G one are the days when parents would read a handful of classics to their children at bedtime, with Beatrix Potter, Dr Seuss, and Roald Dahl on constant rotation.

Worthy writers all, of course, but the reading list is likely to be a little more diverse nowadays, and to include self-reflective picture books about loving oneself and the planet.

Thanks to the “Greta effect”, there is a boom in children’s environmental books, as well as emotional intelligence ones. An inordinate number of books out this year are on kindness – a far cry from the old fashioned nursery rhymes in which people chopped off fingers with a carving knife. There is increasing attention on topics such as friendship, anxiety, finding your inner strength, believing in oneself – and even getting over insomnia with mindfulness.

Despite all the new trends, a baby/toddler/pre-schooler’s bookshelf in 2020 will still probably contain all of today’s classic read-aloud, story-led picture books, as well as some of the old classics.

It will include plenty of lift and flap books, such as The Zoo by Rod Campbell, Fox’s Socks by Julia Donaldson and her regular illustrator Axel Scheffler, and Spot the Dog by Eric Hall. There’ll be picture books, too, including Donaldson’s The Gruffalo and her latest 2019 bestseller The Smeds and Smoos, about two aliens who fall in love, as well as Mog the Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr, the beloved writer and illustrator behind The Tiger who Came to Tea (1968).

'The Go-Away Bird' is the latest book by Julia Donaldson who has written classics including 'The Gruffalo' and 'Fox's Socks'

But which children’s books should we be eagerly waiting for this year, or rushing out to buy?

While it’s probably on our radar that Hilary Mantel’s new novel The Mirror and the Light is out in March, are parents aware that in the children’s book world, Donaldson’s much-anticipated new book The Go-Away Bird is set for release in February? Or that the Dalai Lama is publishing his first kid’s book, The Seeds of Compassion, this year?

The publishing industry is just as lucrative for children’s books as it is for adult fiction – in fact, children’s fiction is doing much better. While sales of adult fiction over the past 10 years have dwindled from £476 million to £355 million, kids’ books sales in the UK have grown from £326 million to £388 million.

Books like Donaldson’s The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child together have sold over 17 million copies worldwide.

Within the children’s sector, spending on books classified within the pre-school and picture books sector grew 26 percent between 2010 and 2019, while spending on children’s and young adult fiction increased only 6 percent, according to the market research company, Nielson Book.

