Last week the American Library Association announced the winners of the annual Youth Media Awards, which honor the best books for young readers in a number of categories. Below are the winners of each award. For more information, including the honorable mentions for each category, check out the ALA's press release.
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The first state of being
by Erin Entrada Kelly 2025 John Newbery Medal When a teenage boy appears out of nowhere in 1999, claiming he's the world's first time-traveler and has a book outlining the events of the next 20 years, 12-year-old Michael wants to get his hands on the book and must decide how far he's willing to go to do so. |
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Chooch Helped is a universal story of an older sibling learning to make space for a new child, told with grace by Andrea L. Rogers and stunning art from Rebecca Lee Kunz showing one Cherokee family practicing their cultural traditions. |
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The #1 New York Times best-selling author tackles a first-time sexual experience from the guy's perspective in this unfiltered and undeniably sweet stream of consciousness story about teen boy Neon, who is about to experience a huge first with his girlfriend, Aria. |
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While taking an early morning horseback ride with her father around their city, a young girl is regaled with cowboy stories filled with fun, community, friendship, discovery and pride and, feeling seen in a new way, discovers that she, too, is a cowboy. |
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Kwame crashes the underworld
by Craig Kofi Farmer Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award When he is sucked into a magical whirlpool that leads him straight to the Ghanaian underworld, 12-year-old Kwame Powell, with a mischievous monkey by his side, finds himself in a fight to save humanity along with his late grandmother who is somehow alive—and still a kid. |
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Jimmy's rhythm & blues : the extraordinary life of James Baldwin
by Michelle Meadows Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award This first-ever picture book biography of the legendary writer and activist introduces readers to this passionate Black man who discovered his true power in the written word, which opened the world to him as he used his voice fearlessly. |
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Left alone with her Guatemalan father for the summer while her mom goes on a once-in-a-lifetime trip without her, Almudena struggles to adjust to this new reality by getting to know the residents of his Latin American neighborhood while helping his dad fix his broken-down brownstone--and their relationship. |
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A little like magic
by Sarah Kurpiel Schneider Family Book Award: Younger Children's Award In this breathtaking story of finding inspiration in art and natural beauty, a young girl reluctantly agrees to attend an ice festival where she sees sparkling, glorious sculptures that feel like magic, resulting in a special surprise that stays with her long after the ice melts. |
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Popcorn
by Rob Harrell Schneider Family Book Award: Middle Grade Award Feeling like the whole world is out to get him, Andrew finds that little kernel of worry in his stomach threatening to pop and turn into a public panic attack while trying to get the perfect school picture on Picture Day. |
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Chronically Dolores
by Maya Van Wagenen Schneider Family Book Award: Young Adult Award Dolores Mendoza is not thriving. She was recently diagnosed with a chronic bladder condition called interstitial cystitis. The painful disease isn't life threatening, but it is threatening to ruin her life. Just when things seem hopeless, Dolores meets someone poised to change her fate. Terpsichore Berkenbosch-Jones is glamorous, autistic, and homeschooled against her will by her overprotective mother. After a rocky start, the girls form a tentative partnership. Beautiful, talented Terpsichore will help Dolores win back her ex-best friend, Shae. And Dolores will convince Terpsichore's mom that her daughter has the social skills to survive public school. It seems like a foolproof plan, but Dolores isn't always a reliable narrator, and her choices may put her in danger of committing an unforgivable betrayal. |
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The weight of blood
by Tiffany D. Jackson Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults While at Springville High's first integrated prom, Maddie, a constantly bullied biracial teenager, is tormented by her classmates until her secret is revealed—one that will cost them their lives. |
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Everyone deserves a quiet, restful retirement. But for John, a newly retired classroom skeleton, life is just beginning. When John is adopted by Grams and Gramps and leaves the classroom to live on their farm, every day is an exciting new adventure: John rides in the car for the first time, makes a snow angel, scares away crooks, and becomes a source of comfort for Grams, Gramps, and their grandkids. |
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The dream catcher
by Marcelo Verdad Pura Belpré Children’s Illustration Award An uplifting story about a boy who stays true to his biggest dream while finding the magic in every moment shows how living in the here and now can be a journey every bit as beautiful as a dream. |
