The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 325 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024…

Book cover of The Backyard Bird Chronicles

Irene Latham I ❤️ loved this book because...

It features Amy's actual notebook entries and drawings of birds. We can really see her bravery as well as her progress as an artist. Such a great reminder to all of us of the power of the beginner mindset...and the magic of having a daily practice (whether birds or art or writing or whatever!). We don't necessarily need new and different; sometimes the most powerful way of looking is deeper and deeper into the same.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Amy Tan,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Backyard Bird Chronicles as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight, written and illustrated by the best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club • With a foreword by David Allen Sibley

“Unexpected and spectacular” —Ann Patchett, best-selling author of These Precious Days

"The drawings and essays in this book do a lot more than just describe the birds. They carry a sense of discovery through observation and drawing, suggest the layers of patterns in the natural world, and emphasize a deep personal connection between the watcher and the…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024…

Book cover of The Songbird and the Rambutan Tree

Irene Latham I ❤️ loved this book because...

It covered a bit of WWII I was unfamiliar with: the Japanese occupation in Batvia, East Indies. The main character Emmy makes some choices that have tremendous repercussions. Survival, finding one's voice, friendship, freedom...wonderful rich themes beautifully executed. I recorded quite a few passages in my reading notebook.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Immersion 🥈 Emotions
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Lucille Abendanon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Songbird and the Rambutan Tree as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Batavia, Dutch East Indies, 1942.


Emmy has the voice of an angel but hasn’t sung a note since a family tragedy. With war looming, her father plans to ship her off to a singing school in England for safety. But all Emmy wants to do is stay in Batavia with her best friend, Bakti, even if it means putting up with her snooty classmate, Violet. Then the Japanese army invades―and as war erupts in the Dutch East Indies, Emmy’s world falls apart.


When her own actions sabotage her chance to evacuate the island, Emmy is captured and confined in the…


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My 3rd favorite read in 2024…

Book cover of Grace Notes

Irene Latham I ❤️ loved this book because...

This rich, relatable poetry collection focuses on Naomi's relationship with her mother. It's marketed as Young Adult, but it's definitely for anyone at any age who has a mother. I recorded a bunch of wonderful/inspiring/original lines in my writing notebook. It made me want to further explore my relationship with my mother in my own writing.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Emotions 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Naomi Shihab Nye,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Grace Notes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

With themes of family, love, kindness, empathy, grief, growing up, and resilience, these one hundred never-before-published poems by the beloved poet, speaker, and teacher Naomi Shihab Nye will resonate with a wide audience.

National Book Award finalist and former Young People’s Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye’s Grace Notes: Poems about Families celebrates family and community. This rich collection of one hundred never-before-published poems is also the poet’s most personal work to date. With poems about her own childhood and school years, her parents and grandparents, and the people who have touched and shaped her life in so many ways, this…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets

By Irene Latham, Charles Waters, Mercè López (illustrator)

Book cover of The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets

What is my book about?

This engrossing poetry anthology explores making mistakes and learning from them. Twenty brave poets―Linda Sue Park, Margarita Engle, Allan Wolf, David Elliott, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Lacresha Berry, George Ella Lyon, Jaime Adoff, Vikram Madan, Kim Rogers, Douglas Florian, Tabatha Yeatts, Jorge Argueta, Jane Yolen, Charles Waters, JaNay Brown-Wood, Irene Latham, April Halprin Wayland, Darren Sardelli, and Naomi Shihab Nye―share real-life mistakes they made as young people . . . and what happened next. Edited by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, with brilliantly evocative illustrations by Mercè López, this is a book for all who are growing and discovering and still figuring out who we are. (Which is to say . . . all of us!)