USBBY’S 2024 OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL BOOKS LIST 

Illustrations: The Young Teacher and the Great Serpent (VASCO), ©2019 Juan Palomino. Reproduced with permission of Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

Books have long had the ability to transport us. To spark our imaginations and call us to wonder. But sometimes, a book comes along that grants us the power to reimagine the world and our place within it. In each of the 41 titles on this year’s United States Board on Books for Young People’s (USBBY) Outstanding International Books list, the authors and ­illustrators empower readers to make sense of themselves, make sense of the world at large, and to recognize change is always possible. These titles, selected by a committee passionate about children’s literature, highlight myriad global stories and perspectives. The recommended titles, for readers in preschool through high school, highlight the different ways this ­empowerment can look.

Sometimes empowerment includes heroes fighting dragons or real people fighting great odds to change the status quo. But in these selections reimagination is unlimited, with characters big and small and settings far away and near, all showing how agency and power can sow the seeds of change. It can start in minor ways with characters ­challenging ­opinions or finally saying no. It can begin with students finding new methods to walk to school. With women blazing trails in male-dominated spaces. With daughters pushing back against generational trauma.

In each of these books, readers will be inspired to imagine ­different ­possibilities ­globally, locally, and internally. The delight of reading about characters time ­traveling, tooth fairies around the world, and even the ­glories of the moon can cause readers to reimagine a world where joy, ­curiosity, and wonder take precedence. The books on our list reimagine the world as a more equitable, just, happy, and empowering place. With these stories, children can transform their ideas of what they think is ­possible. Download the full list here.