Their insight on not only the excellence of each selection but also how these picks will be embraced by their fellow librarians and the readers they serve is invaluable: Alicia Abdul, Jenny Arch, Emily Beasley, Karen Bilton, Monisha Blair, Kristin Brynsvold, Lisa Buffi, Kristyn Dorfman, Jonah Dragan, Vi Ha, Bob Hassett, Kelly Kingrey-Edwards, Ashley Leffel, Andrea Lipinski, Kerra Mazzariello, Emmy Neal, Carla Riemer, John Scott, Myiesha Speight, Allie Stevens, and Emily Walker.

Kudos to our committee members, all reviewers and working librarians, for their dedication and hard work. Thanks to the awesome reviews editors for their stewardship, discernment, and acumen in building their committees and leading the charge: Jasmine Amiri, Kimberly Olson Fakih, Amanda Mastrull, Florence Simmons, and Ashleigh Williams.

Then, after months of reading, discussion, and deliberation, each committee makes their selections, with 15 to 25 titles per category. They help us identify books we may have missed or gems that may have not been starred but deserve a second look. In the summer, we start the process in earnest, selecting committee members from our talented reviewers. The editors keep track of every title we have starred, because our contenders are selected from among them. It begins even as we finalize the prior year’s list, as we’ve already begun assigning books to review in advance of the new year. We hope that our 169 choices help you do that important work. You are the ones doing the important work-giving children access to the life-changing books that will inspire them to create the unwritten novels, unstaged plays, and essays that challenge authority and the powers that be. The thought that leads me to contemplate with dread the erasure of other voices, of unwritten novels, poems whispered or swallowed for fear of being overheard by the wrong people, outlawed languages flourishing underground, essayists’ questions challenging authority never being posed, unstaged plays, canceled films-that thought is a nightmare.” TONI MORRISON WROTE, “Efforts to censor, starve, regulate, and annihilate us are clear signs that something important has taken place.

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