As I write this we have a government that is more than a little ready to rewrite history in a way that, to put it mildly, is at odds with the truth. As such, I thought it prudent to revive this occasional list. I’ll confess to you that my standards for history in children’s books are a bit on the high side. In an era of false truths and AI “facts”, it seems prudent to only give our kids the best possible (most accurately backed up) history in our literature. So in my picture books and middle grade fiction you’ll see that any real world fact is backed up by Bibliographies and backmatter full o’ facts. As for my nonfiction, here you will not find fake dialogue, suppositions, or blendings of fact and fiction (for that you can go to yesterday’s Informational Fiction list, where such blendings belong). The truth can always be presented to children. You just need to have the brains and the guts to know how to do it well. These books have both.

Oh, and if you’re curious about why there aren’t any biographies on this list, just WAIT until we get to December 26th. It’s going to be a trip.

If you’d like a PDF of today’s list, you can find one here.

And if you are interested in reading past “American history” booklists that I’ve compiled, please consider the following:

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

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2025 American History for Kids

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Picture Books

A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke, ill. Nikkolas Smith

The first time I ever heard this song, which is to say really heard it, was when I watched the film One Night in Miami. Leslie Odom Jr. just killed with that song, and it has since stuck fast in my head. Now there are a lot of picture books out there based on songs. Some make sense in book form (Puff the Magic Dragon), some do not (anyone remember the unfortunate adaptation of the Simon & Garfunkel song It’s All Happening at the Zoo?). As it happens “A Change Is Gonna Come” works well if paired with someone like Nikkolas Smith. It’s still clearly a song in picture book form, but Smith has found ways to both tap into key historical moments in Black Civil Rights and, on occasion, tie them into moments today (I was particularly taken with the image of signs from segregation paired alongside an “America First” mention). Smith works in some of his own personal heroes too, like Gordon Parks, which made me particularly happy. It’s an elegant adaptation with some very nice backmatter that not only identifies the historical figures featured, but also gives context to why those particular moments are key. Heck, you could read this book to a class of kids and have each one zero on in a different moment to research. Adaptable and clever. 

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So Many Years: A Juneteenth Story by Anne Wynter, ill. Jerome Pumphrey

[Previously seen on the Holiday List]

How would you dress, dance, sing, or eat after years of various forms of oppression? A glorious celebration of Juneteenth that cleverly links the past to the present in new, vital, and vibrant ways. It can be hard to come up with an original holiday book, particularly when that holiday comes with as much history and weight as Juneteenth. Full credit to Anne Wynter then. Working with only one of the Pumphrey brothers (!!) she makes the importance of Juneteenth come through her crystal clear words. The text frames the history of Blacks in America through the sense of “How would you?”. So you’ve questions throughout the book like, “How would you dress after so many years of mending your clothes with rags?” all at the beginning. Then, after the muted colors have passed, you get this glorious riot of color in the second half taking place today. Few books tie the past to the present quite as clearly as this one does, and to loop it all together with a holiday kids are familiar with today? Brilliant. Every library should own this. Every last one.

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Middle Grade Fiction

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Will’s Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes

In 1889, young Will and his sharecropper father take part in the Oklahoma land rush. Along the way they encounter rattlesnakes and raging rivers and prejudice, but never give up. An adrenaline rush of a survival story. Okay, I am all in on this. First off, this is just about the most positively masculine thing I’ve read in a long long time. Second, it’s hitting Western trope after Western trope and making them all seem new for kids. From shootouts in the streets to Shane to rattlers, you got it. Like last year’s fellow exoduster novel (and Newbery Honor winner) One Big Open Sky, Rhodes is NOT interested in engaging with where precisely all this open land is coming from. She does have a lot of nice info about displaced Indigenous people in her backmatter, but it would have been nice to see the in the front since none of the characters give them even a second thought. That said, it’s a really sweet story and so tense that I actually had to flip to the end of the book to find out what was going to happen. Bound to keep readers on the edge of their seats. And that cover? *chef’s kiss*

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A Sea of Lemon Trees by María Dolores Águila

The Lemon Grove Incident of 1931 and Mexican-American Roberto Alvarez’s fight against injustice is beautifully rendered in this gentle verse novel based on historical truth. A more timely tale you’re unlikely to find this year. Nominated for a National Book Award, no doubt Águila’s rendering of this hidden history of injustice and triumph will be introducing Roberto’s story to not just kids but adults as well. It’s a remarkably gentle verse novel considering the subject matter. To sum it up, in 1931 the Mexican-American children attending the Lemon Grove Grammar School were told they would be attending a school in a barely renovated barn instead. They not only protested (in the face of illegal deportation and threats to their livelihoods) but won the case, thanks to the testimony of a kid named Roberto Alvarez. As she did in her picture book Barrio Rising, Águila takes a true moment in American history and spotlights it in a historical fiction format. Best of all, it’s a quick and easy read for kids, that still gets to the heart of a grave injustice. 

