2025 Kirkus Best Books of the Year (Awarded by Kirkus)

Awards List

Beginning Readers

Brianna Banana, Helper of the Day
(*)
Lana Button

Bad Badger
(*)
Maryrose Wood

The Summer of the Bone Horses
(*)
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve

Amina Banana and the Formula for Friendship
(*)
Shifa Saltagi Safadi

Lost and Found
(*)
Kate DiCamillo

Lone Wolf Goes to the Library
(*)
Kiah Thomas

The Unlikely Aventuras of Ramon and El Cucuy
(*)
Donna Barba Higuera

Troubling Tonsils!
(*)
Aaron Reynolds

Book Club Fiction

Theft
(*)
Abdulrazak Gurnah

A/S/L
(*)
Jeanne Thornton

Flesh
(*)
David Szalay

Flashlight
(*)
Susan Choi

Fresh, Green Life
(*)
Sebastian Castillo

Gaysians
(*)
Michael Curato

Moderation
(*)
Elaine Castillo

Minor Black Figures
(*)
Brandon Taylor

Pick a Color
(*)
Souvankham Thammavongsa

Debut Fiction

A Gorgeous Excitement
(*)
Cynthia Weiner

Old School Indian
(*)
Aaron John Curtis

The Catch
(*)
Yrsa Daley-Ward

Great Black Hope
(*)
Rob Franklin

The Slip
(*)
Lucas Schaefer

The Hounding
(*)
Xenobe Purvis

The Sunflower Boys
(*)
Sam Wachman

The White Hot
(*)
Quiara Alegria Hudes

Empowering Picture Books

Home
(*)
Matt De La Pena

The Peanut Man
(*)
Carmen Agra Deedy

Big Enough
(*)
Regina Linke

A Book of Maps for You
(*)
Lourdes Heuer

City Summer, Country Summer
(*)
Kiese Laymon

For a Girl Becoming
(*)
Joy Harjo

You and Me, Anenome
(*)
Rachel Vail

The Moving Book
(*)
Lisa Brown

Together, United
(*)
Tami Charles

Balloon
(*)
Bruce Handy

Broken
(*)
X. Fang

Shibu's Tail
(*)
Tess Thomas

Croco
(*)
Azul Lopez

Fiction

How to Dodge a Cannonball
(*)
Dennard Dayle

Fiction in Translation

House of Day, House of Night
(*)
Olga Tokarczuk

We Do Not Part
(*)
Han Kang

Hunchback
(*)
Saou Ichikawa

The Director
(*)
Daniel Kehlmann

I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness
(*)
Irene Sola

The Old Man by the Sea
(*)
Domenico Starnone

The Lack of Light
(*)
Nino Haratischvili

The Wax Child
(*)
Olga Ravn

Fictional Families

Beartooth
(*)
Callan Wink

Dream Count
(*)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Spent: A Comic Novel
(*)
Alison Bechdel

