Author School library media specialist Dog lover Photographer and artist Journalist Reader
The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,698 authors and super readers for their 3 favorite reads of the year.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of A Walk in the Woods

Ronni Diamondstein Why did I love this book?

I love this book for so many reasons.

First, there is the beauty of the collaboration of two giants in the children’s book world whom I admire so much, Nikki Grimes and Brian Pinkney, about the loss of a father. Then there is Nikki Grimes’s poetic language that took me on a journey of joy and hope alongside grief and sadness. And then there is the irony in Brian Pinkney finishing the artwork of his father after his unexpected death as he grieved for him.

A soft and gentle book, beautifully illustrated by a father and son.

By Nikki Grimes, Jerry Pinkney (illustrator), Brian Pinkney (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked A Walk in the Woods as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

In this moving account of loss, a boy takes a walk in the woods and makes a discovery that changes his understanding of his father.

A week after the funeral
I stare in the morning mirror
Angry that my father’s eyes
Stare back at me.

Confused and distraught after the death of his father, a boy opens an envelope he left behind and is surprised to find a map of the woods beyond their house, with one spot marked in bright red. But why? The woods had been something they shared together, why would his father want him to go…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs

Ronni Diamondstein Why did I love this book?

This book touched my heart deeply. I was in awe of how Holocaust survivor Yaffa Eliach persisted in rebuilding her Polish town that was destroyed during World War II.

I love how Yaffa’s childhood memories powered her determination to build a Tower of Faces for the US Holocaust Museum to restore the spirit of all who had been lost in her town in the Holocaust.

A beautifully written story about a most remarkable woman. 

By Chana Stiefel, Susan Gal (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Tower of Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 6, 7, 8, and 9.

What is this book about?

A moving biography of the woman who created The Tower of Faces, a powerful exhibit at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

Sydney Taylor Book Award (Gold Medal)

A Robert F. Sibert Honor Book

★ “…There are many picture books about the Holocaust, but this one stands out with Gal’s beautiful watercolor pictures and the true account of one woman’s goal that her community never be forgotten. A beautiful tribute….Highly recommended.” ― School Library Journal, starred review

★ “A stunning tale . . . . bursting with detail and life. . . . A magnificent and moving tribute…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of How the Sea Came to Be: And All the Creatures in It

Ronni Diamondstein Why did I love this book?

How the Sea Came to Be is a magical book. I love the lyrical language in verse that tells the story of the creation of the ocean and sea life, tracing billions of years of ocean history from its evolutionary past to its biodiverse present. I love the beautiful illustrations and all the extra information about sea life in the back of the book.

The book captured my imagination, and I am sure it will do the same for readers of all ages.

By Jennifer Berne, Amanda Hall (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked How the Sea Came to Be as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 6, 7, 8, and 9.

What is this book about?

The New York Public Library Best Books for Kids List (2023)

A lyrical, spectacular history of the ocean—from its dramatic evolutionary past to its marvelously biodiverse present.

“For millions of years these first bits of life
Became more, and then more, and then more.”

Long, long ago, when the Earth was young and new, the world was a fiery place. Volcanoes exploded from deep down below, and steamy, hot clouds rose up high. Rain poured down for thousands of years, filling the world’s very first oceans. There the teeniest stirrings of life began. Earth’s creatures grew bigger and bigger, evolving…


Plus, check out my book…

Jackie and the Books She Loved

By Ronni Diamondstein, Bats Langley (illustrator),

Book cover of Jackie and the Books She Loved

What is my book about?

A delightful new story about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. In this inspirational celebration of reading, readers are introduced to an independent and confident Jackie and the idea of how books guided her life. 

The insightful story paints the portrait of a child captivated by reading and a love of literature and writing—from five-year-old Jackie reading Chekhov stories to a seasoned and confident Jackie at her desk as an editor in the last two decades of her life. Jackie never wrote a memoir but revealed herself in the nearly 100 books she brought into print. 

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.