From mental health to the climate crisis, children’s books are tackling the hot topics of our age. Here, Fiona Noble looks back on the year and, below, our pick of 2019 in each age group

A heartbreaking wartime tale of a Korean ‘comfort woman’ stands out in an excellent year in which stalwarts Seth and Chris Ware continued to expand the horizons of the form

’Tis the season for best-of lists, so please help the reading group zero in on this year’s must-read – which we shall then read!

The winners and runners-up of this year’s most coveted awards pick their three favourite titles of 2019