Ying Chang Compestine and editor Mahnaz Dar celebrate this year's best picture books.

It’s time for our annual best books coverage! Each year Kirkus’ editors choose from thousands of industry-first reviews to determine the top 100 titles in fiction, nonfiction, picture books, middle grade, and YA. We’re halfway through a series of five special best books episodes, each featuring one best books author, followed by a conversation with the respective section editor.

On this episode of Fully Booked, Ying Chang Compestine joins us to discuss (Rocky Pond Books/Penguin, May 7), which Kirkus calls “a vivid glimpse into a childhood under communist rule.” This vibrant tale of hope and resilience, illustrated by Xinmei Liu, is one of Kirkus’ best picture books of 2024.

Compestine is the award-winning author of 27 books, including Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party and Morning Sun in Wuhan. A leading authority on Asian culture and cuisine, she is a spokesperson for Nestle Maggi and Celestial Seasonings and the former food editor for Martha Stewart’s Whole Living magazine.

We begin our conversation by exploring Compestine’s motivation for a picture book account of her experience during the Cultural Revolution. She describes the immediate changes to everyday life, including food scarcity, the requirement to wear uniforms, the disappearance of neighbors and friends, and the fear and nightmares she experienced. We discuss her beloved father’s profound influence, and the challenges she and her family faced after his arrest. We talk about her emigration from China to the United States, why Xinmei Liu was the perfect person to illustrate Growing Up Under a Red Flag, and her hope that the book will spark meaningful conversations about courage, resilience, and freedom.

Then young readers’ editor Mahnaz Dar highlights some more remarkable titles from the best picture books list.

EDITORS’ PICKS:

We Who Produce Pearls: An Anthem for Asian America by Joanna Ho, illus. by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya (Orchard/Scholastic)

There Was a Party for Langston by Jason Reynolds, illus. by Jerome Pumphrey & Jarrett Pumphrey (Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum)

The Last Stand by Antwan Eady, illus. by Jerome Pumphrey & Jarrett Pumphrey (Knopf)

The Iguanadon’s Horn: How Artists and Scientists Put a Dinosaur Back Together Again and Again and Again by Sean Rubin (Clarion/HarperCollins)

We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang (Tundra Books)

Almost Underwear: How a Piece of Cloth Traveled From Kitty Hawk to the Moon and Mars by Jonathan Roth (Christy Ottaviano Books)

Heatwave by Lauren Redniss (Random House Studio)

My Daddy Is a Cowboy by Stephanie Seales, illus. by C.G. Esperanza (Abrams)

I’m Sorry You Got Mad by Kyle Lukoff, illus. by Julie Kwon (Dial Books)

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

Clara’s Secret by Stephan R. Frenkel

Son of Mine by Mike Florio

Timothy’s Demon by Michael B. Duff

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.