It may surprise you to learn that the term “early chapter book” is probably way too broad for the books I’m about to show you here today. Contrary to popular opinion, such books go by a number of names because they can fulfill a number of needs. Some of the books on today’s list you will find distinctly older in both content and art/design. Others will seem to be just a hair older than an easy book. All of them linger in that liminal space between novels and beginner titles.

For the full PDF of this list, you can find it here.

Interested in previous years? Then check out the following.

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019 & 2019
• 2018 & 2018
• 2017 & 2017
• 2016 & 2016

2025 Early Chapter Books

FEATURED TITLE

The Shindig Is Coming! by Cherise Mericle Harper

It’s coming! The Shindig! But what exactly is a Shindig? The forest animals need to figure out the answer to this question and fast, because something truly IS coming… and it’s unexpected. Oh man. Oh geez. I desperately need everyone else to read this book. It starts out with all the trappings of a typical folktale. In fact, I was kind of reminded of Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears as I went through it. But as it continued I began to realize that Harper is doing something daring with this seemingly simple story. Then I got to that ending… Look I have read a LOT of children’s books in my life, and none of them have prepared me for that ending. I’m still pondering it. If I didn’t know Cherise myself I would SWEAR this book was an import. So it’s a quick read, and I know it won’t take you long. Please pick it up and then talk to me. At. Length.

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Adi of Boutanga: A Story from Cameroon by Alain Serge Dzotap, ill. Marc Daniau

Adi loves living in the Cameroon village of Maka 2, going to school, playing with her sisters, and generally having fun. Yet when her uncle announces he’s marrying her off, all that comes to an abrupt end. A daring tale of escape and freedom. One of those sleek books that clock in at 60 pages and could fit in a number of different places in the library. You wouldn’t necessarily think a tale about child brides could be appropriately written for kids, but how wrong such an assumption would be. Dzotap, who lives in Cameroon, does a magnificent job with this story. Adi is such a vibrant person, and he gives both her and the setting in which she lives ample time on the page before the gutting visit from her uncle. The art of Daniau just pops off the pages too. The colors and people and action and sheer vibrancy of the piece are hard to describe. Plus, look at all the patterns that get worked into the pages. It’s a happy story at its heart, though there’s a lot of grief worked in there as well for the girls who could not escape. Love the backmatter as well.

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Amina Banana and the Formula for Friendship by Shifa Saltagi Safadi, ill. Aaliya Jaleel

She may have just immigrated to America from Syria with her family, but Amina is determined to fit in. She even has a helpful list she’s made on how to do precisely that, but all too soon she finds that making friends isn’t quite as difficult as she might have thought. One of those cases where you read the first chapter, get worried that it’s going to be all sunshine and roses about the Syrian immigrant experience in America, and then the difficulties start to mount up. Amina has to overcome her own interpretation of what it will take to fit in, but there are distinct hurdles along the way. I thought it brought a fair amount of nuance to what is, at its heart, a rather simple story. Naturally my mind now wonders what a crossover book between Amina Banana and Brianna Banana (see below) might look like. In any case, this feels familiar but is doing new things with the subject matter on its own. 

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

2025 was a good year from “Boy Who” titles. There was this, The Boy Who Lived in a Shell, and The Boy Who Became a Parrot. In this title, 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. 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 fantastical creature in this book, the nouka, was an interesting variation on a range of 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 in this book to resemble some standard crone. Instead, this lady looks like someone you might run into at the health food store.  Finally, I kind of love that if we take this book at face value, Jem’s little sister really was the one doing all those pranks at the beginning of the story. Ha! Read it to see what I mean.

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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 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, as with Joey, the reader is both sympathetic to Brianna (easy to do when someone has 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, if only to see if the well-meaning adults in her school are capable of getting her the help she so clearly needs.

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Brianna Banana: Worst Surprise Ever by Lana Button, ill. Suharu Ogawa

Oh. You know a moment ago when I said I wished I could see more of Brianna in a book? Welp, it happened. But it was only with the second Brianna Banana book that I began to see what Button was doing here. First off, I read the ad copy and saw that when the author was a kid they used to call her Lana Banana (oof). And Button is so good at never letting the reader get comfortable with Brianna’s behaviors. You don’t want to see her bullied but she also gives into her baser instincts with such ease. There’s a lot of anger there and it probably has a fair amount to do with the fact that her dad got laid off from work (for reasons unclear to Lana and, by extension, us) and then left to find work elsewhere. Her parents are definitely breaking up but Brianna seems to be willfully ignoring that fact. In this book she terrorizes a substitute teacher new to the job (not on purpose, of course) and then, in the course of a single day, things do turn around. It doesn’t hurt that she has the most caring principal in the world, who both understands her, while also never letting her get away with stuff (a delicate balance). BOY, these are good!

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Everyday Bean by Stephanie Graegin

Eleven of the smallest, sweetest stories you ever did see, follow Bean, a little hedgehog, and her small adventures with her Grandma. Who amongst you is capable of resisting the allure of the art of Stephanie Graegin? Who, sez I? Not a one of you, that’s who. Now I always liked Graegin’s style, but it was when I found myself reading and rereading the picture book Water In the Park by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Ms. Graegin, to my children that I truly fell in love. How do I go about explaining what it is that works so well? It has something to do with her tone, of course. Cute without cloying. Sweet but never saccharine. This isn’t her first solo effort, but it’s the book that I, for one, adore the most. In spite of the fact that it contains eleven tiny stories, the publisher is selling this one as a picture book rather than an early chapter or easy book title. Seems a bit of a pity, but you know what this really is? A bedtime book. Extra points to Graegin for managing to tell such short stories so very very well. This is an exercise in restraint that every up-and-coming children’s book creator should study intently.