Books of the decade Show all 40 1 /40 Books of the decade Books of the decade Toni Morrison – God Help the Child (2015) Toni Morrison died in August; her final novel, 2015’s God Help the Child, displays her award-winning powers of elegant prose and imagination. Children are mistreated and prejudice abounds in this disturbing modern fairy tale set around the enigmatic character of Bride, who makes a mistake that has devastating consequences. (MC) Books of the decade Ian McEwan – Solar (2010) Solar, which was partly based on Ian McEwan’s own experiences during a trip to the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, is a darkly comic novel. Against the backdrop of the battle against climate change, McEwan tells the story of middle-aged Nobel laureate Michael Beard, a self-serving physicist whose own world is in danger of meltdown. (MC) Books of the decade Manning Marable – Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (2011) Columbia University professor Manning Marable died on 1 April 2011, just days before the publication of his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. Marable drew from letters, diaries and FBI files for a meticulous, incisive and balanced account of the life of the civil rights’ leader. The book cuts through the myths to reveal Malcolm X in all his conflicted complexity. (MC) Books of the decade . Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey – She Said (2019) They wrote the story that changed the world and now they’ve explained how they did it. In She Said, the Pulitzer Prize-winning duo explain how they managed to barge through Hollywood’s ironclad gates and break the Weinstein story, publishing allegations from several women accusing the disgraced producer of sexual assault in The New York Times. While the details are sparse in terms of sources and specific tactics, there are some startling revelations, including how Gwyneth Paltrow became a helping hand and the extreme lengths Weinstein’s team went to in order to thwart both reporters and silence the alleged victims. (OP) Books of the decade Emily Witt – Future Sex (2016) Future Sex is perhaps one of the few nonfiction books about sex and relationships that came before #MeToo and somehow remains relevant today. Finding herself suddenly single at the age of 30, Witt immerses herself in the sexual subcultures of San Francisco, trying her hand at everything from polyamory to orgasmic meditation. It’s a fascinating piece of work, one that illustrates Witt’s talents as an essayist and gives plenty of room to many astute observations on sexual liberation. (OP) Books of the decade Yuval Harari – Sapiens (2011) Every now and then a book comes along that tilts your perspective on the world. This internationally best-selling phenomenon is one of them. Covering just about the entire sweep of human history, it makes you understand the fits, starts and savagery of progress. (CR) 36. Emily Witt – Future Sex (2016) Books of the decade Emma Cline – The Girls (2016) The Girls is about exploring the appeal of being in a cult. Inspired by Charles Manson’s murderous “family”, the book serves up a more tense, richer depiction than Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, one that puts women at the centre, examining what motivates and captivates them. (OP) Books of the decade Marlon James: A Brief History of Seven Killings (2014) The Booker-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Jamaican-born Marlon James, follows the lives and deaths of seven of the would-be killers in the failed 1976 assassination attempt on Bob Marley. The novel cleverly weaves fiction and fact – and the language has a musical rhythm. Some of the epiphanies in the book are linked to songs. (MC) Books of the decade Raynor Winn – The Salt Path: A Memoir (2018) Terminal illness and bankruptcy shouldn’t make for an inspiring read but they somehow do in Raynor Winn’s poetic, provocative memoir. After losing the family home, Win and her husband set out to walk the South West Coast path, shaking a fist at his grim diagnosis. It’s as much a meditation on the power of nature as Books of the decade Nina Stibbe – Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life (2013) There’s deadpan and then there’s Nina Stibbe, who proves herself the heir to Adrian Mole in this novel written in the form of letters to her sister from a child-minding job in London. A provincial girl grappling with the strange salads of the metropolitan literary elite, Stibbe is comic gold. (CR) Books of the decade Patrick deWitt – The Sisters Brothers (2011) The assassins Eli and Charlie Sisters were played by John C Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix in the film version of Canadian-born writer Patrick deWitt’s second novel. The narrator Eli captures the lawless, unpredictable nature of frontier life in the mid-19th century. The Sisters Brothers is a compelling, unsettling tale of the Gold Rush era. (MC) Books of the decade Gail Honeyman – Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine (2017) Every office has its misfit, and this is the funny, deeply touching story of a woman whose aversion to social niceties and the work Christmas lunch hides a traumatic past. Common acts of kindness rekindle the protagonist in this beautifully told debut. (CR) Books of the decade Anna Burns – The Milkman (2018) Anna Burns became the first writer from Northern Ireland to win the Man Booker Prize, when she triumphed with The Milkman in 2018. Burns’s challenging, intriguing novel presents an unnamed 18-year-old girl’s perspective of her life during the Troubles in the Seventies. The 41-year-old paramilitary leader known as “the Books of the decade Sophie Mackintosh – The Water Cure (2018) Thanks to Margaret Atwood and the state of the world, feminist dystopian fiction is having a moment and Sophie Mackintosh’s The Water Cure