Award Winning Children's Books for 2025 - Little Library of Learning

Every year, the American Library Association presents various children’s book awards. Why not introduce some of the best award winning children’s books in your classroom or library?

The Caldecott Medal is given to the illustrator of the best picture book.

Caldecott gold medal winner Chooch Helped, by Andrea L. Rogers and illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz, focuses on a Cherokee girl whose two-year old brother, Chooch, makes a mess of things when “helping” and his sister struggles to learn patience.

The following are Caldecott silver medal honor books.

Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains, by Anita Yashuda and illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest and ascend the Seven Summits, climbing the highest peak on every continent.

Noodles on a Bicycle, by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Gracey Zhang, is about Tokyo’s bicycle food deliverers, who balance trays of steaming hot noodles on their shoulders, while navigating crowded city streets.

My Daddy Is a Cowboy, by Stephanie Seales and illustrated by C.G. Esperanza, tells the story of a young girl and her father riding their horses around the city.

Home in a Lunchbox, written and illustrated by Cherry Mo, tells the story of a young girl who has immigrated to America from Hong Kong. Feeling overwhelmed by all the strange new things, she opens her lunchbox and sees the familiar Chinese foods her mother has packed.

Ideas for Teaching about Caldecott Books

Newbery Award Books

The Newbery Medal is given to the author of a chapter book or novel for upper elementary or middle school.

The First State of Being is by Erin Entrada Kelly. When Ridge, a time-traveling teenager from the future, gets trapped in 1999, he befriends Michael, a lonely twelve-year-old boy, changing the course of their lives forever.

These are the silver Newbery honor books:

Spanning over 500 years, Ruth Behar’s epic novel, So Many Seas, tells the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, many of them forced to leave their country and start a new life.

Award-winning author and artist Chanel Miller tells a fun, funny, and poignant story in Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All of friendship and community starring Magnolia Wu, a ten-year-old sock detective bent on returning all the lonely only socks left behind in her parents’ NYC laundromat.

The intergenerational verse novel, One Big Open Sky, by Lesa Cline-Ransome explores the history of the Black homesteader movement.

1879, Mississippi. Young dreamer Lettie may have her head in the stars, but her body is on a covered wagon heading westward. Her father, Thomas, promises that Nebraska will be everything the family needs: an opportunity to claim the independence they’ve strived for over generations on their very own plot of land.

Twelve-year-old Fern believes she’s living a noble life–but what if everything she’s been told is a lie? This is a huge-hearted story, The Wrong Way Home, about a girl learning to question everything—and to trust in herself.

Fern’s lived at the Ranch, an off-the-grid, sustainable community in upstate New York, since she was six. The work is hard, but Fern admires the Ranch’s leader, Dr. Ben. So when Fern’s mother sneaks them away in the middle of the night and says Dr. Ben is dangerous, Fern doesn’t believe it. She wants desperately to go back, but her mom just keeps driving.

Suddenly thrust into the treacherous, toxic, outside world, Fern can think only of how to get home. She has a plan, but it will take time. As that time goes by, though, Fern realizes there are things she will miss from this place—the library, a friend from school, the ocean—and there are things she learned at the Ranch that are just…not true.

Ideas for Teaching about Newbery Award books

Pura Belpré Award

The Belpré Award honors a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose works celebrate the Latino cultural experience.

Lola, written by Karla Arenas Valenti; illustrated by Islenia Mil, won the 2025 Belpré Medal. The award is named for the first Latina librarian in the New York Public Library.

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.

This garnered the Youth Illustrated Award: The Dream Catcher, written and illustrated by Marcelo Verdad.

A Mexican child who works selling dream catchers alongside his abuelito learns that treasuring the present moment is as important as chasing one’s hopes and dreams for the future.

Shut Up, This Is Serious, by Carolina Ixta, received the 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.

Robert F. Sibert Medal

For nonfiction, the Sibert Medal recognizes the authors and illustrators of the most distinguished informational book.

Life After Whale, written by Lynn Brunelle; illustrated by Jason Chin takes 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.

The following are the Sibert Award honor books: Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams Of Billy Mills, written by Billy Mills and Donna Janell Bowman; illustrated by S.D. Nelson.

Billy Mills was once an orphan on the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation. But before his father was called to the ancestors, he told Billy how to conquer his suffering: You have broken wings, son. You have to dig deeper, below the anger, the hurt, the self-pity. The pursuit of a dream will heal you.

Despite poverty, racism, and severe health challenges, Billy raced toward his goal of becoming an Olympic athlete, inspired by his indigenous ancestors who stood strong when the odds were against them. Though at times he felt like his wings were clipped—a lone bird falling from the sky—he adapted and overcame, finally earning his place at the 1964 Olympics.

The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival, by Estelle Nadel and Sammy Savos, with Bethany Stout.

Born to a Jewish family in a small Polish village, Estelle Nadel―then known as Enia Feld―was just seven years old when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. Once a vibrant child with a song for every occasion, Estelle would eventually lose her voice as, over the next five years, she would survive the deaths of their mother, father, their eldest brother and sister, and countless others.

Call Me Roberto: Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos, by Nathalie Alonzo and illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez examines the life and career of the famous right fielder. Roberto Clemente always loved baseball. Growing up in Carolina, Puerto Rico, he swung tree branches (since he didn’t have a bat) and hit tin cans. His dedication paid off when, at the age of 19, he was tapped for a major league team. Months later, he finally got his chance with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clemente had an instant impact on the field—hitting the ball and making it to first base and finally home. Many Pittsburgh fans loved his bold style on the field, but not everyone was quick to embrace a Black man from Puerto Rico who spoke español.

The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II, by Candace Fleming recounts the powerful and fascinating story of the brave and dedicated young women who helped turn the tides of World War II for the Allies, with their hard work and determination at Bletchley Park.

Need Gold or Silver Stickers?

You might want to put out a display of award-winning books. Kids love to select books festooned with gold or silver medals. Incidentally, if you had purchased any of the books before they won the honors, be advised that you can purchase the stickers from the American Library Association.