The Best Children’s Books of 2022

“A Is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation,” by Ellen Heck

Rather than follow the Anglocentric pattern of apple, ball and cat, this multilingual alphabet book looks across a wide variety of languages to create a new abecedarium.

“Book of Questions,” by Pablo Neruda. Illustrated by Paloma Valdivia. Translated by Sara Lissa Paulson.

Gorgeous, dreamlike illustrations add dimension to 70 of the Nobel Prize-winning poet’s 320 questions, presented in picture-book form for the first time.

“Elephant Island,” by Leo Timmers. Translated by James Brown.

After swimming for his life, an elephant whose boat has sunk reaches a rock barely big enough to stand on. As small animals in small vessels arrive one by one to “rescue” him, hilarity ensues.

“Emile and the Field,” by Kevin Young. Illustrated by Chioma Ebinama.

From its exquisite endpapers, awash with wildflowers, and its sublime first words, this book about the profound love between a boy and a field captivates.

“Frances in the Country,” by Liz Garton Scanlon. Illustrated by Sean Qualls.

Spirited poetry and rough-and-tumble painted-collage art vividly depict a city girl’s perspective on country life.

“One Boy Watching,” by Grant Snider

A post-dawn school bus ride along country roads is rendered in neon colored pencil to reflect the vibrancy of what a boy can see by watching, counting and daydreaming.

“Our Fort,” by Marie Dorléans. Translated by Alyson Waters.

Illustrations reminiscent of Japanese woodcuts tell the story of three friends on their way to the fort they’ve built in the woods when a gale lifts them off their feet.

“Patchwork,” by Matt de la Peña. Illustrated by Corinna Luyken.

The spongework that overlays these portraits of children elucidates the author’s liberating theme: We are not indelibly drawn at birth; our identities shift, blend and bloom.

“The Summer of Diving,” by Sara Stridsberg. Illustrated by Sara Lundberg. Translated by B. J. Woodstein.

In this child’s-eye view of a father’s depression, evocative language and lush, color-saturated art show how a girl’s imagination helps her swim through loss and heal.

“The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” retold by Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Jon Klassen.

The troll is as hungry for language as he is for goats, and the soft pink, brown and gray pictures feel born of the oldest soil, in this wry retelling of the Norwegian folk tale.

“Two Dogs,” by Ian Falconer

The creator of “Olivia” displays his theatrical talent in this delightful tour de force about twin dachshunds who escape outside when their humans leave them alone.

MIDDLE GRADE

“Cress Watercress,” by Gregory Maguire. Illustrated by David Litchfield.

Luminous art braids together the sorrowful and lighthearted moments of a young rabbit’s odyssey after her father fails to return home from a honey-gathering mission.

“The Last Mapmaker,” by Christina Soontornvat

The closer the reward-seeking heroine of this sea adventure gets to mapping a dragon’s whereabouts, the more qualms she has about claiming its land for her queen.

“Northwind,” by Gary Paulsen

The author’s final novel, a survival tale as masterfully understated as the man himself, brings his career full circle.

“Red Scare,” by Liam Francis Walsh

This Tintin-esque graphic novel science-fiction spy thriller by a New Yorker cartoonist is a virtuosic performance.

“Shuna’s Journey,” by Hayao Miyazaki. Translated by Alex Dudok de Wit.

First published in Japan in 1983 and finally translated into English, this picture book from the fabled animator is eerie, enchanting and surpassingly strange.

“Singing With Elephants,” by Margarita Engle

This tender novel in verse isn’t just beautiful poetry and a fascinating glimpse of communication across boundaries; it’s also an animal rescue story with a rare girl hero.

“Unstoppable Us: How Humans Took Over the World,” by Yuval Noah Harari. Illustrated by Ricard Zaplana Ruiz.

In the first of four planned volumes, Harari simplifies the provocative ideas about human history that drove his 2015 best seller, “Sapiens,” without dumbing them down.

“Worser,” by Jennifer Ziegler

A precocious logophile learns that the spaces between words are as important as the words themselves in this funny, clever, compassionate novel.

Jennifer Krauss is the children’s books editor for the Book Review.