little one in tow, and surprise, surprise--when we're spending a lot of time in transit and away from home, bringing the right selection of books can make things easier. I look for small size, durability, and plenty of ways to play with the same pages. Here are a couple of our frequent flyers: 

Is it too early to worry about your kid getting enough science, technology, engineering, and math education? Yup. Uh-huh. Definitely. But these board books are fun, and it's never too early for that. Check out my article at Lucie's List for the starter set--new recommendations as of June 2017 below!

A running list of the best board books for bedtime and naps. 

The first baby books you get from someone else aren't likely to be the first books your baby will like. Tiny babies six months and younger are just learning about the world and what's in it. Pediatricians recommend reading to them right from birth. But reading what? (Besides Shakespeare, of course.)