{"id":62303,"date":"2025-03-04T14:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T12:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elk.ee\/?p=62303"},"modified":"2025-03-05T15:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T13:49:19","slug":"the-best-childrens-and-young-adult-books-of-the-past-year-have-been-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elk.1kdigital.com\/en\/blog\/2025\/03\/04\/the-best-childrens-and-young-adult-books-of-the-past-year-have-been-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Children’s and Young Adult Books of the Past Year Have Been Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On March 4th, the Estonian Union for Child Wellfare and the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre announced the best children’s and youth books published in 2024. Children’s literature experts selected 18 works for children and 12 for young people from over 800 books published last year. Young readers themselves also had a say in selecting and voting for their favorite books.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Jaanika Palm, a jury member and a literature researcher at the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre, good children’s and youth books continue to be published in abundance in Estonia, and the jury had to use a rather tight sieve to select the very best. “We hope that our discussions resulted in a worthy list that offers works for every child and young person, regardless of their age, gender, or interests. The selection serves as a good guideline for parents and teachers alike who struggle to find reading recommendations,” added Palm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good children’s and youth books were chosen by experts who regularly work with children’s literature from the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre, the Estonian Union for Child Wellfare, the Estonian Reading Association, the Estonian Youth Literature Association, and the Estonian Librarians’ Union. Bookstore Rahva Raamat will mark the selected books with informative stickers to guide readers to valuable reading materials in both larger and smaller libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the Child Rights Ambassadors of the Estonian Union for Child Welfare selected Becky Dean\u2019s adventure novel Love & Other Great Expectations<\/em> as the Youth Council\u2019s favorite. Triin Soo\u00e4\u00e4r, the coordinator of the children\u2019s and youth sector at the Estonian Union for Child Welfare, summed up the young readers\u2019 choice by emphasizing that an adventure novel featuring a competitive literary trivia game introduces readers to literary greats and is sure to captivate even the older youth by building a bridge between different generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As a young reader, one quickly realizes within the first pages of a book that literature is all around us\u2014writers, too, draw inspiration from various places, creating stories that we later read,”<\/em> said Soo\u00e4\u00e4r.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Meribel Sillasoo, a Child Rights Ambassador of the Estonian Union for Child Welfare, it is great that children in Estonia have more reading choices than ever before. “There is something for every child to enjoy,”<\/em> Meribel shared, expressing her joy that more and more children and young people, despite the digital age, are still discovering the joy of books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list of good children’s books has been compiled by the Estonian Union for Child Welfare and the Children’s Literature Centre since 2009. The lists are helpful for teachers, parents, specialists working with children, and certainly for the children themselves when selecting interesting and engaging quality reading material. Since 2018, good youth books have also been similarly recognized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good Children’s Book 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For younger children:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n