is a notable contribution to the genre. It is perhaps one of the most creative of additions, cleverly weaving mystery and murder with sex and sisterhood, all while Mackintosh seduces the reader into her Shakespearean realm. (OP) Books of the decade Anne Tyler – A Spool of Blue Thread (2015) Anne Tyler is a master of stories about family life in middle-class America. A Spool of Blue Thread, the 20th novel from the author of The Accidental Tourist, adroitly shines a light on sibling rivalry, family secrets and the wounding power of grief. Her tale of four generations of the Whitshanks demonstrates again her gift for comic detail. (MC) Books of the decade Anne Enright – The Green Road (2015) The Green Road, by Dublin-born Anne Enright, is set in County Clare, a wild place geographically and emotionally. Enright’s keen gift for observation is at play in this family saga based around Hanna, Dan, Constance and Emmet’s Christmas return to the home that their scary matriarch, Rosaleen, is selling. A funny, painful tale of selfishness and compassion. (MC) Books of the decade Amor Towles – A Gentleman in Moscow (2016) The gentleman in question is Count Rostov, a bon vivant and aristocrat placed under house arrest in a fancy Moscow hotel after the communists seize control. His wit and enduring humanity make this charming, quirky novel sing. (CR) Books of the decade Elif Batuman – The Idiot (2017) When fact meets fiction, the result is almost always fascinating as the reader spends hours trying to discern which is which. Such is the appeal of The Idiot, Elif Batuman’s debut novel, which tells the semi-autobiographical tale of a young woman studying at Harvard in the mid-Nineties. After pontificating on the purpose of email, she soon becomes obsessed with an enigmatic Hungarian student whose insouciance will leave you spinning in a state of total frustration. (OP) Books of the decade Orhan Pamuk – The Red-Haired Woman (2016) Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk’s 10th novel was the short, stunning The Red-Haired Woman, which is at once a fable and a gripping tale of youthful obsession, exploring protagonist Cem Celik’s desire for the red-haired, enigmatic member of a theatre troupe. The father-son relationship in the novel also allows Pamuk to deftly explore the changing nature of Turkey. (MC) Books of the decade Ariel Levy – The Rules Do Not Apply (2017) A dazzling insight into the mind of one of The New Yorker’s most prolific writers, Ariel Levy’s memoir will seem relatable to all those who have at one time or another felt a startling sense of dissociation from their life, which is probably most of us. Levy’s personal tragedies will leave readers reeling. There is one passage in particular that will stay with you for months in which Levy describes how she suffered a miscarriage on a hotel room floor while on an assignment in Mongolia. She was 19 weeks pregnant at the time and her son, born alive, died in her arms. It is a story of resilience to the highest degree. (OP) Books of the decade Marilynne Robinson – Lila (2014) Lila was the third novel in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead Chronicles – following Gilead (2004) and Home (2008) – and tells, in unflinching terms, the story of Lila, the young woman who married the elderly Reverend Ames in a dusty Iowa town. Robinson writes beautifully and, as a sophisticated religious thinker, asks searching questions about faith and doubt. (MC) Books of the decade David Sedaris – Calypso (2018) There are few writers as gloriously strange, acerbic, funny and faintly ruthless as Sedaris, who once again mines his family history in this collection of autobiographical short stories. It includes a tale in which he feeds his Books of the decade Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Americanah (2013) Both a love story and a look at how racial divides play out in the UK and the USA, Americanah is as enchanting as it is thought-provoking. It’s impossible not to root for Ifemelu, the clever Nigerian ingenue who ends up struggling to find a minimum wage job as she studies in America. (CR) Books of the decade Julian Barnes – The Sense of an Ending (2011) Julian Barnes’s novella The Sense of an Ending is a subtle examination of the search for answers to life’s unresolved relationships. The divorced sexagenarian protagonist Tony Webster, is thrown into emotional turmoil when he receives an unexpected bequest that prompts him to reconnect with a college girlfriend. He is forced to face up to “the accumulation, the multiplication, of loss”. (MC) Books of the decade Tara Westover – Educated (2018) No matter how many documentaries you watch or books you read on Mormonism, it’s almost impossible to understand such a community from the outside. Tara Westover opened people’s eyes with Educated, explaining how she went from growing up in a Mormon fundamentalist family in Idaho to studying for a PhD at the University of Cambridge. It’s an inspiring story of grit and determination that doubles up as an homage to the power of self-education and, well, reading. (OP) Books of the decade Maggie Nelson – The Argonauts (2015) Few things reinforce tired gender clichés like marriage and parenthood, so huzzah for Maggie Nelson with this subversive memoir. It subjects romantic love, pregnancy, motherhood and all the attendant tedious cultural baggage to an intensely intelligent, glittering critique. (CR) Books of the decade Richard Ford – Canada (2012) In Canada, retired English teacher Dell Parsons, the son of hapless bank robbers, looks back on the heart-breaking events of his teenage years and tries to “take account” of how his life was shaped. The settings include Great Falls, Montana, and Saskatchewan in Canada, but it’s Richard Ford sure-footed journey over emotional terrain that is so utterly majestic. (MC) Books of the decade Donna