SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • *Best New Books*
    • Annual Best Lists
  • Reviews
    • One Star Review
    • Nonfiction
    • Toon Reviews
  • Articles
    • Authors
    • Link Du Jour
  • Covers
    • Covering the Newbery
    • Cover Curiosity
    • Unfortunate Covers
  • News
    • Books on Film
    • Morning Notes
  • Newsletter

August 23, 2016 by Travis Jonker

The Most Astonishingly Unconventional Children’s Books of 2016

August 23, 2016 by Travis Jonker   15 comments

Unconventional

Pushing the envelope. Pushing boundaries. Pushing buttons. Here’s to children’s books that expand our assumptions of what a children’s book can be.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Previously . . .

The Wildest Children’s Books of 2015

The Wildest Children’s Books of 2014

The Wildest Children’s Books of 2013

The Wildest Children’s Books of 2012

Look Up!

Look Up! by Jung Jin-Ho

Holiday House | July 30, 2016

A girl in a wheelchair watches the world from her balcony, urging passersby to look up. Eventually, a boy takes notice.

Why It’s Unconventional: The dramatic perspective shift makes for a completely unexpected reading experience.

The Singing Bones

The Singing Bones 1

The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan

Alfred A. Levine (Scholastic) | October 11, 2016

Tan’s version of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm.

Why It’s Unconventional: Has Shaun Tan ever done a book that wasn’t incredibly unique (really – think about it)? This time out he trades drawing and painting for sculpture.

Baa Baa Smart Sheep

Baa Baa Smart Sheep 1

Baa Baa Smart Sheep by Mark and Rowan Sommerset

Candlewick Press | February 23, 2016

Sheep plays a prank on Turkey, tricking him into eating something that, well, usually goes uneaten. It’s just about the worst prank you could imagine, really.

Why It’s Unconventional: Let’s just say it breaks ground in the area of scatalogical humor.

Doodle Adventures 1

Doodle Adventures 2

Doodle Adventures: The Search for the Slimy Space Slugs by Mike Lowery

Workman | May 17, 2016

A space adventure story meets an activity book.

Why It’s Unconventional: It takes the activity book idea to an other level, where kids actually draw parts of the story.

The Day I Became a Bird

The Day I Became a Bird 1

The Day I Became a Bird by Ingrid Chabbert, illustrated by Raúl Nieto Guridi

Kids Can Press | September 6, 2016

A boy in love with a girl decides to become her favorite thing.

Why It’s Unconventional: Breaking all elementary school social norms, the kid just won’t stop trying to be a bird. I admire his commitment.

Du Iz Tak 9780763665302_IL_2_775b6

Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis

Candlewick Press | October 18, 2016

In the lilliputian world of insects, a flower grows, blooms, and dies over the course of a year.

Why It’s Unconventional: The insects speak an entirely made up language, forcing the reader to decipher the story as it goes along.

This Is Not a Book

This Is Not a Book 2

This Is Not a Book by Jean Julien

Phaidon | March 28, 2016

This book isn’t a book. Each turn of the page a new metamorphosis as it becomes a computer, a piano, a house, and more (see above: butt).

Why It’s Unconventional: It is everything except a book. And yet  . . . it is a book. I’m going to go and stare at the wall or a while and contemplate that.

The Liszts

The Liszts 1

The Liszts by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Júlia Sardà

Tundra Books | October 4, 2016

A Royal Tennenbaums-esque family of list makers is forever changed when a stranger arrives.

Why It’s Unconventional: You have a spread where a character is applying eyeliner with Kraftwerk and Bowie albums on the wall, you get on this list.

 

Don't Cross the Line

Don't Cross the Line 1

Don’t Cross the Line! by Isabel Minhos Martins, illustrated by Bernardo Carvalho

Gecko Press | August 1, 2016

A mean dictator orders a guard to make sure no one crosses to the recto page. But the community can’t be held back forever.

Why It’s Unconventional: It’s a fresh take on the meta picture book, as well as a subtle commentary on what it means to be free.

Samira and the Skeletons

Samira 1

Samira and the Skeletons by Camilla Kuhn

Eerdmans Books | March 1, 2016

When Samira learns that everyone has a skeleton inside their bodies, her world is turned upside down.

Why It’s Unconventional: For introducing the idea that the tooth fairy is happy to accept human bones as well as teeth.

Ideas

Ideas 1

Ideas Are All Around by Philip C. Stead

Roaring Brook Press | March 1, 2016

The author is having trouble coming up with an idea for a story, so he goes for a walk with his trusty dog Wednesday.

Why It’s Unconventional: It’s unconventional precisely because of how it handles a conventional day. It dares to do what few books do – examine the mundane. But the way the day is captured – a spare, thoughtful text brought to life through a host of illustration techniques (including photography and collage) – turns something typical into something beautiful.

Filed under: Articles

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

June 2023

Watch The Yarn LIVE with Kate DiCamillo at ALA!

by Travis Jonker

June 2023

Listen to Gene Luen Yang on TED Radio Hour

by Travis Jonker

May 2023

Notes on May 2023

by Travis Jonker

May 2023

Keeping an Eye On . . . the PEN America Book Ban Lawsuit

by Travis Jonker

May 2023

The Unexpecteds: 5 Sneakily Popular Books in Our K-3 School Library This Year

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Watch The Yarn LIVE with Kate DiCamillo at ALA!

