The Best Books of 2020: Kids & YA

We’re rounding up The Best Books of 2020! Kids & Young Adult Category Manager Sarah McDuling is on the blog today to share her favourite books of the year. Read on!

There were so many amazing books for children and young adults published this year – trying to narrow down the selection to just 10 was downright agonising!

One of the standout hits from the first half of 2020 was Our Home, Our Heartbeat, the beautiful picture book adapted from Briggs’ celebrated song ‘The Children Came Back’. We also saw several new “instant classic” children’s books like The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks and Respect by Aunty Fay Muir, Sue Lawson and Lisa Kennedy – a truly stunning picture book that celebrates “a way of life that is older than flickering stars”. We were also gifted with Aurora Burning – the latest action-packed space opera from Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

In the second half of 2020, we were all taken on an emotional rollercoaster ride with gorgeous and touching picture books like Windows by Patrick Guest and Jonathan Bentley, and What We’ll Build by Oliver Jeffers. Fans (myself included) went wild for Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow, the third book in Jessica Townsend’s best selling Nevermoor series. We even got some beautifully illustrated and thoughtful kids non-fiction books like Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls: 100 Immigrant Women Who Changed the World and Be Your Own Man.

Finally, we had several continuations of mega-bestselling YA series like The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – the highly anticipated prequel to The Hunger Games. (An honourable mention goes out here to Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer – I couldn’t fit both these behemoths on my list and technically Midnight Sun is a retelling, so I gave the spot to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes!)

Our Home, Our Heartbeat

by Briggs, Kate Moon (Illustrator) & Rachael Sarra (Illustrator)

Adapted from Briggs’ celebrated song ‘The Children Came Back’, Our Home, Our Heartbeat is a celebration of past and present Indigenous legends, as well as emerging generations, and at its heart honours the oldest continuous culture on earth.

Buy it here

Windows

by Patrick Guest & Jonathan Bentley (Illustrator)

Listen to our podcast with Patrick Guest and Jonathan Bentley here.

Written from Patrick’s own experience of having to leave the family home due to his son’s Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Windows shows how five kids from different parts of the world connect and draw strength from their communities from behind the safety of their own windows.

Buy it here

Respect

by Aunty Fay Muir, Sue Lawson & Lisa Kennedy (Illustrator)

Our Way is old. Older than the red earth. Older than flickering stars. Our way is respect.

A tender, thoughtful story reminding us to respect others and respect ourselves. Part of the Our Place series which welcomes children to culture.

Buy it here

What We’ll Build

by Oliver Jeffers

From renowned, internationally bestselling picture-book creator and visual artist, Oliver Jeffers, comes this rare and enduring story about a parent’s boundless love, life’s endless opportunities and all we need to build a together future.

Buy it here

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow

by Jessica Townsend

Read our review here.

Morrigan Crow and her friends have survived their first year as proud scholars of the elite Wundrous Society, helped bring down the nefarious Ghastly Market, and proven themselves loyal to Unit 919. Now Morrigan faces a new, exciting challenge: to master the mysterious Wretched Arts of the Accomplished Wundersmith, and control the power that threatens to consume her …

Buy it here

The Year the Maps Changed

by Danielle Binks

Read a guest blog from Danielle Binks here.

Sorrento, Victoria, 1999. Fred’s family is a mess. Her mother died when she was six and she’s been raised by her Pop and adoptive father, Luca, ever since. But now Pop’s had to go away, and Luca’s girlfriend Anika and her son have moved in. More and more it feels like a land-grab for family and Fred is the one being left off the map. Even as things feel like they’re spinning out of control for Fred, a crisis from the other side of the world comes crashing in.

Buy it here

Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls: 100 Immigrant Women Who Changed The World

by Elena Favilli

Packed with 100 bedtime stories about the lives of 100 extraordinary immigrant women from the past and the present, this volume recognises women who leave their homeland to seek refuge, to realise their dreams, and to share their invaluable contributions with the world.

Buy it here

Be Your Own Man

by Jessica Sanders & Robbie Cathro (Illustrator)

Read a guest blog from Jessica Sanders here.

Have you ever felt you should act a certain way or do certain things, just because you’re a boy? This book encourages young boys to broaden their ideas about what it means to be a boy, supporting them to feel free and proud to be who they truly are.

Buy it here

Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle: Book 2)

by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Read our review here and listen to our podcast with Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff here.

Our heroes are back. Kind of. First, the bad news: an ancient evil – you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal – is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They’ve just got to take care of a few small distractions first …

Buy it here

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

by Suzanne Collins

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmanoeuvre his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

Buy it here

Explore more of The Best Books of 2020!

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About the Contributor

Sarah McDuling

Sarah McDuling is Booktopia's Category Manager for Children's and Young Adult Books. She has been in the bookselling game for almost a decade and a dedicated booklover since birth (potentially longer). At her happiest when reading a book, Sarah also enjoys talking/writing/tweeting about books. In her spare time, she often likes to buy a lot of books and take photographs of books. You can follow her on Twitter and Instragram @sarahmcduling

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