Bug Hollow
(*)
Michelle Huneven

Culpability
(*)
Bruce Holsinger

These Summer Storms
(*)
Sarah MacLean

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
(*)
Kiran Desai

The Wilderness
(*)
Angela Flournoy

Evensong
(*)
Stewart O'Nan

Palaver
(*)
Bryan Washington

Wreck
(*)
Catherine Newman

Fictional Voices

Twist
(*)
Colum McCann

Audition
(*)
Katie Kitamura

The Emperor of Gladness
(*)
Ocean Vuong

Vera, or Faith
(*)
Gary Shteyngart

People Like Us
(*)
Jason Mott

We Loved to Run
(*)
Stephanie Reents

Will There Ever Be Another You
(*)
Patricia Lockwood

Heart the Lover
(*)
Lily King

Funniest Picture Books

Stalactite & Stalagmite
(*)
Drew Beckmeyer

Don't Trust Fish!
(*)
Neil Sharpson

Mistaco
(*)
Eliza Kinkz

Cranky, Crabby Crow (Saves the World)
(*)
Corey R. Tabor

Recess
(*)
Lane Smith

This Year, a Witch!
(*)
Zoey Abbott

Aggie and the Ghost
(*)
Matthew Forsythe

Historical Fiction

Isola
(*)
Allegra Goodman

The Antidote
(*)
Karen Russell

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
(*)
Stephen Graham Jones

North Sun
(*)
Ethan Rutherford

Sons and Daughters
(*)
Chaim Grade

The Listeners
(*)
Maggie Stiefvater

Fonseca
(*)
Jessica Francis Kane

The Wayfinder
(*)
Adam Johnson

Middle-Grade Family Stories

One Crazy Summer
(*)
Rita Williams-Garcia

Chickenpox
(*)
Remy Lai

Okchundang Candy
(*)
Jung-soon Go

The Strongest Heart
(*)
Saadia Faruqi

Maggie Lou Meets Her Match
(*)
Arnolda Dufour Bowes

How to Say Goodbye in Cuban
(*)
Daniel Miyares

Partypooper
(*)
Jeff Kinney

Middle-Grade Fantasy and SF

The Edge of the Silver Sea
(*)
Alex Mullarky

Bird of a Thousand Stories
(*)
Kiyash Monsef

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest
(*)
Aubrey Hartman

The Garden Just Beyond
(*)
Lindsey Leavitt

The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon
(*)
Grace Lin

The Story of Gumluck and the Heroes
(*)
Adam Rex

The Village Beyond the Mist
(*)
Sachiko Kashiwaba

Graciela in the Abyss
(*)
Meg Medina

The Island of Forgotten Gods
(*)
Victor Pineiro

Defanged
(*)
H.E. Edgmon

The Forest of a Thousand Eyes
(*)
Frances Hardinge

The Ink Witch
(*)
Steph Cherrywell

The Last Resort
(*)
Erin Entrada Kelly

The Poisoned King
(*)
Katherine Rundell

Scarlet Morning
(*)
N.D. Stevenson

The Last Ember
(*)
Lily Berlin Dodd

Middle-Grade Fiction

How the Word Is Passed
(*)
Clint Smith

No Purchase Necessary
(*)
Maria Marianayagam

My Presentation Today Is About the Anaconda
(*)
Bibi Dumon Tak

Rick Kotani's 400 Million Dollar Summer
(*)
Waka T. Brown

Adi of Boutanga
(*)
Serge Dzotap

The Reel Wish
(*)
Yamile Saied Mendez

Weird Sad and Silent
(*)
Alison McGhee

Displaced
(*)
Patrick Ochieng

The Freedom Seeker
(*)
Ruchira Gupta

The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze
(*)
Derrick Barnes

Pocket Bear
(*)
Katherine Applegate

Coach
(*)
Jason Reynolds

Finding Lost
(*)
Holly Goldberg Sloan

Xolo
(*)
Donna Barba Higuera

Middle-Grade Graphic Fiction

Tuck Everlasting
(*)
Natalie Babbitt

Monkey King and the World of Myths
(*)
Maple Lam

Fresh Start
(*)
Gale Galligan

It's About Time!: Big Ideas That Changed the World #6 (A Nonfiction Graphic Novel)
(*)
Don Brown

Oasis
(*)
Guojing

Dream On
(*)
Shannon Hale

I'm a Dumbo Octopus!
(*)
Anne Lambelet

The Cartoonists Club
(*)
Raina Telgemeier

Dear Jackie
(*)
Jessixa Bagley

School Dance
(*)
Sarah Sax

Cabin Head and Tree Head
(*)
Scott Campbell

The Five Wolves
(*)
Peter McCarty

The Many Misfortunes of Eugenia Wang
(*)
Stan Yan

Night Chef: An Epic Tale of Friendship with a Side of Deliciousness
(*)
Mika Song

