School Library Journal
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year 2013
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year 2013 names 68 books across 3 categories. 34 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.
Fiction
- A Corner of Whitesource (opens in a new tab)
- All the Truth That’s in Mesource (opens in a new tab)
- Bluffton: My Summers with Bustersource (opens in a new tab)
- Boxers & Saintssource (opens in a new tab)
- Counting by 7ssource (opens in a new tab)
- Dark Triumphsource (opens in a new tab)
- Doll Bonessource (opens in a new tab)
- Eleanor & Parksource (opens in a new tab)
- Fangirlsource (opens in a new tab)
- Far Far Awaysource (opens in a new tab)
- Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventuressource (opens in a new tab)
- Hostage Threesource (opens in a new tab)
- In the Shadow of Blackbirdssource (opens in a new tab)
- Jinxsource (opens in a new tab)
- More Than Thissource (opens in a new tab)
- Navigating Earlysource (opens in a new tab)
- P.S. Be Elevensource (opens in a new tab)
- Reality Boysource (opens in a new tab)
- Rooftopperssource (opens in a new tab)
- Rose Under Firesource (opens in a new tab)
- Serafina’s Promisesource (opens in a new tab)
- The Adventures of a South Pole Pig: A Novel of Snow and Couragesource (opens in a new tab)
- The Coldest Girl in Coldtownsource (opens in a new tab)
- The Dream Thievessource (opens in a new tab)
- The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eelsource (opens in a new tab)
- The Thing About Lucksource (opens in a new tab)
- The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swampsource (opens in a new tab)
- The Year of Billy Millersource (opens in a new tab)
- Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Asssource (opens in a new tab)
Nonfiction
- A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippinsource (opens in a new tab)
- Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Libertysource (opens in a new tab)
- Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909source (opens in a new tab)
- Diego Rivera: An Artist for the Peoplesource (opens in a new tab)
- Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Libertysource (opens in a new tab)
- Eruption!: Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Livessource (opens in a new tab)
- Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Tablesource (opens in a new tab)
- Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Designsource (opens in a new tab)
- Henry and the Cannons: An Extraordinary True Story of the American Revolutionsource (opens in a new tab)
- Locomotivesource (opens in a new tab)
- Marchsource (opens in a new tab)
- Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Songsource (opens in a new tab)
- On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einsteinsource (opens in a new tab)
- Parrots Over Puerto Ricosource (opens in a new tab)
- Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled: How Do We Know What Dinosaurs Really Looked Like?source (opens in a new tab)
- The Dolphins of Shark Baysource (opens in a new tab)
- The Long, Long Journey: The Godwit’s Amazing Migrationsource (opens in a new tab)
- The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Geniussource (opens in a new tab)
- To Dare Mighty Things: The Life of Theodore Rooseveltsource (opens in a new tab)
Picture Books
- Exclamation Marksource (opens in a new tab)
- Flora and the Flamingosource (opens in a new tab)
- Henry’s Mapsource (opens in a new tab)
- If You Want to See a Whalesource (opens in a new tab)
- Journeysource (opens in a new tab)
- Little Red Writingsource (opens in a new tab)
- Mr. Tiger Goes Wildsource (opens in a new tab)
- Mr. Wuffles!source (opens in a new tab)
- Papa’s Mechanical Fishsource (opens in a new tab)
- Penny and Her Marblesource (opens in a new tab)
- Sophie’s Squashsource (opens in a new tab)
- Steam Train, Dream Trainsource (opens in a new tab)
- That Is Not a Good Idea!source (opens in a new tab)
- The Darksource (opens in a new tab)
- The Day the Crayons Quitsource (opens in a new tab)
- The Highway Ratsource (opens in a new tab)
- The Invisible Boysource (opens in a new tab)
- The Mighty Lalouchesource (opens in a new tab)
- The Tortoise & the Haresource (opens in a new tab)
- Xander’s Panda Partysource (opens in a new tab)
About the School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
School Library Journal's annual Best Books list, 2006-2025. Year is the list year (published each November or December). Categories follow the sections SLJ used that year: 2006, 2007 and 2009 were one alphabetical list (category 'Best Books'); 2008 and 2010-2013 used Picture Books, Fiction and Nonfiction; 2014 onward split Fiction into Middle Grade and Young Adult; Chapter Books (SLJ also called it Transitional Chapter Books or Transitional Books) from 2016; Graphic Novels from 2018; Poetry in 2018 and from 2021; Manga (SLJ's Top 10 Manga, linked as a Best Books section) from 2019; Nonfiction split into Nonfiction Elementary and Nonfiction Middle to High School from 2023. A book SLJ placed in two sections appears in both. Excluded: the separately edited Adult Books 4 Teens and Top 10 Graphic Novels lists, and non-book lists (apps, audiobooks, music, DVDs). Sources: slj.com pages; Wayback Machine copies for 2006 (schoollibraryjournal.com), 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016-2017 (slj.com/bestofYYYY microsites), where the live pages no longer carry the list.
Organization: School Library Journal. Official site (opens in a new tab)