Our Top 10 Children’s Books of 2025
We read a lot this year, from picture books to chapter books to nonfiction. Our top books of 2025 include themes of multiculturalism, justice, travel and immigration, and learning to celebrate differences. Huge shoutout to the West Chicago Public Library staff, whose thoughtful curation brought most of these books into our hands. Note: All links to go Bookshop.org to encourage support for independent bookstores.
10. The Red Jacket, by Bob Holt
A fun and whimsical book about a seagull who thinks his jacket is what makes him cool and accepted among his peers, until it gets washed away. The book also involves fries in the pocket, which the kids loved.
9. How Do Meerkats Order Pizza? Wild Facts about Animals and the Scientists Who Study Them, by Brooke Barker
Nonfiction for children at its best! Children get to “go out in the field” with supercool scientists as they research questions like whether crows remember faces or whether dogs can tell if you’re smiling.
8. An Anthology of Rocks and Minerals, by Devin Dennie
Our youngest (6 years old) loved learning about the different rocks, their comparative hardness, and how they are used in real life. The images in this book are gorgeous!
7. Mr. Lepron’s Mystery Soup, by Giovanna Zoboli
A fantastical and wonderfully illustrated story of a rabbit whose soup brings him fame and fortune, but it turns out that’s not what he wanted all along.
6. Gifts from the Garbage Truck: A True Story About the Things We (Don’t) Throw Away by Andrew Larsen
One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, as they say. We loved this true story about a New York City sanitation worker who collected items he found along his trash pickup route and turned them into a museum. It puts our crazy overconsumption into perspective in a creative and nonjudgmental way for kids, encouraging us to think differently about all our “stuff.”
5. Free to Learn: How Alfredo Lopez Fought for the Right to Go to School, by Cynthia Levinson
This story is based on a 1977 case where Texas law barred undocumented children from attending public school. Told through the voice of Alfredo Lopez, the 9-year-old watches sadly while other children get to go to school. Eventually his family and their lawyer go to court arguing the law is unconstitutional, and win. It’s always so rewarding to expose our kids to stories of ordinary people who fought for justice and prevailed.
4. I Am An American: The Wong Kim Ark Story by Martha Brockenbrough with Grace Lin
Another book based in history about Wong Kim Ark, a man with Chinese roots born in the United States in 1873. He returned from a trip to China in 1895 and was told he wasn’t an American and couldn’t enter the country. Wong Kim Ark took his case to the Supreme Court, firmly establishing birthright citizenship in this country.
3. The Lost Year, by Katharine Marsh
We read this chapter book out loud during a long road trip. The kids were sucked in right from the start by one of the main characters, Matthew, who tries to finagle more screen time for playing The Legend of Zelda from a stressed-out mom who is trying to work, care for her elderly grandmother, and parent during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In other words, we all could relate! It tells the story about a devastating 1930s famine in Soviet-era Ukraine and of what people will do to survive. This book also got us reading all the other Katherine Marsh books, including Nowhere Boy and The Night Tourist. We highly recommend this author!
2. We Are Definitely Human, by X Fang
A group of aliens crash-land on earth. Instead of the usual narrative where humans and aliens regard each other with suspicion of ill motives, the humans show surprising kindness and acceptance, and the result is delightful. This is what I want to teach our kids about approaching strangers: that in the end, hospitality and humanity win the day. Also check out X Fang’s Dim Sum Palace.
1. My South American Classroom, by us, Matt and Liuan Huska!
So we may be a little biased, but we do love this story about our family gap year and how our kids learned to have grit, make friends, and navigate new places. This review is from Carla, one of our readers: “Delightful story with vivid illustrations. My kids and I remained engaged in the various adventures and mishaps that were described. We also appreciated the definitions and cultural facts shared along the way. We didn’t want the story to end!”
What were your favorite children’s books of 2025? Leave a comment and let us know!
Written and illustrated by the authors of this blog.
A Book for Little Travelers
A True Story From Our Gap Year