Tartt – The Goldfinch (2013) A 13-year-boy survives a terrorist bomb that kills his mother at an art museum, and as he stumbles through the wreckage, he takes a small painting called The Goldfinch. The tiny relic of the Dutch Golden Age becomes a source of both solace and enigma in Tartt’s superb, Pulitzer-winning third novel. (CR) Books of the decade Jonathan Franzen – Freedom (2010) Walter and Patty Berglund, the seemingly perfect couple who meet at college in the 1970s, are at the heart of Jonathan Franzen’s fourth novel. The story of their unravelling marriage is explored in a rich, nuanced novel. Freedom is more than just a tale of wedded unbliss: it is about the messiness of love and longing in the modern world. (MC) Books of the decade Elif Shafak – Honour (2011) A sprawling, multi-generational tale of a Turkish family who make a new life in London, this novel has a so-called ‘honour killing’ as its centre of gravity. Shafak, a best-selling author in Turkey and many other countries, conjures up the hypocrisy that holds women to different standards, with devastating results. (CR) Books of the decade Helen Macdonald – H Is for Hawk (2016) When Helen Macdonald lost her father, she acquired a hawk. This idiosyncratic approach to grief makes for a lyrical, moving probe into both the process of mourning and our relationship with the natural world. (CR) Books of the decade Margaret Atwood – The Testaments (2019) Not just a novel but a fully fledged cultural phenomenon, the sequel to the Handmaid’s Tale was met with midnight readings and fans decked out in the creepy red and white gowns from the TV adaptation of the original. A superb and suspenseful exposé of misogyny and the moral ambiguity at the heart of a fanatical regime. (CR) Books of the decade Jennifer Egan – A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010) Time is a central theme of Jennifer Egan’s vibrant A Visit from the Goon Squad, which interconnects stories involving Sasha, a kleptomaniac New Yorker in her mid-thirties, and her music business boss Bennie Salazar. The problems of relationships are explored in a witty novel that has interesting things to say about the loss of vitality in the digital world. (MC) Books of the decade Matt Haig – Reasons to Stay Alive (2015) There’s a reason why Matt Haig’s writing on mental health has earned him such high praise, with the Duchess of Sussex among his fans. And it all started with this bestselling memoir in which the children’s fiction author describes falling into a deep depression in his early twenties that left him contemplating taking his own life. It’s not an easy read, but in a society where suicide remains grossly misunderstood and gender stereotypes hinder men from speaking openly about their mental wellbeing, it’s a crucial one. (OP) Books of the decade Arundhati Roy – The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017) Twenty years after her stunning debut The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy followed up with the mesmerising The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. With biting ironic wit, Roy’s epic dissects life in India in the wake of the partition conflict. The characters, including the transgender woman Anjum, are intimately drawn. Roy’s novel challenges you to care about life. (MC) Books of the decade Sally Rooney – Conversations with Friends (2017) The fêted 27-year-old author has acquired a reputation as a millennial literary powerhouse since her debut in 2017. While Rooney has gone on to publish a second novel, Normal People, which was shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize, Conversations with Friends remains her best work. With its snappy short sentences, sophisticated plot and characters so complex that it’s hard to like any of them, the novel established Rooney as one of the most exciting new writers around. (OP) Books of the decade George Saunders – Lincoln in the Bardo (2017) Lincoln in the Bardo tells the story of a single night in the life of Abraham Lincoln – when his 11-year-old son was buried – through an experimental tale involving 166 narrators in the bardo, the transitional state between one’s death and rebirth, according to Tibetan Buddhism. George Saunders’ enchanting tour-de-force won the 2017 Man Booker Prize. (MC) Books of the decade Lisa Taddeo – Three Women (2019) In 2019, female desire warrants shrewd examination more than ever. Thank goodness, then, for Lisa Taddeo, who spent eight years documenting the sexual experiences of three very relatable but very different women. The result is a powerful collection of interspersed narratives that probe the most intimate corners of the female psyche. I can think of nothing like it. (OP) Books of the decade Paul Beatty – The Sellout (2015) An outrageous satire of contemporary race relations, Beatty’s The Sellout tells the story of a black man called Bonbon who is seeking to reinstitute slavery and segregation. When it won the Booker, the chair of the judges compared Beatty to Swift and Twain. (CR) Books of the decade . Hilary Mantel – Bring Up the Bodies (2012) The sequel to Mantel’s Booker-winning Tudor tour de force, Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies did not Let Down the Readers. Her immersive prose takes us back into the poetic, rigorous mind of the archetypal career politician, Thomas Cromwell. The subject is the stuff of school days – Henry Tudor’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, and her fatal failure to produce a male heir. To allow another marriage and safeguard the stability of the country, Cromwell engineers Boleyn’s downfall, constructing capital charges against the queen along with a few of his old enemies to boot. Despite the biggest spoiler in history, Mantel’s novel is so finely pitched that we feel all the tension of the luxurious, blood-tinged Tudor court. (CR)

