And Now Some Books I’m REALLY Excited for in 2025!

I just can’t help myself.

I know I just finished my 31 Days, 31 Lists sequence in December, but lord love a duck, I can’t quit these write-ups. And why should I? We’ve a new year, with new possibilities. Do you know what that means? It means that now I FINALLY get to tell you about all the beautiful and delicious 2025 children’s books I’ve seen coming up. Oh. My goodness. You have no idea how many great and grand goodies you have in store.

So for this one time only, please enjoy this list of some of the 2025 Children’s Books I Am Most Exited To See.

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Picture Books

Astro by Manuel Marsol, translated by Lizzie Davis

A sweet alien recounts his time befriending a curious spaceman. A bittersweet tale of love, loss, friendship, and the fragility of life. Boy, they just don’t make ‘em like this in America, do they? I think I can faithfully say that this is one of the very few picture books I’ve encountered where the plot is recounted by a deceased narrator. But before we get to any of that, let’s just take a moment to admire the art in this book. So many picture books try to show alien worlds, but this one really committed to the bit. Things don’t just look alien to us. This world seems to operate on its own internal logic, one that it’s not particularly interested in catching up the reader. Then there’s the story itself, which is so sweetly recounted and told. I adored the relationship between the alien and Astro. Then you get that 2001: A Space Odyssey-styled ending. Wowza. This is the kind of book that is going to wiggle its way deep into some young readers’ minds so that they spend the rest of their natural-born lives asking people, “Do you know that picture book? That one about the spaceman and the alien and the alien dies? I think it’s orange?”

A Book of Maps for You by Lourdes Heuer, ill. Maxwell Eaton III

A series of maps introduce the reader to a small town, its people and places, and the new home that YOU are moving into. TWIST! I love me a picture book that turns everything on its head when you get to its ending. I particularly love this when the ending has an emotional punch as well. On the outset, this just seems like a great book for those teachers that do map units with their students, since it doesn’t just cover one kind of map but several. There’s a maze and a pirate map and maps of streets as well as different rooms in various buildings. I could easily see a kid getting inspired by this book, making maps of their own home. But it’s that little twist at the end that makes it clear that, for the person writing this book, this was a special place. These were friends and important places. *sniff*! Also, I don’t know why, but I keep focusing in my head on the advice to place your bed under the skylight so that you can see the stars at night. Aside from everything else that is SUCH a cool idea. Oh, and what a great idea to get Maxwell Eaton III to do the art. The man knows how to draw intricate maps while keeping a lot of humor and fun intact. Incredible pairing, Heuer and Eaton. Well done, oh editor that thought this pairing up.

Don’t Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson, ill. Dan Santat

Oh sure, they may look innocent but those fishies in the sea? They’re up to something. An absolutely hilarious explanation of a hidden underwater threat told by an unreliable narrator. One of my favorites of the year, no question. Sharpson’s Irish lilt works its way into the narrative in a variety of neat ways (example: “Birds are dead easy”). What’s so great about this book is the beautiful hand-in-hand collaboration between text and image. Dan Santat is never better than when he has a text that he can play off of. And in this book he doesn’t just play off of Sharpson’s text. He embodies it. He’s adding all these small jokes in the details that reward multiple readings (the S.S. Minnow goes down at one point and there’s a running joke involving pancakes that I appreciated). Plus, have you ever wanted to see Santat illustrate an anglerfish? Your wish has been granted, my dears. Bonus: The readaloud potential of this book is incredible. The page turns! The jokes that land! The twist ending! Am I being clear enough how much I like this?

Papilio by Ben Clanton, Corey R. Tabor, and Andy Chou Musser

Three different author/illustrators come together to tell the three different stages of Papilio, a caterpillar then chrysalis then black swallowtail butterfly. If you’d asked me, I suppose I would have said that Clanton, Tabor, and Musser sorta had similar styles. And certainly for this book to work, they’ve had to match one another to a certain extent. But what these three truly have in common is the ability to match their tones of voice. The gentle sweetness of these stories shines through each tale. Each creator has taken a different stage in Papilio’s life (and I think Corey R. Tabor should get extra credit for taking on the chrysalis phase). There’s a mouse character that serves as a kind of connecting throughline between the tales, and I give full credit to the creators when I say that I never once noticed that the mouse’s body changes signifiantly between the three stories. My favorite part of the book? When Papilio is done being a caterpillar and merrily sings, “Got a full belly, time to turn to jelly.” Beautiful.