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Anatole by Eve Titus, ill. Paul Gadone

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Suee and the Strange White Light | This Week’s Comics

by Lori Henderson

Heavy Medal

More Mock-Newbery Titles Needed: Share June Suggestions Now

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Jane Austen, Cowboys, and Comics, a guest post by Rey Terciero

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Trying Something New: SPEED ROUND w/ Marla Frazee, Doug Salati, Dan Santat, and Amina Luqman-Dawson

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

SLJ’s 2022 Best Books Are Live. Download a PDF of the Complete List.

Stories That Soar: Interview with 2022 Best Books Cover Illustrator Guojing

SLJ Book Reviews Editors’ Favorite Books Read in 2022

Best Books 2022 | The Year in SLJ Covers

First Books about a Loose Tooth | Milestones

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jules says

    August 23, 2016 at 5:10 pm

    My girls LOVE Samira and the Skeletons.

    Great list.

  2. Donalyn Miller says

    August 24, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    Thanks for sharing these! I ordered the ones I hadn’t seen. Intrigued by The Liszts.

    • Travis Jonker says

      August 24, 2016 at 9:40 pm

      Thanks, Donalyn! It’s intrigue-worthy

  3. Nancy Vo says

    August 24, 2016 at 1:33 pm

    Great post, Travis. Hot on the heels of reading this article about Shaun Tan: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b60e8c32-64cb-11e6-a08a-c7ac04ef00aa.html

    • Travis Jonker says

      August 24, 2016 at 9:44 pm

      Oh, wow, Nancy – thanks for sharing this!

  4. Fuse #8 says

    August 24, 2016 at 3:00 pm

    Just read The Liszts during my lunch break. I’m giving it extra points for also including a photo of Sigourney Weaver in Alien on the “heroes” wall. Though what Mary Poppins did to get on the “villains” wall, we may never know.

    • Travis Jonker says

      August 24, 2016 at 9:41 pm

      Ha! Yeah, there’s a lot going on in that book. I love it

    • Bethany Thompson says

      January 2, 2017 at 11:17 pm

      I just ran across your comment and have to ask. When have you read Mary Poppins? I re-read it last year and have to ask how I missed that she wasn’t such a goody-two-shoes as Disney made her out to be when I read this as a kid. Just a bit on the scary side actually.

  5. Lauren Soloy says

    August 25, 2016 at 9:20 pm

    Wow, what a great-looking list! I will definitely be looking for these! Also wondering if you’ve seen “Leave Me Alone” by Vera Brosgol? It’s not out yet, so I haven’t seen it, but it looks like it might be a weird and wonderful book!

    • Travis Jonker says

      August 27, 2016 at 2:25 pm

      I know the book you’re talking about, but haven’t had a chance to read it yet. I know A Fuse #8 Production reviewed it a little while back

  6. Patricia Nozell says

    August 25, 2016 at 10:36 pm

    An amazing list. I’ve read one, seen a few, definitely need to read more. Thanks for sharing!

  7. Trey Veazey says

    August 27, 2016 at 12:29 am

    Travis, thanks for sharing this! I’ve added them to the Amazon wish list for our school library in Baton Rouge that is rebuilding after the flood. As always, you are a wealth of knowledge. When I grow up, I want to be Travis Jonker.

    • Travis Jonker says

      August 27, 2016 at 2:24 pm

      Ha! Thanks, Trey

  8. Ruzica says

    September 6, 2016 at 8:43 am

    A famous Greek author, Eugenios Trivizas, who writes only for children, has an amazing novel, The Three Little Wolves. As you can imagine, he rewrote the classic but with a twist, the villain is the Cunning Bad Pig. It is truly a masterpiece with a beautiful happy ending. Plus, it is one of the very few books of his that is available in English, too.

  9. Avery Fischer Udagawa says

    January 4, 2017 at 12:28 am

    Always worthwhile to #namethetranslator: Daniel Hahn for Don’t Cross the Line!
    Beautiful 15-minute talk by Hahn: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04hyyr0

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • Author/Illustrator Blogs

    • Erin Stead Illustration
    • Hey, Rabbit!
    • James Preller's Blog
    • MATTHEWCORDELLBLOGS
    • Mo Willems Doodles
    • The Scop
  • Book Blogs I Like

    • A Book and a Hug
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • A Kids Book a Day
    • A Year of Reading
    • Abby (the) Librarian
    • Awful Library Books
    • Becky’s Book Reviews
    • Better Book Titles
    • Book-A-Day Almanac
    • Bookends
    • books4yourkids.com
    • bookshelves of doom
    • Bottom Shelf Books
    • Calling Caldecott
    • Caustic Cover Critic
    • Chad C. Beckerman
    • Charlotte’s Library
    • Cheryl Rainfield
    • Chicken Spaghetti
    • CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATION
    • Collecting Children’s Books
    • Cybils
    • EarlyWord
    • educating alice
    • Finding Wonderland
    • For Those About to Mock
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Good Show Sir
    • GottaBook
    • Great Kid Books
    • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
    • Hi Miss Julie!
    • Jen Robinson’s Book Page
    • Kidsmomo
    • Maria T. Middleton Design
    • Nerdy Book Club
    • Neverending Search
    • Nine Kinds of Pie
    • One Book, Two Books, Old Books, New Books
    • Out of the Box
    • Oz and Ends
    • PlanetEsme
    • Read Roger
    • Reading Rants!
    • Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
    • sharpread
    • ShelfTalker
    • so tomorrow
    • The Children's Book Review
    • The Miss Rumphius Effect
    • Uncovered Cover Art
    • Waking Brain Cells
    • Watch. Connect. Read.
  • Library Blogs

    • ALSC Blog
    • Blue Skunk Blog
    • librarian.net
    • LISNews
    • Stephen's Lighthouse
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Unshelved
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023