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From Memen to Mori by Shinsuke Yoshitake, translated by Ajani Oloye

[Previously seen on the Translation List]

In strange and sweet little sequences, a brother and a sister question the world around them in this gently philosophical title. I know that I keep putting weird European books into this category, but I’m not doing that now. No. No, now I’m putting weird Japanese books into this category. Improvement! So I’ve loved Shinsuke Yoshitake for years and years, but he’s never done anything quite as long as this book. It’s separated into little stories that really and truly do embody the spirit of Memento Mori (remembering that you will die). That sounds dire, but they’re sad and sweet. I loved particularly the story of the snowman who wishes for just a little bit of remembrance, even as it melts. Absolutely pitch perfect.

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Have a Good Trip, Mousse! by Claire Lebourg, translated by Sophie Lewis

When the days are dreary and everyone seems to be gone, what else is there to do but take a delightful vacation to the sunny south? But when a new creature horns in on Mousse’s vacation with his best friend, will it spoil everything? Now I admit that even as I write this comment, there is snow coming down outside and the sheer dreariness of the days is beginning to crush my little spirit. Maybe that’s why I was so open to a tale of a small creature in equally (if not worse) dreariness going on vacation at what looks to be the French Riviera. I wanna go there too! The ice cream! The spas! The shell collecting! Though this is the second Mousse book, you needn’t have read the first. And, quite frankly, I like this even more than the first one. I’m always there for a story of good old-fashioned jealousy and this fits the bill. It gets a hella good translation, plus that art!! A small, quiet winner. 

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Henry’s Picture-Perfect Day by Jenn Bailey, ill. Mika Song

In 2025 one clings to those things that are reliably good. Unquestionably excellent. Universally understood to be strong. And if there’s one thing that is always good, with every additional inclusion in the series, it is the Henry books. This would be the third to be released so far, and I am happy to report that it’s just as good as its predecessors. Henry is us. I can’t think of a better series starring a kid with some atypical neurological tendencies that feels like more of an everyman than Henry. Now for me, a large chunk of my enjoyment with this series is rooted in the relationship between Henry and Samuel. Should Bailey & Song ever feel inclined to do a spin-off series about Samuel, I would 100% be here for it. Where Henry frets and worries, Samuel dives head-first without thinking about consequences. Long-suffering Mrs. Tanaka would probably also be worth a series of her own, but that one would be strictly for adults. I imagine she has stories. As ever, the stories in this book end happily and to everyone’s satisfaction. It’s nice to exist in a world where there is the kind of sanity that exists at the end of every Henry book. 

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Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales: Troubling Tonsils by Aaron Reynolds, ill. Peter Brown

Charlie Marmot was just an average kid with an average problem: His tonsils were infected and had to come out. What no one warned him about was what happens when tonsils get ideas of their own…The Rod Serling vibes are strong with this one. As a kid, I really enjoyed seeing the occasional Twilight Zone episode on TV. Capturing that tone and feel in an early chapter book sounds like a recipe for disaster. Like R.L. Stine lite. Yet Reynolds and Brown truly know their material. After all, they’d already honed it to a fine point in three picture books (though I’d argue the creepy factor was strongest in Creepy Carrots). Now they’ve kind of tapped into what made Creepy Carrots such a strong hit in the first place: Disturbing, unnerving phenomena. I thought the disgusting pink of the tonsils was perfect. The weirdo ending without any logical explanation? *chef’s kiss* This is perfect for those kids that want something deeply unnerving but aren’t ready for older fare yet. Looking forward to reading the others in this series!

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Snow Day (Weekend and Zay) by RaQia Lowo, ill. Christian Paniagua

COVID killed many things in our world, and one of the first bastions of childhood to fall was, in fact, the snow day. Transformed into e-learning days at home, there is always the possibility of an e-learning day being foreshortened. So maybe the hijinks associated with snow days can live on in some fashion. Even if they can’t, at least we have books like this one by Lowo and Paniagua to fill in some of the blanks. Now this is a bully book at its core, which is usually my least favorite kind of children’s literature. I always find bullies to be easy sources of friction for authors. However, in this case, bullying leads directly to innovation and experimentation. Weekend and Zay are best friends but they have a problem. Tomorrow’s a snow day and the neighborhood bully is threatening them. Now in spite of the fact that e-learning doesn’t exist in this world, technology most certainly does and it’s woven into the fabric of the storytelling. To combat their problem (not being able to have a decent snowball fight because of the jerk on the street) our heroes use a clever combination of science, engineering (snow fort engineering, that is) and surreptitious video footage to win the day. Do our heroes essentially blackmail the baddie to keep him from bothering them again? You bet. Do you care? You do not. 

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The Unlikely Aventuras of Ramón and El Cucuy by Donna Barba Higuera, ill. Juliana Perdomo

So let me get this straight. One moment Donna Barba Higuera is penning what, to my mind, has to be the most harrowing science fiction Newbery Award-winning title of all time, then the next she’s writing an original interpretation of an ancient Mesoamerican myth in a graphic novel-ish style and THEN I find out that she also dips her pen in ink for an early chapter book series kickoff based on the picture books she wrote with these characters before?!? And it’s good?? The original picture books of Higuera took a creature of myth and legend and rendered it small, cute, and scared. The early chapter book does much the same thing. In this story El Cucuy lives in a kind of Monsters, Inc. world. His mission, the one he’s training for, is to go out into our world and scare some kind into behaving well. Trouble is, El Cucuy is the youngest in his class, and all he really wants is a family (or “Clump”) of his own. When he’s paired with Ramón, a boy who recently moved to Seattle from Albuquerque and is miserable, the two discover that they need one another. You’d never know that these characters had existed in any other form and Higuera keeps everything pretty light and fun. So glad I caught it in time to add to this list!

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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