After reading more than 300 books in the last two months, I have found a long list of winners. Book I absolutely love. Here are a few more that I highly recommend.

• ONCE UPON AN ALPHABET -Oliver Jeffers
• PLANET KINDERGARTEN -Sue Ganz-Schmitt/Shane Prigmore
• THE MATCHBOX DIARY -Paul Fleischman/Bagram Ibatoulline
• POOL -JiHyeon Lee
• DRUM DREAM GIRL -Margarita Engle/Rafael Lopez
• SWAN -Laurel Snyder/Julie Morstad
• THE ADVENTURES OF BEEKLE -Dan Santat
• ME WANT PET! -Tammi Sauer/Bob Shea
• THE RIGHT WORD -Jen Bryant/Melissa Sweet
• EVERYONE LOVES BACON -Kelly DiPucchio/Erin Wight
• PIGEON NEEDS A BATH -Mo Willems
• FRED –Kaila Eunhye Seo
• MESMERIZED -Mara Rockliff/Iacopo Bruno

All of these books are, to me, a great combination of writing, art and ideas. And even with these last three posts, I am nowhere near done listing the books that I think are really terrific. After I list a few more I will narrow them down to my very tip-top favorites.

I read a whole lot of books to end the year. Most of them were released in the past five years. Here are 13 more of my favorites.

• TRICKY VIC by Greg Pizzoli
• MEET THE DULLARDS by Sarah Pennypacker and Daniel Salmieri
• EACH KINDNESS by Jacqueline Woodson
• I DON’T LIKE KOALA by Sean Ferrell and Charles Santoso
• IT’S A BOOK by Lane Smith
• A SICK DAY FOR AMOS MCGEE by Philip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead
• LENNY AND LUCY by Philip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead
• FLOTSAM by David Wiesman
• MR. TIGER GOES WILD by Peter Brown
• SUPERTRUCK by Stephen Savage
• CHLOE AND THE LION by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex
• KID SHERIFF AND THE TERRIBLE TOADS by Bob Shea and Lane Smith
• JACKRABBIT MCCABE AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH by Lucy Margaret Razier and Leo Espinosa