Back in early April I wrote about my “spring standouts,” books published in 2025 that I’d read and thought were stellar. I think I’d intended to write another in the summer and another in fall, so when it was time for my annual wrap-up, I’d have these to look back on…but here we are in mid-October. Whoops! All titles below were published in 2025 unless otherwise indicated (there are a few I couldn’t resist including). 

Picture Books

• Anything by Rebecca Stead and Gracey Zhang: A book about a child who didn’t want to move, and a dad who makes their new apartment home.
• We Are the Wibbly by Sarah Tagholm and Jane McGuinness: Hands-down the funniest picture book of the year. Also, it contains enough information about the frog life cycle that SLJ reviewed it as “nonfiction,” although it has an awful lot of talking tadpoles to meet that bar.
• Worm Makes A Sandwich by Brianne Farley: Oh, earnest worm! Adjust your definition of “make” and also the time you think it takes to make a sandwich, but what delicious results.
• Ten Beautiful Things by Molly Beth Griffin and Maribel Lechuga: On a drive to a new home, adult and child find ten beautiful things along the way – a balance to the implied grief of losing a loved one.
• Hurricane by Jason Chin: Chin’s watercolor illustrations are always outstanding, and here they’re in service to what it’s like for a community to prepare for, experience, and recover from a hurricane. Powerful, and packed with information and touching details.
• Where Are You, Bronte? by Tomie de Paola and Barbara McClintock: Tomie left the manuscript; Barbara’s illustrations honor Tomie (and Bronte) perfectly.
• Some of Us by Rajani LaRocca and Huy Voun Lee: “Some of us are born here. Some of us choose.” A radiant book on what it means to be a citizen.
• Bear Is A Bear by Jonathan Stutzman and Dan Santat (2021): Somehow I missed this when it first came out; loyal library visitors recommended it to me and I’m so glad they did. Some special objects travel from generation to generation.
• The Music Inside Us by James Howe and Jack Wong: A biography of cellist Yo-Yo Ma that is appealing and approachable for kids; after we read it, we watched a few of the videos mentioned (his first visit to the White House, his appearances on Sesame Street and Mister Rogers).
• A Fall Day for Bear by Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton: Bear and Mouse (small and gray and…not so bright eyed?!) return, but their roles are reversed, keeping this beloved series fresh.
• The Pink Pajamas by Charlene Chua: A story about family, grief, and passing skills along.
• Five Little Friends by Sean Taylor: Essential for storytimes, especially baby storytimes! Excellent, participatory rhymes.
• If You Make A Call on A Banana Phone by Gideon Sterer and Emily Hughes: One thing leads to another in this imaginative work; fans of Charlie & Mouse will recognize the art.
• Cat Nap by Brian Lies: A cat-and-mouse chase like you’ve never seen before. A note from the artist explains his respect for traditional, physical media, and how he learned each different medium to make the book, from stained glass to woodworking, sculpture to oil paint.  
• The 13th Day of Christmas by Adam Rex: Didn’t you ever wonder who that song was about? Now we know.

