By Katie B. Loomis, Texas Woman’s University

Picturebooks help readers explore the power of stories—inspiring, comforting, educating and bringing people together. This WOW Dozen shares a common theme: a deep love for books, libraries and the magic of reading. Many of them highlight the role of libraries and librarians in fostering a love of reading; others focus on the personal and transformative experiences that books can offer individuals—whether it’s a child discovering the joy of storytelling, a librarian bringing hope to a war-torn town or a book itself traveling through many hands and lives.

In short, these books are love letters to reading, books and libraries, celebrating their importance in individual lives and communities.

WOW Dozen features a list of 12 global books for children and adolescents around a theme, topic, issue or personal favorites. Each Dozen consists of ten newly-published titles with two older “must have” books. Please share or recommend additional books that fit the theme in the comments section or on social media using #WOWDozen. Use the printer icon in the upper left corner of this post to print or save this list as a PDF.​

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• Themes: A Book for Escargot, All the Books, Anna Wilson, Bahram Rahman, Book that No One Wanted to Read, Books by Horseback, Dashka Slater, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Devon Holzwarth, Emma Carlson Berne, Gabrielle Grimard, Hayley Rocco, Heather Brockman Lee, I Lived Inside a Whale, I Want to Read All the Books, Ilaria Urbinati, John Rocco, Joy McCullough, Katie Loomis, Kay Widdowson, Kaz Windness, Lauren Emmons, Librarian's Stories, Library Bus, Lucy Falcone, No Cats in the Library, Richard Ayoade, Story of the Book, Sydney Hanson, Things I Love About Books, Tor Freeman, When You Love a Book, Xin Lin
• Descriptors: WOW Dozen