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 | | Our 2025 Best Children's and YA Books list features some of the most creative, spellbinding, or extraordinarily illustrated titles Shelf Awareness has reviewed this year. Young readers will find realistic stories about bellies and being bilingual, enchanting adventures through storms and art history, and a slightly spooky tale with utterly charming characters. Middle-grade readers are shown World War II and the very bottom of the ocean, two cli-fi novels, one fantastical and filled with pirates and another that is (scarily) possible but remarkably hopeful, and an underwater fantasy with a ghost protagonist. And our young adult picks feature thoroughly researched nonfiction, uncommon love stories, and an absolute blast of a babysitting adventure. Click through to read our reviews of the top kids' titles for 2025. (Shelf Awareness's Best Adult Books are here.) --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness
Picture Book
Cat Nap by Brian Lies (Greenwillow Books)
Everybelly by Thao Lam (Groundwood Books)
The Interpreter by Olivia Abtahi, illus. by Monica Arnaldo (Kokila)
Island Storm by Brian Floca, illus. by Sydney Smith (Neal Porter Books)
The Slightly Spooky Tale of Fox and Mole by Cecilia Heikkilä, translated by Polly Lawson (Floris Books)
Middle Grade
Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina, illus. by Elena Balbusso (Candlewick)
Higher Ground by Tull Suwannakit (Crocodile Books)
I'm a Dumbo Octopus: A Graphic Guide to Cephalopods by Anne Lambelet (Graphic Universe/Lerner)
Scarlet Morning by ND Stevenson (Quill Tree Books)
The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri (Levine Querido)
Young Adult
The Assassin's Guide to Babysitting by Natalie C. Parker (Candlewick)
The Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel (Scholastic Press)
The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum (HarperCollins)
Hick: The Trailblazing Journalist Who Captured Eleanor Roosevelt's Heart by Sarah Miller (Random House Studio)
The Leaving Room by Amber McBride (Feiwel & Friends)
White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History by Ann Bausum (Roaring Brook Press) | | |
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| | Gifts for Kids & Young Adults | | |  Still looking for gifts for the young ones in your life? Our Kids' & YA Gift Issue has books about art that ask readers to draw directly on the page, guides that teach how to complete "magical" experiments, and nonfiction about the history of dogs. Frances Hardinge and Emily Gravett's The Forest of a Thousand Eyes gives readers a spooky illustrated adventure; Jungyoon Huh and Myungae Lee highlight the beauty of patience and kindness in Late Today. And many more!...
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| | | | | Books for Young Cooks | | |  Did you miss our Kids' Cookbook feature? Whether the kid in your life only eats foods that are beige or snakes all the lobster off your plate, this collection of books for children and teens approaches the making and eating of food from angles any young eater can appreciate. Among our highlights: books that feature cooking as scientific experiment; recipes as part of a historical narrative; and so much more!...
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Belle Bear is a spirited little polar bear with a big heart, an orange cape, and a world full of snowy adventures…until she has to leave it all behind. The Adventures of Belle Bear is a heartwarming picture book about courage, self-confidence, and discovering the bravery to be yourself, no matter where life takes you.
Belle Bear lives with her beloved grandmother, Baba Bear, in the magical land of Mount Bearia. Her days are full of games, cozy hugs, and little moments that make her feel special. But when they must move to a new country, everything changes. There’s no snow, no other polar bears, and no cape. Just Belle Bear and the courage she has not discovered yet.
Belle Bear believes every child deserves a full belly and a bedtime story, and through December 31, 2025, 100% of the book’s proceeds will be donated to Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine’s largest hunger-relief organization.
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SPONSORED CONTENT
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Comments on a review? Please contact Dave Wheeler for adult books and Siân Gaetano for children's and YA titles.
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To contact us, send us an email or contact us individually via our website.
Purchases from our Shelf Awareness Bookshop affiliate page benefit the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.
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