Best Children's Books of 2023

Barnes & Noble’s Best Children’s Books of 2023

It’s the Barnes and Noble end of the year round-up of the Best Children’s Books of 2023! Our booksellers have collected the 10 best kids' books from sparkling debuts such as Greenwild to instant classics like Big Tree to the latest installments of familiar favorites, Percy Jackson and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

If you are looking for books for kids ages seven and up, we recommend starting with Influencers, a thought-provoking and humorful graphic novel from the Cat Kid Comic Club universe, or check out The Puppets of Spelhorst, an imaginative fairy tale about the search for purpose and glory. Guaranteed to quickly become one of the most cherished books on your bookshelf, Big Tree tells a one-of-a-kind tale of two seeds just trying to become trees.

Eight to twelve-year-olds will delight in the quirky mischief, mystery and mayhem that thrive in The Swifts. Looking for adventure? Travel with Jordan and his friends to Paris in School Trip or read a novel-in-verse about an adorable baby elephant and a cast of beloved animal character companions in The One and Only Ruby. For mystery, magic and mood, head on a quest to save Greenwild from those seeking to destroy it, the sparkling debut book in a wondrous new fantasy series, Greenwild. In the mood for belly laughs and feel-good stories? Join Greg and his friends at Westmore Middle School as they fight to save their crumbling school from demolition in the latest installment of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, No Brainer.

A good place to start for 10 to 14-year-olds, Remember Us is a lyrical story about internal and external acceptance. Or go on an adventure of epic proportions with Percy, Annabeth and Grover in the latest installment of the Percy Jackson series, The Chalice of the Gods, where they face their biggest challenge yet… getting into college.

There’s something for every young reader from quirky mysteries to fairy tales, from graphic novels to novels-in-verse in our collection of the Best Children’s Books of 2023. Looking for more? Head on over to our Kids Books page to browse our full collection of the best new books for young readers.

Looking for the top books for toddlers and early readers to read? Our best pictures books run the gamut from more pigeon hijinks in Mo Willems’ Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive the Sleigh, to a visually stunning and meaningful homage to Langston Hughes in There Was A Party for Langston. Go thought-provoking with Oliver Jeffers’ Begin Again, or revel in the clever modern ode of the Gruffalo in Down the Hole. Check out our list of Barnes & Noble’s Best Picture Books of 2023 or browse our full collection of children’s picture books.

The 10 Best Children’s Books of 2023 (in no particular order):

The Chalice of the Gods (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan
No Brainer (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) by Jeff Kinney
Influencers (Cat Kid Comic Club) by Dav Pilkey
The Swifts by Beth Lincoln
The One and Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate
School Trip by Jerry Craft
Greenwild by Pari Thomson
The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo
Big Tree by Brian Selznick
Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson