In January, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the 2025 Youth Media Award winners. Each year, the ALA honors books and other outstanding materials for children and teens published in the preceding year.
Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, the Youth Media Awards include the prestigious Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and Coretta Scott King Book Awards. They guide parents, educators, librarians, and others in selecting the best materials for youth. Selected by committees of librarians and other literature and media experts, the awards encourage original and creative work in the field of children’s and young adult literature and media.
You can find the full list of winners and honor books here. Most of these titles are available in multiple formats to borrow from the library. Happy reading!
John Newbery Medal
Awarded for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
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.
Randolph Caldecott Medal
Awarded for the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz; written by Andrea L. Rogers
Sissy’s younger brother, Chooch, isn’t a baby anymore. They just celebrated his second birthday, after all. But no matter what Chooch does — even if he’s messing something up! Which is basically all the time! — their parents say he’s just “helping.” Sissy feels that Chooch can get away with anything!
Coretta Scott King Award
Awarded to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.
Illustrator winner:
illustrated by C.G. Esperanza; written by Stephanie Seales
While a young Panamanian American girl and her father share “just-us” time on an early morning horseback ride around their town, he tells her cowboy stories and she realizes she is a cowboy too.
Michael L. Printz Award
Awarded for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.
by Samuel Teer; illustrated by Mar Julia
Almudena has always wondered about the dad she never met. Now, with her white mother headed on a once-in-a-lifetime trip without her, she’s left alone with her Guatemalan father for an entire summer. Xavier seems happy to see her, but he expects her to live in (and help fix up) his old, broken-down brownstone. And all along, she must navigate the language barrier of his rapid-fire Spanish — which she doesn’t speak.
Mildred L. Batchelder Award
Awarded for the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
written by Triinu Laan; illustrated by Marja-Liisa Plats; translated from the Estonian by Adam Cullen
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.
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
Awarded for literature about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage.
Picture Book winner:
by Kaylin Melia George; illustrated by Mae Waite
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.
Children’s Literature winner:
by Kathy MacLeod
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.
Youth Literature winner:
by Randy Ribay
Set in the 1930s to today, four generations of Filipino American boys grapple with identity, masculinity, and father-son relationships.
Odyssey Award
Awarded for the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults.
For Children:
A Plate of Hope: The Inspiring Story of Chef Jose Andres and World Central Kitchen
written by Erin Frankel; illustrated by Paola Escobar; narrated by Luis Carlos de La Lombana
A biography about chef José Andrés, who, through his World Central Kitchen organization, is fulfilling a vision to feed people in need all over the world.
Pura Belpré Award
Awarded to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
Children’s Author winner:
written by Karla Arenas Valenti; illustrated by Islenia Mil
Determined to save her brother from the Darkness that plagues their home, ten-year-old Lola follows mythical chaneques into a secret world where she seeks help from the queen.
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
Awarded for the most distinguished informational book for youth.
Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall
written by Lynn Brunelle; illustrated by Jason Chin
A book about the rich ecosystem that springs up around the death of a whale in the deep sea.
Schneider Family Book Award
Awarded for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
Middle Grade winner:
by Rob Harrell
Andrew’s just trying to make it through Picture Day, which is easier said than done when it seems like the whole world is out to get him–from a bully to a science experiment gone wrong to a someone else’s juice snot (don’t ask). But as Andrew goes through the school day, and as one thing after another goes wrong, that little kernel of worry in his stomach is getting hotter and hotter, until it threatens to pop and turn into a public panic attack, his worst fear.
Teen winner:
by Maya Van Wagenen
Dolores Mendoza 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.
Sydney Taylor Book Award
Awarded for outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
Picture Book winner:
written by Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky; illustrated by Stacey Dressen McQueen
Papa has promised to bring home a perfect etrog for Sukkot from his journey across the sea. Rachel and Abe go to the docks every day to wait for his ship. But Rosh Hashanah passes, then Yom Kippur, and still Papa’s ship doesn’t arrive. Grandpapa Luis comforts Rachel with a beautiful silver etrog cup, but will her papa return in time for Sukkot, bringing the promised etrog?
Middle Grade winner:
The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival
by Estelle Nadel and Sammy Savos with Bethany Strout
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.
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
Awarded for the most distinguished book for beginning readers.
by Ame Dyckman; illustrated by Mark Teague
When friends and roommates Bat, Cat, and Rat decide to take a vacation, they have trouble agreeing on a destination until Rat finds the perfect solution.
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction
Awarded for the best nonfiction book published for young adults.
by Paula Yoo
Based on 100+ personal interviews as seen through the eyes and experiences of those who were there, this compelling, nuanced account of Los Angeles’ 1992 uprising, which erupted in violence, discusses its impact on Korean and Black American communities.