Our favorite children's librarian Mara Alpert of the Los Angeles Public Library gave us her picks for the best kids books of the year.

Picture Books
 
"A Boy and a Jaguar" by  Alan Rabinowitz
"Princess Sparkle-Heart Gets a Makeover" by Josh Schneider
 "Draw" by Raul Colon
 "The Farmer and the Clown" by Marla Frazee
 
Chapter Book Fiction
 
"El Deafo" by Cece Bell
"A Snicker of Magic" Natalie Lloyd
"Kung Pow Chicken: Let’s Get Cracking!" by Cyndi Marko 
"The Red Pencil" by Andrea Davis Pinkney
 
Non-Fiction
 
"Gravity" by Jason Chin
 "Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands" by Katherine Roy