Geisel Guide 2022

We’re back for another Geisel Guide–this time, we are looking at the 2022 winners. This is easy readers and picture books and graphic novels, etc etc etc, published in 2021 that were recognized at the January 2022 Youth Media Awards.

Read more about the Geisel here.

For a moment of reflection, I’ve really enjoyed doing this little series (This is part 3, and I have 2 more planned) because the books are funny, and they’re not necessarily things I would have picked up, but some of them are also ones I’ve seen on the shelves a lot. I feel more more competent in recommending good easy readers that aren’t the traditional series now.

Let’s dive into 2022 winners–some of which I had already read, which is fun for me as a librarian.

Medal Winner

Fox at Night, written and illustrated by Corey R. Tabor (Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

This is a cute book in Tabor’s Fox series—Fox, who is scared of the dark and night, goes on a little adventure with a bat, and then a raccoon, and then a skunk, until they meet a real monster in the night. It’s a cute little bedtime story about not being afraid of the dark, but goes beyond the normal “let’s look around the bedroom” series.

Honor Books

Beak & Ally #1: Unlikely Friends, written and illustrated by Norm Feuti (HarperAlley, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

This graphic novel is the longest Geisel winner I’ve seen so far—it’s a multi-chapter but still slim graphic novel. It’s a classic odd couple-esque animal story, a bird and an alligator become friends, kinda, when the bird moves to the swamp and demands the alligator become their friend. We see the nest get built, the friendship blossom a bit through dialogue, and a final show of friendship to close out the story. This was super cute and I’m glad I finally read it!

I Hop, written and illustrated by Joe Cepeda (Holiday House)

This is a cute, simple picture book with declarative sentences–a boy gets on a pogo stick, almost falls, then goes on a journey ending at his grandma’s house, where they hop together. The boy looks a bit more like a kid of the reader’s age in this book, which I like!

Nothing Fits a Dinosaur, written and illustrated by Jonathan Fenske (Simon Spotlight, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division)

This is an adorable, rhyming Level 1 Easy Reader about a little boy who imagines he is a dinosaur after bath time as he tries to find something that fits. It’s engaging, funny, the rhyme is great for reading-aloud, and the imagination element works well for this age.