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Lola
by Karla Valenti Pura Belpré Children’s Author Award To save her brother, who's growing sicker by the day, 10-year-old Lola, touched by magic, enters a hidden world where she must use her wits and face her deepest fears to defeat the kingdom's young queen who stands in the way of the cure. |
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Shut up, this is serious
by Carolina Ixta Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Award An unforgettable YA debut about two Latina teens growing up in East Oakland as they discover that the world is brimming with messy complexities. |
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Life after whale : the amazing ecosystem of a whale fall
by Lynn Brunelle The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Taking an honest look at the circle of life, this breathtakingly illustrated book follows a whale as she closes her eyes for the last time, sinking to the bottom of the ocean where her enormous body sets the stage for new ecosystems to flourish. |
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Lunar boy by Jessica Wibowo Stonewall Book Awards - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s Literature Award Indu, a boy from the moon, feels like he doesn't belong. He hasn't since he and his adoptive mom disembarked from their spaceship--their home--to live on Earth with their new blended family. The kids at school think he's weird, he has a crush on his penpal who might not like him back, and his stepfamily doesn't seem to know what to do with him. Worst of all, Indu can't even talk to his mom about how he's feeling because she's so busy. In a moment of loneliness, Indu calls out to the moon, begging them to take him back. And against all odds, the moon hears him and agrees to bring him home on the first day of the New Year. But as the promised day draws nearer, Indu finds friendship in unlikely places and discovers that home is more than where you come from. And when the moon calls again, Indu must decide: Is he willing to give up what he's just found? |
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Canto contigo : a novel
by Jonny Garza Villa Stonewall Book Awards - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Young Adult Literature Award When a mariachi star transfers schools, he expects to be handed his new group's lead vocalist spot, but what he gets instead is a tenacious current lead with a very familiar, very kissable face |
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Vacation : three-and-a-half stories
by Ame Dyckman Theodor Seuss Geisel Award In three-and-a-half funny stories about friendship and compromise, Bat, Cat and Rat decide they need a vacation, but conflicts and some well-meaning pranks, as well as very different ideas, make trip-planning almost impossible until Rat takes over. |
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Not like other girls
by Meredith Adamo William C. Morris Award When her former best friend Maddie disappears after coming to her for help, Jo-Lynn, an outcast ever since her nude photos were leaked, finds a way back inside the clique where she is forced to confront everything she'd rather forget to find the girl who betrayed her. |
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Rising from the ashes : Los Angeles, 1992 : Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a city on fire
by Paula Yoo YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults |
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Aloha everything
by Kaylin Melia George Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature: Picture Book When Ano, a courageous young girl, begins to dance the hula—a storytelling dance form that carries the knowledge, history and folklore of the Hawaiian people, she comes to understand the true meaning of aloha. |
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Continental drifter
by Kathy Macleod Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature: Children's Literature Spending most of the year in Bangkok and then the summer in Maine, Thai American Kathy struggles to fit in and longs to find a place where she truly belongs, but she's not sure if it's in America, Thailand… or anywhere. |
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Everything we never had
by Randy Ribay Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature: Young Adult Literature Set in the 1930s to today, four generations of Filipino American boys grapple with identity, masculinity, and father-son relationships. |
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An etrog from across the sea
by Kerry M. Olitzky The Sydney Taylor Book Award: Picture Book Rachel and her family anxiously await Papa's return home with the most perfect etrog for Sukkot from across the sea. |
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The girl who sang : a Holocaust memoir of hope and survival
by Estelle Nadel The Sydney Taylor Book Award: Middle Grade When the Nazis invade her small Polish town, Enia Feld is separated from her family and forced into hiding and at the mercy of her neighbors, in this gripping graphic memoir of survival and rediscovering your song during the Holocaust. |
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Night owls
by A. R. Vishny The Sydney Taylor Book Award: Young Adult Owl-shifting female vampires from Jewish tradition, sisters Clara and Molly, who work their historic movie theater by day and feed on men in secret at night, must enter New York's monstrous underworld to save Molly's girlfriend, breaking all their rules of love, of life and of death itself. |