The Best Books of 2023: Books for Children

livemint.com:

It seems unfair to announce a list of best books without revealing the criteria of judgment. It is true that the vogue for identity politics that has swept into children’s literature (and the rest of our culture) wins reliable accolades elsewhere. This column remains dedicated to tales told with fizz and real feeling; to illustrations of the highest excellence; to children’s books that, whatever their specific themes or settings or characters, have a strong quality of universality.

“The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" transports 8- to 12-year-olds to the Silk Road in the 11th century, a jostling realm of merchants and charlatans, donkeys and camels, caravanserais and spice bazaars—and the gaudiest array of hired killers ever marshaled in children’s fiction. Brilliantly written by Daniel Nayeri and beautifully illustrated by Daniel Miyares, this rollicking picaresque brims with drama, humor and a kind of giddy joy at the charms and weirdnesses of human nature. “The Skull," a neat little story from author-illustrator Jon Klassen, is based in the loosest way on a Tyrolean folk tale.

In pages tinged with macabre shades of bluish-gray and pinkish-red, a little girl flees through a dark forest. We don’t know why Otilla is running; it’s enough to understand that she needs shelter, so it’s a relief when she arrives at a huge old house and is received in a kind way by its sole occupant, a talking human skull. Mr.