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Easy Books and Early Chapter Books

The Boy Who Lost His Spark by Maggie O’Farrell, ill. Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini

A doubtful boy’s encounter with the mischievous nature spirit that inhabits his new home leads to trouble, until the two learn to get along. And yeah, Maggie O’Farrell wrote Hamnet but that’s not why I like this title. This one grows on you, slowly and steadily. The plot of a boy who has grown out of believing in magical things is always a good place to begin, and when you add in resentment over having to move in the first place, that’s golden. The nouka is an interesting variation on mythical creatures. Its mischief seems intended less as a corrective or punishment and more to make humans amused. Love the art by Terrazzini too! I was expecting the old woman to be some standard crone, not someone you might run into at the health food store. 

Brianna Banana: Helper of the Day by Lana Button, ill. Suharu Ogawa

All Brianna wants in the whole entire world is to be Helper of the Day in school. But when the new girl gets the job instead, Brianna receives something unexpected: a new friend. This struck me as a really difficult book to pull off. Brianna clearly has some kind of attention deficit issues that aren’t being addressed, and Button doesn’t shy away from how difficult she can be as a student. I got some serious Joey Pigza vibes from this book, because like Joey the reader is both sympathetic to Brianna (easy to do when someone is zero friends and gets picked on a lot) and frustrated with her. Unlike Joey, of course, the book is written for the early chapter book crowd and that means that the author can only squeeze in so much backstory. The fact that Brianna’s dad took off and never came back, and we hear next to nothing about her mom, makes this an exercise in succinct restraint. It’s rather beautifully done, honestly. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Brianna’s adventures, partly to see if the well-meaning adults in her school are capable of getting her the help she needs.

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Graphic Novels

Botticelli’s Apprentice by Ursula Murray Husted

Mella yearns to be trained as a classical painter, but in Renaissance Italy such dreams are unavailable to girls. Can she convince the great Botticelli to take her on? Years ago Husted did a book called A Cat Story in which she was able to replicate the artistic styles of a number of classic painters. Now she’s doubling down with the story of a girl who yearns to be an apprentice of Botticelli. Botticelli just isn’t as well-known to kids, not like Michaelangelo and Da Vinci (both of whom have very amusing cameos in this book). It can be so difficult for a book to balance girl power with historical accuracy. This one handles it well. Contains what may be the most dog-like dog in the history of comics (I’m still cringing over what the dang mutt eats in this story). Great art, of course, but equally magnificent storytelling.

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Nonfiction Picture Books

Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer by Quartez Harris, ill. Gordon C. James

“The first time James Baldwin read a book, the words clung to him like glitter.” The early life of one of America’s greatest writers comes to vibrant life in this incredible peek into his earliest inspirations. This is one of those cases where you read a picture book biography from a first-time children’s author and can’t help but say, “This guy has never written a book for kids before?!? Seriously???”  Quartez Harris has a natural feel for the form, that’s for sure. Here we have yet another example of just the right text being paired with just the right illustrator. Like a lot of artists, Gordon C. James is at his best when he has a text worthy of his art. Not since Crown: Ode to a Fresh Cut have I been so delighted by one of his books. This isn’t the first picture book bio of Baldwin, but it’s the one that’s gonna live rent-free in my head for a long long time. Incredible writing, gorgeous art, and a book worthy of its subject.

And of course . . . .

Pop! Goes the Nursery Rhyme by Betsy Bird, ill. Andrea Tsurumi

Because if nothing else, we need a little gentle weasel chaos to ring in our new year.

Filed under: Best Books, Best Books of 2025