Middle-Grade Historical Fiction

Danilo Was Here
(*)
Tamika Burgess

Scattergood
(*)
H.M. Bouwman

Will's Race for Home
(*)
Jewell Parker Rhodes

Max in the Land of Lies
(*)
Adam Gidwitz

The Pecan Sheller
(*)
Lupe Ruiz-Flores

Giant
(*)
Judith McQuoid

The Teacher of Nomad Land
(*)
Daniel Nayeri

The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli
(*)
Karina Yan Glaser

Yoli's Favorite Things
(*)
Patricia Santana

Mysteries and Thrillers

The Dentist
(*)
Tim Sullivan

The Dark Maestro
(*)
Brendan Slocumb

Detective Aunty
(*)
Uzma Jalaluddin

Marguerite by the Lake
(*)
Mary Dixie Carter

Murder Takes a Vacation
(*)
Laura Lippman

King of Ashes
(*)
S.A. Cosby

Fog and Fury
(*)
Rachel Howzell Hall

The Man Who Died Seven Times
(*)
YASUHIKO NISHIZAWA

Buried Above Ground
(*)
Mike Ripley

Clown Town
(*)
Mick Herron

The Librarians
(*)
Sherry Thomas

Picture Books

How Sweet the Sound
(*)
Kwame Alexander

When I Hear Spirituals
(*)
Cheryl Willis Hudson

Hurricane
(*)
Jason Chin

Tuck Me In!
(*)
Nathan W. Pyle

This Is Orange
(*)
Rachel Poliquin

Picture Books About Nature

We Are the Wibbly
(*)
Sarah Tagholm

Your Forest
(*)
Jon Klassen

The Gift of the Great Buffalo
(*)
Carole Lindstrom

Pencil
(*)
Hye-eun Kim

I Would Give You My Tail
(*)
Tanya Tagaq

I'm Like a Tree and a Tree's Like Me
(*)
Sylvaine Jaoui

Nightsong
(*)
Sally Soweol Han

Where the Deer Slip Through
(*)
Katey Howes

Dawn
(*)
Marc Martin

Sundust
(*)
Zeke Pena

Dear Acorn (Love, Oak)
(*)
Joyce Sidman

Moon Song
(*)
Michaela Goade

Picture Books Celebrating Community

Raven's Ribbons
(*)
Tasha Spillett

Everybelly
(*)
Thao Lam

The Littlest Drop
(*)
Sascha Alper

Some of Us
(*)
Rajani LaRocca

Late Today
(*)
Jungyoon Huh

The Witch in the Tower
(*)
Julia Sarda

Vida
(*)
Duncan Tonatiuh

Picture Books Celebrating Family

The Interpreter
(*)
Olivia Abtahi

When Alexander Graced the Table
(*)
Alexander Smalls

Home Is a Wish
(*)
Julia Kuo

Tios and Primos
(*)
Jacqueline Alcantara

Our Lake
(*)
Angie Kang

Midnight Motorbike
(*)
Maureen Shay Tajsar

Night Light
(*)
Michael Emberley

Anything
(*)
Rebecca Stead

Big Family Beach Day
(*)
Nina Crews

Everyday Bean
(*)
Stephanie Graegin

Fish Fry Friday
(*)
Winsome Bingham

Island Storm
(*)
Brian Floca

Popo the Xolo
(*)
Paloma Angelina Lopez

And They Walk On
(*)
Kevin Maillard

Picture Books for Animal Lovers

To See an Owl
(*)
Matthew Cordell

Where Are You, Bronte?
(*)
Tomie DePaola

Blue
(*)
Suzanne Kaufman

I Am We
(*)
Leslie Barnard Booth

Cat Nap
(*)
Brian Lies

The Polar Bear and the Ballerina
(*)
Eric Velasquez

Picture Books for Starting Conversations

Astro
(*)
Manuel Marsol

Pilgrim Codex
(*)
Vivian Mansour

The Slightly Spooky Tale of Fox and Mole
(*)
Cecilia Heikkila

Before I Lived Here
(*)
Stacy S. Jensen

The House That Floated
(*)
Guojing

The Invisible Parade
(*)
Leigh Bardugo

One Can
(*)
Lana Button

My Home Is in My Backpack
(*)
Eugenia Perrella

The Search for Our Cosmic Neighbors
(*)
Chloe Savage

Picture-Book Biographies

Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa
(*)
Sara Andrea Fajardo

The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice
(*)
Amy Alznauer

Firefly Song
(*)
Colleen Paeff

Romance

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke
(*)
Adriana Herrera

Unloved
(*)
Peyton Corinne

Chaos
(*)
Constance Fay

Unlikely Story
(*)
Ali Rosen

Can't Get Enough
(*)
Kennedy Ryan

Rules for Ruin
(*)
Mimi Matthews

It Had To Be Him
(*)
Adib Khorram

Ladies in Hating
(*)
Alexandra Vasti

The Earl That Got Away
(*)
Diana Quincy

Female Fantasy
(*)
Iman Hariri-Kia

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Aunt Tigress
(*)
Emily Yu-Xuan Qin

