As we look back at the tumultuous year that was 2020, the SLJ reviews editors have compiled a series of “favorites” roundups.

In the infinite amount of words we’ve read this year, sometimes there are lines that stick out and linger, burrowing themselves in our memories. Here are some of these unforgettable quotations from this year’s Best Books.

Reference/Professional Reading Editor Mahnaz Dar:

“Gene, comic books are necessarily lies! Real life is never as cute or clean or clear as a cartoon. When you chose to tell this story as a comic, you chose to lie!”

“You might be right. But in this book, at least, I need the lie to serve the truth.” From Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

Reviews Editor Shelley Diaz

“Playing chess taught me a queen is both: / deadly & graceful, poised & ruthless. / Quiet & cunning. A queen / offers her hand to be kissed, & can form it into a fist / while smiling the whole damn time.” From Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Picture Books Senior Editor Kimberly Olson Fakih

"An imperfect body can also lead to a perfect life." From Woodpecker Girl by Chingyen Liu & I-Tsun Chiang (text) & illus. by Heidi Doll

YA Senior Editor Katy Hershberger

“There’s beauty in every story. And there’s a story in everything.” From Breathless by Jennifer Niven

Chapter Books/Middle Grade Assistant Editor Ashleigh Williams

“Please don’t ever forget you come from this flight for freedom.” From Aida Salazar, Land of the Cranes

Nonfiction/Series Made Simple Associate Editor Vanessa Willoughby

“The wind can tell when the body is holding more / weight than it can hold.” From “Gift of Grace” by Mahogany L. Browne from Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice