Interestingly, the Bilingual Book List is a relatively new one on this site. I was inspired by both New York Public Library and Chicago Public Library’s best book lists, which take special care and attention to include books in Spanish each and every year. Previously I was also able to include books in languages other than Spanish, but that was not the case this year, unfortunately.

Now you’ll notice that some of the books on this list today contain both the English and Spanish text within the same title, while in other cases a Spanish version was released at the same times an English one. Take a gander, consider the offerings, and let me know if there was a book released in both English and Spanish (or another language) in America in 2025 that you feel certainly deserves to be included here as well.

Click here for a full PDF of today’s list.

• 2024
• 2020

2025 Bilingual Children’s Books

FEATURED TITLE

The Peanut Man / El Manisero by Carmen Agra Deedy, ill. Raúl Colón

A year with a new Carmen Agra Deedy book is a year worth celebrating. Still, I picked up this book and found myself flabbergasted. Is this… is this really the very first time that someone ever paired Deedy with Raúl Colón?!? Holy moly, how has this never happened before? I suppose it took the right project for it to occur. Better late than never, that’s what I always say. And just look at that gorgeous cover. Can you smell the hot peanuts wafting from it, because I sure as heck can and my mouth is already watering. Growing up in Havana, our heroine Coqui is always delighted when she can smell the peanut man’s approach. He’s a nice goofy guy, more than willing to pull faces with the girl at the window. And when Coqui must leave Cuba and move to Decatur, Georgia, the peanut man represents a lot of what she misses from home. Then one day her dad gets tickets to a ball game. Coqui is put off by the smells there but her dad explains, “Baseball is a lot like life – if you can stand the smell, you’re going to love the game.” I’ve been pondering that little aphorism ever since I read it. In any case, at the game, guess what she runs into? A peanut man! Not the same one from home (we’re dealing with realistic historical fiction here, people, not fantasy), but one not only willing to talk to her, but also willing to pull faces as well. The Afterword is almost as good as the rest of the picture book itself too. In it, Carmen recounts the time she actually got to meet Hank Aaron and tell him this story in person. I suspect an early draft of this story might have tried to work that part into the text, but it just didn’t fit. No matter. The book works beautifully the way that it is. 

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Crack Goes the Cascarón / La Explosión del Cascarón by Sara Andrea Fajardo, ill. Rocío Arreola Mendoza traducción de Yanitzia Canetti

[Previously seen on the Holiday List]

YES! More of this, PLEASE! It’s got everything we should be seeing in our holiday titles. Mischief. Slime. And bilingual to boot?!? In this tale you have Toti. Toti is the king… the king of cascarónes, that is. He wields his power over others with verve. No one is safe from his reign of terror. You’re probably somewhat familiar at least with those confetti-filled eggs. Well this year the kid is going all out. He has devious plans indeed for his various family members… even his poor Abuela! But what Toti doesn’t count on is his family getting in on the act. Dang, this is so hugely creative, fun, and full of life and energy. Easter titles are never ever going to go back to the dull little rabbit titles ever again after this. Bring on the cascarónes!!

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Curious Cats / Gatos curiosos

Numbers / Los números, Shapes / Las formas, Weather / El clima, & Colors / Los colores by Airlie Anderson

It’s not every board book that crosses my desk that also has a shiny Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Book Award Gold Seal stuck in its upper right-hand corner. Airlie Anderson is one of those children’s book creators who puts. In. The. Work. And the woman has a very interesting style that sometimes reminds me of the art of Anna Alter. In these four little board books she’s all about the clean lines, bright colors, and infinitely clear concepts. Each book is also bilingual on every single page (how much do we not miss the days when the English was all on one page and the Spanish all on another?). There aren’t a slew of new and eye-catching bilingual board books in a given year. Gotta grab these while you can.  

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Nosotros tambien! La Zorra y el Ganso / So Can We! Fox and Goose by Jo Empson

Nosotros tambien! El Gato y el Pajarito / So Can We! Cat and Bird by Jo Empson

And speaking of board books… Check out these predator and prey buddy books! At least that’s how I see them. These are actually cute little titles with charming pictures and rather enticing patterns in their art. They also originally hail from London, if the publication information is to be believed. Jo Empson is a graphic designer with a penchant for the art of other graphic-designers-turned-illustrators like Eric Carle and Leo Lionni. You can see that in her art here, though no word on how exactly she makes it. I was amused to discover that she says that these books are about “unlikely best friends”, which is fair. In each title the characters keep one upping one another with what they’re capable of doing.The fox can pounce and surprise. The bird can build a nest in the tree. I say they’re “one upping” one another, but honestly they’re pretty supportive of the others’ gifts. Near the end of each book a third party waltzes in with a whole new ability and the duo look at one another and find an inventive way of doing that move as well. They’re perky, fun, and delightfully bilingual. Some of my favorites this year, for sure and for certain.  

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Not a Dog / No es un perro by Claudia Guadalupe Martínez, ill. Laura González

Shapes and nature combine thanks to this peek into the lives of the cute, hungry, and threatened prairie dogs. A clever call to action in the most adorable package possible. You want bilingual? I got yer bilingual right here, baby! And if this looks slightly familiar, there’s a good reason for that. Martínez and González are the folks behind Not a Monster two years ago about the axolotl. The prairie dog may be a logical follow-up in a number of ways. Like the axolotl, it is ridiculously cute, it has ties to Mexican ecology, and they are both threatened by humans in a number of ways. Additionally, Martínez has also made this into a shapes book, which I found particularly interesting. I’m not entirely certain if this should be in the fiction or nonfiction section of your local library, of course, since there’s a fictional element to the book of kids writing letters to preserve the shrinking grasslands. I might press for the fictional side, since it doesn’t have any particularly impressive backmatter. Wherever we put it, though, it’s a nice little book.

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This Moment Is Special / Este momento es especial by John Parra

[Previously seen on the Holiday list]

I was at Milkwood this past summer, which is a retreat run by artist Sophie Blackall and her husband Ed. I was lucky enough to be accepted into the retreat made for librarians and educators too. Now at Milkwood there is an enormous library, full to brimming with illustrated books for kids. While I was in there, searching to see who might be included, one of the teachers started to wax rhapsodic over the works of John Parra. As she was quick to point out, though the man may have won a Pura Belpré Honor in his day, he has yet to get the attention he so richly deserves. This latest title of his is a Día de Muertos story (a popular topic this year, alongside such titles as Popo the Xolo and aforementioned The Invisible Parade) and seemingly follows a little skeleton boy as he does a variety of things in celebration of the holiday. At the end, his skull is revealed to just be face paint, which is an interesting touch. Of course Parra’s acrylic paints are well in hand, but I was personally very taken with the endpapers of the title. I don’t know why but they reminded me of some of my favorite outsider art of the 90s. Whatever the case, this is a lovely new addition to the holiday genre.

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Two Worlds / Dos Mundos by Edel Rodriguez

See, the thing I like about Edel Rodriguez is that he can put out an adult graphic novel like Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey on the one hand, and then, soon thereafter, Two Worlds / Dos Mundos. I hope he has as much fun creating these books as we do reading them, by the way. First, there’s the whole visual aspect. The book is rendered with printing ink and pen and ink on paper, and then he works in the whole digital aspects. The layout of the book is clever too. The left-hand side is always in Spanish and shows a kid doing things in Cuba, while on the other page a kid is doing those same things (albeit a little differently) in English in America. As such, this reads as a very young book, and an eye-catching one as well. There’s a well-worn feel to the images. For example, where it says “AGUA” and shows a kid sitting on a boat, fishing, on the other side there’s a city pool that reads “WATER”. The limited color palette is something Rodriguez uses to his own great advantage. Best of all? This is the kind of early book that a parent would enjoy going through over and over. If it’s not a board book in the next few years, I shall eat my proverbial hat. Board book us, Abrams! You have the power! 

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Wanda Hears the Stars: A Blind Astronomer Listens to the Universe / Wanda Oye Las Estrellas: Una astrónoma ciega escucha al universo by Amy S. Hansen with Wanda Díaz Merced, ill. Rocío Arreola Mendoza

All right then. A Puerto Rican, legally blind scientist with diabetes and the work she did that led to changes in how we consider the very universe itself? And it’s beautifully written AND illustrated? AND bilingual in both English and Spanish?!?! What the heckedy heck, folks? When Wanda Díaz Merced went blind in college from her diabetes, she didn’t think she’d be able to continue to pursue physics. Yet not only did she continue with her studies, she found a particular interest in radio waves from space. The audible sounds of a solar burst or more meant that she could teach others about the sounds of a supernova or plasma exploding off of a star. And thanks to Wanda they discovered that by slowing down the tones, a dying star’s energy sets off the birth of new stars. There is COPIOUS backmatter in this title, much to my delight, but the whole package is a class act.

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That’s it for today! Be sure to stay tuned for more lists on 2025 titles. The full roster is here:

December 1 – Great Board Books

December 2 – Picture Book Readalouds

December 3 – Simple Picture Book Texts

December 4 – Transcendent Holiday Children’s Books

December 5 – Rhyming Picture Books

December 6 – Funny Picture Books

December 7 – Caldenotts

December 8 – Wordless Picture Books

December 9 – Bilingual Books for Kids

December 10 – Math Books for Kids

December 11 – Books with a Message / Social Emotional Learning

December 12 – Easy Books

December 13 – Translated Children’s Books

December 14 – Fairy Tales / Folktales / Religious Tales

December 15 – Gross Books

December 16 – Poetry Books

December 17 – Unconventional Children’s Books

December 18 – Early Chapter Books

December 19 – Comics & Graphic Novels

December 20 – Older Funny Books

December 21 – Science Fiction Books

December 22 – Fantasy Books

December 23 – Informational Fiction

December 24 – American History

December 25 – Science & Nature Books

December 26 – Unique Biographies

December 27 – Blueberry Award Contenders (Celebrating the Environment)

December 28 – Nonfiction Picture Books

December 29 – Nonfiction Books for Older Readers

December 30 – Middle Grade Novels

December 31 – Picture Books

Filed under: 31 Days 31 Lists, Best Books, Best Books of 2025