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Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Bones and Berserkers by Nathan Hale

[Previously seen on the Gross and Graphic Novel Lists]

Ah! One of my rare Three List Books (I only do a few).

So the cover is a bit misleading on this one, I’d say. The endpapers, in contrast, dead on. Emphasis on the dead. Nathan’s always harbored a love of good old-fashioned horror, but it’s tended to come out more in his standalone books like One Trick Pony or (most especially) Apocalypse Taco. His Hazardous Tales, in contrast, can get gory but always stayed relatively safe (a remarkable balance when you’re dealing with something like the Donner Party). But in this latest, with its “13 True Tales of Terror” on its cover, he lets himself go completely. I mean, the first story in this book has a newborn baby killing everyone in the receiving room so… y’know, it lets you know what’s going on right from the start. That’s why this cover, with its Viking on the cover, is downright tame in comparison. Now Nathan has always harbored a special love for Stephen Gammell, he of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (which means Nate should take a gander at the poetry book Nightmare Jones from this year). Indeed, this book is even dedicated to Gammell and Alvin Schwartz. Years and years and years ago, I did a challenge on my blog for folks to Re-Seussify Seuss, which is to say, to rework a famous Seuss image in the style of another artist. Nathan chose to do a selection from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, in a Gammell style and it was damned well the best thing I ever saw. Here take a gander:

So with all that in mind, just know that if you’re handing this one to kids, maybe don’t make it the first Hazardous Tale they see. This book’s a lot more interested in folktales, legends, and urban legends (another Alvin Schwartz similarity) than strict history (though there is that as well… *shudder*). 

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Nonfiction Titles

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Are You a Friend of Dorothy?: The True Story of an Imaginary Woman and the Real People She Helped by Kyle Lukoff, ill. Levi Hastings

How could LGBTQ+ people be safe in an era when being queer was a crime? A book that spotlights and uplifts people who have always wanted, and remain wanting, to be themselves. Sticking it to the man 1950s style. You know, one thing that I really like about Kyle Lukoff is that he doesn’t go for the obvious. When people do nonfiction picture book on queer history, they tend to go for topics like Stonewall, the creation of the Pride flag, or bios of famous folk. Lukoff isn’t afraid to find topics that have a bit of playfulness to them but that also tell a part of history that can be construed as awful, without depressing the children. That’s a fine line for any author to walk. Telling the truth while keeping things kid-friendly. In this book, Lukoff focuses on government surveillance of queer people through the lens of folks calling themselves “friends of Dorothy”. What’s keen is how much joy he’s able to spotlight. There’s a particularly adept section that shows gay people dancing and having parties and weddings on one brightly colored page, while on the opposite page you’ve these muted browns and greens of the government workers listening in on them. A big swing that connects.

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First Ascent: The Epic Yosemite Rock-Climbing Rivalry of Royal Robbins and Warren Harding by Kate Messner, ill. Stevie Lewis

When I die, I’m not entirely certain if I’d like my life to be encapsulated within the context of my rivalry with another person. Then again, it sure would make my life sound exciting! Not as exciting as the lives of Royal Robbins and Warren Harding, of course. I mean, living your life as a big-wall rock climber is so cool that you’d hardly need to add obsessive-rivalry-with-fellow-rock-climber on top of that. Seems like gilding the lily. Reading this book reminded me how fun it is to watch an author like Kate Messner take the rough components of two adult lives and shape them into a story worthy of picture book readers. Another bonus? The way that she writes this tale definitely means that the kids you read it to can take sides. Who do YOU want to win the rivalry? I’m team Royal Robbins myself, but then I was also always the kid who sided with Bert whenever he and Ernie were together. Nerds doing their jobs well are kind of my thing. Also, how can you not respect the guy who carefully gets rid of all the bolts that Warren just friggin’ LEFT in the mountainsides he climbed? An excellent encapsulation of a story kids definitely haven’t seen before on the page. 

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The Friendship Train: A True Story of Helping and Healing After World War II by Debbie Levy, ill. Boris Kulikov

I dunno, man. After the year we’ve had (and the ones to come) I’ve been feeling a bit desperate for stories in which America does anything other than adhere tightly to its own selfishness. So a story in which people try to help starving people in war ravaged countries after WWII? And some of those countries are our former enemies? I sort of needed this book this year. The tale is relatively simple. After WWII, Europe was starving. Americans then banded together and sent four boxcars full of food across the sea. In thanks, France sent gifts back in their own train cars. Each boxcar was given to one of the 48 states. In the backmatter, Levy writes that, “Over the years, the gifts and even some of the boxcars have gone missing. A quick internet search will let you know if your state still has a boxcar on display.” To turn such a moment of hope in history into a picture book is a smart call, and Boris Kulikov does a marvelous job of bringing this tale to life. Would pair well with other WWII picture books for kids, particularly if you want to show what happened afterwards. I’d also consider pairing it with Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando, since that’s another post-WWII picture book with something new to say. 

