Reviewed books include children's books featured in any newsletter from the current year of the article.

The book needs to be in the category of a picture book or a story picture book (usually books with 40 pages or fewer). The book cannot be an anthology (books with more than one story), older than five-years-old, an activity book (such as origami or language), or a book that does not have an actual story to it (such as books that are purely about culture).

It may be difficult to review all such books because we may not have a copy of the book at the time of the review process. In such cases, that title is not included in the rankings.