Once Was Willem
(*)
M.R. Carey

When We Were Real
(*)
Daryl Gregory

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
(*)
V.E. Schwab

Engines of War
(*)
R.S. Ford

The Bewitching
(*)
Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Automatic Noodle
(*)
Annalee Newitz

Lessons in Magic and Disaster
(*)
Charlie Jane Anders

Katabasis
(*)
R.F. Kuang

The Isle in the Silver Sea
(*)
Tasha Suri

The Blackfire Blade
(*)
James Logan

Short Fiction

Thrilled to Death
(*)
Lynne Tillman

Atavists
(*)
Lydia Millet

Martha's Daughter
(*)
David Haynes

Are You Happy?
(*)
Lori Ostlund

The Missing Kidney and Other Stories
(*)
Maxine Rosaler

The Words of Dr. L
(*)
Karen E. Bender

Make Your Way Home: Stories
(*)
Carrie R. Moore

The Pelican Child
(*)
Joy Williams

Dystopian Fiction

Brother Bronte
(*)
Fernando A. Flores

The Dream Hotel
(*)
Laila Lalami

Wild Dark Shore
(*)
Charlotte McConaghy

The Book of Guilt
(*)
Catherine Chidgey

What We Can Know
(*)
Ian McEwan

A Guardian and a Thief
(*)
Megha Majumdar

Sacrament
(*)
Susan Straight

Middle Grade Exploring Social Themes

Sea Legs
(*)
Jules Bakes

A World Worth Saving
(*)
Kyle Lukoff

The Peach Thief
(*)
Linda Joan Smith

The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun
(*)
Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Seabird
(*)
Michelle Kadarusman

Confessions From the Group Chat
(*)
Jodi Meadows

Middle-Grade Mystery & Thriller

The Stolen Songbird
(*)
Judith Eagle

Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker
(*)
Heidi Heilig

Beasts
(*)
Ingvild Bjerkeland

The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls
(*)
Judith Rossell

A Little Too Haunted
(*)
Justine Pucella Winans

Outside
(*)
Jennifer L. Holm

Secrets of the Purple Pearl
(*)
Kate McKinnon

Middle-Grade Poetry & Verse Novels

All the Blues in the Sky
(*)
Renee Watson

It's All or Nothing, Vale
(*)
Andrea Beatriz Arango

The Boy Who Lived in a Shell
(*)
John Himmelman

Words with Wings and Magic Things
(*)
Matthew Burgess

The Trouble with Heroes
(*)
Kate Messner

Bibsy Cross and the Time Capsule
(*)
Liz Garton Scanlon

Picture-Book Read-Alouds

Caboose
(*)
Travis Jonker

Let's Be Bees
(*)
Shawn Harris

Every Monday Mabel
(*)
Jashar Awan

Papilio
(*)
Ben Clanton

Fireworks
(*)
Matthew Burgess

Go, Sloth, Go!
(*)
Toni Yuly

Award Categories

Affirming Picture Books

Bedtime Books

Beginning Readers

Board Books

Book Club Fiction

Books for Beginning Readers

Debut Fiction

Dystopian Fiction

Empowering Picture Books

Environmental Fiction

Fiction

Fiction in Translation

Fictional Families

Fictional Voices

Funniest Picture Books

Historical Fiction

Informational Picture Books

Joyous Picture Books

Middle Grade Exploring Social Themes

Middle-Grade About Speaking Up

Middle-Grade Activist

Middle-Grade Adventures

Middle-Grade Family Stories

Middle-Grade Fantasy and SF

Middle-Grade Fiction

Award Years

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019