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Hiding in Plain Sight: Kate Warne and the Race to Save Abraham Lincoln by Beth Anderson, ill. Sally Wern Comport

Nothing like a good old assassination plot storyline to keep the kids interested in historical nonfiction, that’s what I always say. And what story could be wilder and stranger than the one about how Kate Warne and the Pinkerton Detective Agency thwarted an assassination attempt against Abraham Lincoln? Anderson plays fair with her telling of the event. There’s no fake dialogue or delving into the thoughts of these characters without backup. She doesn’t need to! Inventive and exciting writing stands for itself. Meanwhile Comport’s art does interesting things with both her own illustrations and the illustrations of the past, merged together. Indeed, the publication page says that the art was created, “using drawings in pencil, traditional collage, digital collage, and digital paint.” It gets around the whole boring sepia problem we sometimes have when we put old photos into books for kids. I was a bit shocked to learn at the end (in the COPIOUS backmatter – well done there) that no one today knows what Kate Warne actually looked like! Full to the brim with facts on everything from railroads at the time to code names, this is American history done solid! 

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Kaho’olawe: The True Story of an Island and Her People by Kamalani Hurley, ill. Harinani Orme

I’ll be the first to admit that the art used in this book is not a style that I, personally, gravitate towards. Fortunately, I’ve been in this business long enough to realize when my own biases have to be put aside when I read a new title. As it happens, this is a fascinating take on a Hawaiian island I previously knew nothing about. The story shows the full history of Kaho’olawe, letting the reader get to know her and love her before the American military bombs the bloody heck out of her. I liked that you had a bigger, younger text with bold statements in dark red (“Kaho’olawe is weary”) as well as small boxes of longer text for older readers. Great backmatter, a timeline (!!), a Glossary, info on how kids can help (very important and not said in such a way where it makes it sound like everything is up to them), additional Resources, and Selected References. Whew! Thorough!

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Lighthouse Ladies: Shining a Spotlight on Hardy Heroines by Kris Coronado, ill. Islenia Mil

Lighthouse keeping wasn’t for wimps! Meet four brave, intrepid women who fought storms, ice, and used their time to save lives and keep the lights burning bright. If ever you are having a terrible day, just think to yourself, “Well, at least I don’t work in a lighthouse.” And if working in a lighthouse sounds like a delightful, relaxing job to you, allow this book to prove otherwise! One of the intriguing things about this title from Coronado and Mil was how they handled the old “group biography” concept. At their worst, group biographies are dull recitations of facts about people that kids may either vaguely know or not know at all (or care to). A good group biography needs a little more of a kick in the butt. That’s where butt-kicking Kris Coronado comes in. She focuses on four women: Ida Lewis, Juliet Nichols, “Aunt” Venus Parker, and Julia Toomey. The author does this deft turn, weaving one woman’s story into the next, showing their bravery as well as the tragedies they endured. Parker is Black and it’s possible that Toomey is Hawaiian, though this is unclear in the text and the art. In any case, it’s nice to see a bit of diversity in these bios, and Mil’s art is truly eclectic and exciting from page one onward. This is a bit of a class act.

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Women On a Mission: The Remarkable Heroes Who Put Men on the Moon by Suzanne Slade, ill. Molly Magnell

Another group bio! Another group bio that’s really quite great! Now let’s figure something out. You already heard me say that group bios are usually dull. And why are they boring? Because they are almost always the same. You have the drawing of the person, who ascribes to whatever the book’s theme is. There is a write-up about why they’re special. Boom. Done. Dull as dishwater and they’re pretty much just made for school reports. They’re useful as all heck, sure, but few kids would go about reading them for fun. To be fair, there’s very little an author or illustrator can do to make such books interesting. But as Women on a Mission is quick to remind us, you don’t have to resign yourself to the same-old, same-old. Now somebody, and I can’t begin to guess who, at some point in the process of making this collected bio of the women who helped with the first moon landing, had an idea that I’ve never seen replicated before. Do we have the bio of the person on each page? Yup. Is there the obligatory illustration of them on the job? Yup yup. But you know what’s cool and different about all of this? Along with that illustration they have a photograph of the woman at the time doing that job. So suddenly you’ve got a photo of Josephine Jue (clearly twenty years ahead of her time with some impressive big hair) next to the picture of her going through an old computer’s budget calculations. And you have a photo of Reatha Clark King testing rocket fuel in a lab alongside illustrations of rockets going up. And then there’s the design! Pull quotes from the women in colorful boxes. And the bios themselves have direct quotes from the time, while they explain what their jobs really and truly were. Why is this not done with more books? Suddenly the dull group bio gets an injection of life and vitality. You want kids to actually learn something? Try this! 

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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