Everyone seems to be muscling in – even mother-daughter team Hillary and Chelsea Clinton with their first children’s book Grandma’s Garden, which is out in April.

The picture book – “a deeply affectionate tribute to the bounty of nature and the love of gardening”, according to one US review – is about Hillary’s mum/Chelsea’s grandma Dorothy, who passed on to them her love of spending time in the garden.

But when do children move to the next stage of reading from picture books to chapter books? It’s one thing to know what to be reading your children in 2020 but how do you make sure they are reading the right books intellectually?

Danny van Emden of West End Lane Books, who was also a judge for this year’s Costa Children’s Book Award (9 to 15-year-olds), says that no young child is too old for picture books.

“There is a huge rush to move children onto the next stage of chapter books as early as one or two years old or later and this isn’t always helpful,” he says. “Actually, it's just a shame that we gradually reduce illustrations from fiction as children get older. Picture books are such a wonderful way for children to really get absorbed into books and makes learning to read for pleasure so much more natural.

Kate Read's book 'One Fox' is a counting book thriller

“There is an absolute tsunami of brilliant illustrators working in children's publishing right now,” he adds, “so if your child is reluctant to move on from picture books, don't worry. Just watch them daydream into all the beautiful art as well as the words and know that this is setting their imaginations on a path to engage with the world outside the home and classroom. They will make the move into chapter books in their own good time.”

Every year, new writers and illustrators team up and hope to become household names like Donaldson, who has been honoured with a CBE for Services to Literature. The booksellers Waterstones will be shortly announcing the 2020 Children’s Book Prize winner for debut authors and/or illustrators on 6 February. Onjali Q Raúf's The Boy at the Back of the Class – a child’s perspective on the refugee crisis – was the winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2019.

But their bestselling book of 2019 (for 0 to 6-year-olds) was The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith and Katz Cowley. In 2018, the book featured in a viral video of a grandmother in fits of laughter as she tried to read it to her grandchild, leading to a sales surge of the book worldwide.

However, Donaldson’s The Smeds and the Smoos, which was published in September 2019, flew off the shelves and became the autumn bestseller.

So, what makes a good children’s book? The children’s buyer at Waterstones, Florentyna Martin, says: “The real gems are the ones that appeal equally to children and adults, and they are also perhaps the most difficult to get right. If a parent or guardian is going to read their child’s favourite story night after night (after night after night) then a strong narrative, good characters and engaging illustrations are key ingredients. The steady beat of a rhyme and the occasional dash of humour will also go a long way to sparking that first love of a book.”

Here are some of the best books to read your children this year.

Fantastically Great Women Who Saved The Planet by Kate Pankhurst

Your children might be too young to listen to Greta Thunberg calling for those in power to take action, but this picture book will gently introduce them to the importance of looking after the planet. It features notable women – such as Jane Goodall, Anita Roddick, Edith Frakas and the Gambian activist known as the Queen of Recycling, Isatou Ceesay – who have dedicated their lives to studying, conserving and protecting the planet. The best-selling author and illustrator is a descendant of Emmeline Pankhurst and it’s her third book in a series that celebrates notable women – including Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World.

Fantastically Great Women Who Saved The Planet by Kate Pankhurst​ is published on 6 Feb by Bloomsbury Children’s Books, £6.99

The Seed of Compassion by the Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is extending his teachings to children in his first picture book ever. He shares lessons of peace and compassion through stories about his own childhood, when he was just an ordinary boy called Lhamo Thondup from a small village in Tibet.

The Seed of Compassion by the Dalai Lama is published on 24 March by Penguin, £12.99

What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks

This is the fourth book in Donaldson’s hugely successful rhyming adventure series What The Ladybird Heard, illustrated by Lydia Monks. This time, the crime-busting little ladybird is off to the seaside, but the two bad men, Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len, turn up to steal the mermaid’s flowing hair. You can even spot Donaldson and her husband Malcolm performing a children’s show on the beach, and Monks driving through the countryside, in “cameo” roles.

What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks is published on 2 April by Pan Macmillan, £12.99

Ten Minutes to Bed: Little Dinosaur by Rhiannon Fielding

Written especially for bedtime, this is the perfect length for sending little ones off to sleep with its 10-minute countdown to bed. Rumble the triceratops crashes through the jungle until the more gentle end. Hopefully, you will be able to turn the lights off by then. Others in the series include Little Unicorn, Little Monster, Little Mermaid and Little Unicorn’s Christmas.

