Bruce Handy

A story of gross beauty from David Sedaris and Ian Falconer, a scabrous tale from Beatrice Alemagna, and more.

“Writing for kids had long been an ambition of mine, but until recently I didn’t know it had long been an ambition.”

A once purely decorative form, picture-book endpapers are now full of wit, surprise, even feeling.

“Like” and “I Can Explain” delightfully get inside kids’ heads as they puzzle out what it means to be human — and how to keep one step ahead of Mom.

This is why we don’t trust algorithms to design hardcovers.

Dan Yaccarino’s “The Longest Storm,” Brendan Wenzel’s “Inside Cat” and David Soman’s “The Impossible Mountain” provide fresh eyes on our “first great wonder at the world.”

Edward Carey’s “The Swallowed Man” revisits the 19th-century Italian classic from the father’s perspective.

Beautifully illustrated, and often as much incantation as story, these books are guaranteed to lull even the most wide-awake toddler.

In William Shivering’s “Thieves of Weirdwood,” a mirror city’s buildings and streets physically reflect the hopes and fears of a “normal,” grim, Dickensian city’s residents.

The authors of these sublime picture books know that for kids, choosing a pet can be a near-existential quandary, one that can reverberate through life.