Middle Grade

• How to Talk to Your Succulent by Zoe Persico: Sure, lots of people talk to plants…but sometimes, the plants talk back.
• The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman: A lonely undead fox guides other spirits through to their next stages, but is reluctant to pass through himself. Spooky, philosophical, and somehow cozy too; I would not be surprised or upset if this got some Newbery attention.
• Batcat: Cooking Contest by Meggie Ramm: I love Batcat and Al so much. This time, they participate in a cooking contest at a fall festival.
• Candle Island by Lauren Wolk: A mother and daughter move to an island – a terrible place to keep secrets.
• Oddball Histories: Spices & Spuds by Andy Warner: This informative graphic novel finally explains why salt and pepper were so darn important that countries were willing to invade and colonize for them.
• So Over Sharing by Elissa Brent Weissman: This book couldn’t really have existed before the age of “influencers,” but its story of two daughters of “momfluencers” joining forces to make themselves heard is timely – and shows that sometimes, kids are savvier about privacy than adults are.
• The Trouble With Heroes by Kate Messner: This novel in verse tackles all 46 Adirondack peaks, 9/11, and it has cookie recipes. And the dog is okay.
• Into the Bewilderness by Gus Gordon: This charming, offbeat graphic novel is a classic grumpy/sunshine buddy comedy.
• The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls by Judith Rossell: An orphan gloomy about her fate lands in a surprisingly magical place, where girls learn all kinds of useful skills and solve mysteries and crimes in their city. An absolute delight.
• How to Say Goodbye in Cuban by Daniel Miyares: Daniel’s main character here is his own father during Carlos’ childhood in Cuba, as Fidel Castro takes over and many people decide to flee. A sentence or two of historical context precedes each chapter, giving readers just enough to understand the story.
• The Teacher of Nomad Land by Daniel Nayeri: An unusual WWII-era story set in Iran in 1941, with a fiercely devoted pair of siblings and a Jewish refugee at its center, and a theme of communication between people.
• Dory Fantasmagory: Center of the Universe by Abby Hanlon: Dory joins a soccer team, and it goes exactly how you’d expect. Dory hasn’t lost any steam in her seventh book, and I laughed out loud more than once. Everyone in my family fought to be the first to read this one.
• A World Without Summer by Nicholas Day: I loved last year’s The Mona Lisa Vanishes, and this one is even better because of the way it connects the climate shock caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 to the climate change of today. The author’s style is quick and direct, and the tangents/B-plots are fascinating, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to the velocipede to the naming of clouds and the study of weather.
• Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate: In WWI, some soldiers carried “pocket bears,” tiny companions to keep them company. In the home of modern-day Ukrainian refugees, Pocket Bear and other toys find a new lease on life and new homes. Poignant without being saccharine.
• The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell: This sequel (of a planned five-book arc) to Impossible Creatures is satisfyingly Shakespearean; Christopher Forrester returns from the first book to assist Princess Anya, and the dragons.
• Rialto by Kate Milford (2026): Anxiety, amusement parks, a treasure hunt, a mystery; this is a brilliant stand-alone, but devoted fans will notice many little nods to earlier Milford books (especially The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book).

Young Adult

• The Judgment of Yoyo Gold by Isaac Blum (2024): Orthodox Jewish communities plus forbidden social media makes for a deeply relatable story.
• Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins: At last, Haymitch’s (bleak) story is revealed.
• Dan in Green Gables by Rey Terciero: An irrepressible gay teen is dropped by his mother with grandparents he’s never met, and makes the best of a new situation, inspiring change in others and learning to be a bit more flexible as he does so. Joyful.
• Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman (2019): An incredibly well-researched deep dive into the brothers’ friendship and struggles, and the importance of Vincent’s sister-in-law in preserving his paintings and legacy.
• Scarlet Morning by ND Stevenson: Viola and Wilmur brave the peculiar dangers of their salt-encrusted world, adventuring with pirates and learning that the stories they grew up on are, in fact, still ongoing. Richly imagined; I want part two immediately.

Adult

• Swordheart by T. Kingfisher: This ensemble adventure quest is a perfect and deeply satisfying example of a heroine’s journey (see below).
• Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson: What if half-siblings started showing up out of the woodwork, and teamed up to hunt down a missing parent?
• The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger: Many readers and writers are familiar with the hero’s journey – but there’s another way of storytelling with completely different values and beats.
• Time Loops and Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau: I do love a time loop romance. This one is cleverly done.
• The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater: Stiefvater’s first adult book (she’s been writing YA for years) knocks it out of the park, with a WWII-era story set in Appalachia, where a resort hotel is converted to hold Axis diplomats until they can be swapped to bring their Allied counterparts home.
• The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano by Donna Freitas: With this speculative premise, Rose’s life fractures into nine different timelines when she argues with her husband over (not) taking prenatal vitamins.
• Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks: Without the rituals of religion, the process of grieving is often shunted aside by the paperwork of death and the logistics of funeral planning. Years after her husband’s death, Brooks takes herself far away to grieve properly.
• The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna: Another heroine’s journey with a cozy magical ensemble cast (see also: The Teller of Small Fortunes, The House on the Cerulean Sea)
• Dinner With King Tut by Sam Kean: Experimental archaeology seeks to learn about the past through hands-on experience: making and using tools to better understand the peoples of other times and places. Fascinating.
• The Art of Ramona Quimby by Anna Katz (2020): This is technically an adult book…about children’s books. It’s the most riveting “coffee table book” I’ve ever read: a nostalgic trip through each book about Ramona Quimby and her family, presenting and comparing how each illustrator chose to represent the characters and scenes. 

The Heavy Medal and Calling Caldecott blogs are ramping up in preparation for youth book award season in January; I’m sure there will be more noteworthy books between now and the end of December. What have you read so far this year that you think more people should know about?