Ten Minutes to Bed: Little Dinosaur by Rhiannon Fielding is published on 9 July by Penguin, £6.99

David Attenborough and Martin Luther King, Jr - Little People BIG DREAMS by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara

The best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, explores “the lives of outstanding people, who each began life as a child with a dream”. You may have read the ones on Coco Chanel or David Bowie to your children at bedtime. The next big releases in the series are David Attenborough, the broadcaster and conservationist, and Martin Luther King, Jr, the minister and civil rights activist. What a cool way to drift off to sleep.

David Attenborough and Martin Luther King, Jr by Isabel Sanchez Vegara are published on 4 Feb by Frances Lincoln Children's Books, £9.99

Mr Men Go Green by Adam Hargreaves

This is an ideal book to help young children understand what they can do to help their planet, and is printed with vegetable inks on FSC paper. It’s written and illustrated by the son of Roger Hargreaves, who continued his late father's popular Mr Men and Little Miss series of children's books. Mr Lazy can’t be bothered to switch off the lights and Mr Skinny throws too much food away. Luckily, Little Miss Inventor has some inventions to help them find ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Mr Men Go Green by Adam Hargreaves is published on 11 June by Egmont UK, £3.99

The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad

The New York Times bestselling book by the Olympic medallist and social justice activist Ibtihaj Muhammad is an empowering and moving illustrated story about being proud of your roots. The day Faizah starts school is also her older sister Asiya’s first day of hijab. But not everybody finds her hijab of dazzling blue fabric so pleasing. In the face of criticism, Faizah has to toughen up.

The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad is published in paperback on 7 May by Andersen Press, £7.99

I Like To Be Kind by Campbell Books

Teaching children emotional intelligence is just as important as pushing them to succeed academically. This board book is part of the Little Big Feelings series, which also includes Sometimes I Am Worried. Children can lift the flaps, slide the tabs and turn the wheel as they learn about kindness, with colourful illustrations by Marie Paruit. It also included helpful tips for parents from the early years expert Dr Janet Rose, who offers extra guidance in guiding your child towards being a caring person.

I Like To Be Kind by Campbell Books is published on 28 May by Pan Macmillan, £6.99

Don’t Worry, Little Crab by Chris Haughton

From the award-winning creator of Shh! We Have a Plan is a new story about budging out of your comfort zone. It might even convince your little ones to try something new – like eat broccoli. Little Crab and Very Big Crab, who live in a rock pool, go out for a swim in the ocean, but the waves are a little frightening. But with the reassuring words, “Don’t worry, I’m here,” the little crab finds anything is possible.

Don’t Worry, Little Crab by Chris Haughton​ is out now, published by Candlewick Press, £12.99

Hello Friend! (2020) by Rebecca Cobb ​

This touching story is about kindness, empathy and friendship. The author is one of the most talented names in picture books, with classics including Missing Mummy and Aunt Amelia. She also won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2013 for Lunchtime, and has collaborated with Julia Donaldson on bestselling picture books The Paper Dolls and The Everywhere Bear.

Hello Friend! (2020) by Rebecca Cobb is published on 30 April by Pan Macmillan, £11.99

Kind by Alison Green

With a forward by The Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler and illustrations by the world’s top illustrators including Quentin Blake and Lydia Monks, who have donated their work for free, this inspiring book shows children the many ways in which everybody can make the world a better place. The sale of each printed copy will donate £1 to the Three Peas charity, which helps refugees from war-torn countries. The hardback version came out last year.

Kind by Alison Green is published in paperback on 3 April by Scholastic, £6.99

To the Moon and Back for You by Emilia Bechrakis

Not many children’s books talk about infertility. But for those who have struggled to get their miracle baby, it really can feel like you’ve gone to the moon and back. The debut picture book by Emilia Bechrakis is based on her own experiences with IVF. At least after reading this, they will never question how much they were wanted.

To the Moon and Back for You by Emilia Bechrakis is published on 24 March by Penguin Random House, £8.49

Arlo The Lion Who Couldn’t Sleep by Catherine Raynor

Does your child have trouble falling off to sleep? This dreamy bedtime book about an exhausted lion who just can’t drop off to sleep is the perfect antidote with its gentle mindfulness message. It’s by Catherine Raynor, the Kate Greenaway Medal-winning illustrator whose other titles include the critically acclaimed Solomon Crocodile and the award-winning Smelly Louie.

Arlo The Lion Who Couldn’t Sleep by Catherine Raynor is published on 25 June by Macmillan, £12.99

My Art Book of Happiness by Shana Gozansky

Emotions for toddlers and pre-school children can be confusing. This book (my personal favourite) brings together 35 full-page colour artworks by famous artists, including Matisse, Jeff Koons and Antony Gormley, each accompanied by a short, read-aloud text that introduces the feeling of happiness (and its transitory nature). It’s the third in a series that also includes My Art Book of Sleep and My Art Book of Love. It also teaches young children that it is okay not to be happy all the time.

My Art Book of Happiness by Shana Gozansky is published on 13 May by Phaidon, £14.95

The Go-Away Bird by Julia Donaldson

This is 2020’s most anticipated release – and yet another potential children’s classic by Julia Donaldson, who teams up with the award-winning Catherine Rayner for the striking story told in her trademark rhyming format. You may not always want company, but everyone needs friends sometimes. Lovely story and gorgeous illustrations that will bear repeated bedtime readings.

The Go-Away Bird by Julia Donaldson is published on 6 Feb by Macmillan Children’s Books, £6.99

Too Much Stuff by Emily Gravett

The western obsession with stuff means we are at a tipping point of material saturation and clutter. This very funny rhyming woodland book from the creator of the modern classic Meerkat Mail – about two hoarding Magpies who ram their nest with too much stuff, including a car and a pram – might help educate young children about the consequences of always wanting more… but I doubt it. Based in the same forest as Gravett’s award-winning Tidy, it features many woodland animals, including Tidy’s Pete the badger.

Too Much Stuff by Emily Gravett is published on 15 Oct by Macmillan, £12.99

Aalfred and Aalbert (a love story) by Morag Hood

It’s refreshing to have a love story, even if it is between aardvarks. The picture book is by the rising star author-illustrator Morag Hood, who has also written Colin and Lee, Carrot and Pea, I Am Bat and The Steves. Aalfred and Aaalbert’s sleep cycles are different and they are doomed never to meet but eventually, an accidental meeting gives them a happily-ever-after ending.

Aalfred and Aalbert (a love story) by Morag Hood is published now by Macmillan, £6.99

I’m Actually Really Grown-Up Now by Maisie Paradise Shearring

We’ve all heard kids declare themselves grown-up, but sometimes they need to stop racing ahead. This funny picture book with busy and colourful illustrations is about “independence, self-esteem and knowing when to stop being grown-up!” It’s Shearring’s follow-up to her acclaimed Anna and Otis, about overcoming fears and making friends. The author has a special talent for capturing the highs and lows of childhood. When Meena realises being grown-up means unpacking the shopping and putting the food away, it isn’t quite as fun as she expected.

I’m Actually Really Grown-Up Now by Maisie Paradise Shearring is published on 22 August by Macmillan, £11.99

Pablo and the Noisy Party by Pablo

All Pablo books are written by writers on the autistic spectrum and are grounded in the real-life experiences of autistic children. This time, Pablo runs away from his cousin’s noisy party and hides in a car, but Pablo’s friends make him realise it is OK not to want to go to the party. It is designed to help young children understand that not everybody thinks in the same way.

Pablo and the Noisy Party by Pablo is published on 19 March by Penguin, £6.99

Dogger’s Christmas by Shirley Hughes

At 92, Shirley Hughes – who Philip Pullman calls “ a national treasure” – has written a nostalgic sequel to her enduring tale of a lost toy, 43 years after the multi-award-winning Dogger was first published in 1977. Dogger’s Christmas embodies the values that Dogger is known and loved for: kindness and warmth. It’s set at Christmas but in all the excitement of new toys, will Dave forget about his old friend Dogger?

Dogger’s Christmas by Shirley Hughes is published on 29 October by Penguin, £12.99

Clean Up by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola

This children’s book on plastic pollution couldn’t be more timely. When Rocket goes on holiday to visit her grandparents on a Caribbean island, she's shocked by the pollution that is ruining their island home and is putting the sea life at risk. Can she save the day? It’s the sequel to Byron and Adeola’s debut Look Up!, in which Rocket tries to convince her brother to stop looking down at his phone and start looking up at the stars.

Clean Up by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola is published on 9 July by Penguin, £6.99

Peppa Pig: Super Peppa!

This empowering story, about learning that you can be anything you want to be, is being published in time for International Women's Day. At Peppa’s pre-school, Madame Gazelle asks the class to dress up as what they want to be when they are grown-ups. Edmund Elephant wants to be an astronaut and an anthropologist and Rebecca Rabbit wants to be a carrot – but Peppa’s career trajectory isn’t so clear. Luckily, she gets some ideas from Mummy Pig, Daddy Pig and Miss Rabbit.

Peppa Pig: Super Peppa! is published on 20 February by Penguin, £6.99

Find Spot at Halloween by Eric Hill

This brand new Spot edition, with unexpected lift-and-flap surprises, involves Spot and his friends dressing up in spooky costumes to go trick-or-treating. This year is also the 40th anniversary of the iconic Where’s Spot, and the board book is being reissued on 5 March with sturdy, toddler-tough flaps. With its hide and seek flaps, the Spot series is the perfect first book for little ones.

Find Spot at Halloween by Eric Hill is published on 3 September by Penguin, £6.99

Where Snow Angels Go by Maggie O’Farrell

The Costa Novel Award-winning Maggie O’Farrell’s debut illustrated children’s book is much anticipated. It is based on a story she told her children at bedtime, about a girl who creates her own guardian angel while playing one wintry day. O’Farrell said: “I have always thought of the picture book as a unique and pervasive art form, and one that has the potential to reach people from a very young age, sometimes staying with them for life.”

Where Snow Angels Go by Maggie O’Farrell​ is out in the autumn by Candlewick Press

The Box Turtle by Vanessa Roeder

This is a very sweet story about having the confidence to be oneself. A cute-looking turtle was born without a shell so he uses a cardboard box instead. He loves it…until another turtle points out that his shell is weird. He goes in search of the perfect shell but eventually, he learns it’s OK to be different.

The Box Turtle by Vanessa Roeder​ is published on 2 March by Prentice Hall Press, £13.99

Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind by Jessica Hische

This follow up to Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave is by the award-winning illustrator Jessica Hische. It encourages children to spread kindness in their community by being grateful, kind and helpful. Her inspirational words and scenes are brought to life vividly with her colourful hand-lettering and drawings. A mouse, cat, and rabbit highlight the many ways to express empathy and compassion – such as running over to help when somebody falls off a scooter.

Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind by Jessica Hische​ is published on 1 Feb by Penguin Workshop, £11.07

Meet the Planets by Caryl Hart

This read-aloud, rhyming, picture-led book takes you on a space adventure to meet all the planets of the solar system and the smiley-faced planets from “shimmering Saturn” to “mighty Mars”. Caryn Hart, who also writes young fiction, is best known for picture books including How To Catch a Dragon and The Princess and the Peas.

Meet the Planets by Caryl Hart is published on 20 February by Bloomsbury, £4.99

One Fox by Kate Read ​

A “counting book thriller” definitely sounds like a new genre. The gripping drama, by debut author and illustrator Kate Read, is set in a moonlit farmyard, with close-up illustrations of a fox on the prowl. It will have you and your children sitting on the edge of the bed. Will the fox get the hens? There is something different to count on every page, to help learn numbers from one to 10.

One Fox by Kate Read is published on 23 February by Macmillan, £7.99

Elephant Me by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees

This empowering book is from the creators of the international bestseller and much-loved classic Giraffes Can’t Dance – a joyful story about self-acceptance, when a Giraffe realises he can dance . This new story is about a little elephant called Num-Num, who also learns how the best thing you can be is yourself.

Elephant Me by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Reesis published 14 May by Orchard Books, £12.99

Today I’m Strong by Nadiya Hussain and Ella Bailey

Nadiya Hussain is better known for winning The Great British Bake Off than for writing children’s books. Her first children’s book, Nadiya’s Bake Me a Story, was a bestseller in 2016. In 2019, having suffered from panic attacks, she wrote her first picture book My Monster and Me, about dealing with anxiety. Today I’m Strong is her second picture book and it’s about finding inner strength.

Today I’m Strong by Nadiya Hussain and Ella Bailey is published 15 October by Hachette Children’s Group, £12.99

Oi Aardvark! ABC – Oi Frog and Friends by Kes Gray and Jim Field

From the creators of Oi Frog! with “a special fold-out surprise”, this hilarious rhyming story helps young children learn their ABCs. With the help of Frog, Dog, and Cat, it takes you through the alphabet from Aardvark to Zebra. Other books in the series include Oi Dog!, Oi Duck-billed Platypus!, and Oi Goat!. The series has sold two million copies worldwide to date.