Belated welcome, 2026! We recently closed our next issue, so we finally have time to revisit everything that happened in 2025. We always enjoy looking back on the past twelve months in the world of children's and YA literature with our annual Horn Book Year in Review. We hope you do too.

2025 ALA Awards coverage

2025 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards coverage, including our in-person awards ceremony 

Summer Reading

The Horn BOO Herald

Holiday High Notes

Fanfare

2025 Horn Book Magazine features

• Black Means: Roll Call & Rap: A Found Poem of Coretta Scott King Award & Honor Book Titles (for 3 voices) by Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford
• On the Cover by Charly Palmer
• Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson: Scenes from a Remarkable Marriage by Betsy Groban
• Generational Ties in Children's Book Translation by Emma Otheguy
• When Fingers Are Fearless by Shifa Saltagi Safadi
• The Horn Book & the Ampersand by Nancy Upper
• Between Fiction and Reality: The Playground of Metafiction by Cathryn M. Mercier
• Reality Reimagined:
  • Worlds, Worries, and Wishes by Tracey Baptiste
  • Zombies and Ghosts and Aliens, Oh My! by Adrianna Cuevas
  • The Weight of Longing by Guojing
  • The Paint by Frances Hardinge
  • Not a Word Isn't Coming from the Deep by A.S. King
  • Magic and Marginalization by Sacha Lamb
  • A Conversation with Reality by Shaun David Hutchinson
  • Escapist Fantasies Are Political by Jordan Ifueko
  • A Club of Science Nerds by Donna Barba Higuera
  • Reality and Fantasy by Sabaa Tahir
  • A Hero in the Here and Now by Kamilah Cole
  • Fantasy vs. Reality by Philip Reeve
  • Unreal Estate by Neal Shusterman
  • The Tools of Fantasy by Darcie LIttle Badger
• Real Talk by Shoshana Flax and Grant Snider
• An Important Job: National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by Mac Barnett
• Curating The Art of Grace Lin by Melissa Hung
• Won't You Miss the Polar Bears? by Martha Meyer

2025 Horn Book Magazine columns

• Board Book Roundup: 
  • The Fabric of Baby Books by Rachel G. Payne
  • That's About the Size of It by Rachel G. Payne
• Cadenza: 
  • 2025 Mind the Gap Awards
  • Crayon Drawing by Shawn Harris
• Field Notes:
  • Teaching Our Stories with the Latinx KidLit Book Festival by Tracey T. Flores and Carla España
• Horn Book Reminiscences: 
  • Horn Book Editors I've Known and Loved Before by Cathryn M. Mercier
  • My Horn Book Treasures by Celia C. Pérez
• New for New Readers:
  • Beginning Reader Roundup 2025 by Adrienne L Pettinelli
• A Publisher's Perspective:
  • A Two-Brained Intersection: Creativity, Commerce, and Publishing Today by Karen Boss
  • Modern-Day Merits of Diverse Books by Jason Low
• The Writer's Page: 
  • Evidence!: Long Road to a Short Book by Deborah Hopkinson
  • Freedom Braids: The Power of Metaphors in "Liberation Literature" by Monique Duncan
  • The Impossibility of Writing Board Books by Rachel G. Payne

hbook.com articles

• Bertha Miller's Letters to Hilda van Stockum, 1941–1944 by John Tepper Marlin
• The Multiple Voices of Lore Segal (1928–2024) by Emily Schneider
• The Blueberry Awards: Celebrating the Best Nature Books that Promote Climate Stewardship for Kids by Susan Dove Lempke
• A Visit to the Bologna Children's Book Fair: Showcase, Marketplace, Meeting Point, and Celebration of Books for Children and Young People by Elena Abós
• While the Climes They Are A-Changin' by Shoshana Flax
• Celebrating Storytellers: Highlights from the 57th Annual Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival by Libby Mica
• A Most Remarkable Maine Man: A Tribute to Ashley Bryan by Sheila Wilensky
• Boston Book Festival 2025

Interviews

• 100 Years Old and Still Relevant: A Conversation About The Brownies' Book by Dianne Johnson-Feelings and Jonda C. McNair
• Five questions for the 2025 Massachusetts Book Award winners
• Five questions for Mike Curato by Malinda Lo
• Five questions for Hollins University's Dr. Elizabeth O Dulemba by Elissa Gershowitz and Jennifer Tullos
• Joyful Song: Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour 2025 by Shoshana Flax
• Five questions for:
  • Jason Reynolds
  • Amy Cherrix
  • Cheryl Willis Hudson and London Ladd
  • Brian Selznick
  • Rebecca Stead and Gracey Zhang by Cynthia K. Ritter and Shoshana Flax
  • E. K. Johnston
  • Ibi Zoboi and Juanita Londoño
  • Michelle Cusolito and Jessica Lanan
  • Julie Berry
  • Laura Amy Schlitz by Horn Book editors and Sarah Ellis

Talks with Roger

• Megan E. Freeman
• Karen Cushman
• Maria van Lieshout
• Laurie Halse Anderson
• Rebekah Taussig
• Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud
• Barbara McClintock
• Jeanne Birdsall
• Andrea Zuill
• Daniel Miyares
• Katherine Rundell
• Joanna Ho and Caroline Kusin Pritchard
• Alexs Pate
• Brian Lies
• Amber McBride
• Yuyi Morales
• Tae Keller

Publishers' Previews

January/February: New Books for Emerging Readers

Valerie Garfield | Elliott Kalan | Greg Pizzoli | Angela Dominguez

March/April: Spring 2025

Martha Brockenbrough and Juana Martinez-Neal | Sarah Clawson Willis | Oz Rodriguez and Claribel A. Ortega | Ibram X. Kendi

May/June: Diverse Books

Erin Entrada Kelly| Craig Kofi Farmer | Antwan Eady and London Ladd | Melissa Hart | Sawyer Lovett

July/August: Debut Authors

C. M. Cornwell | Amelia Bothe | Chris Raschka

September/October: Fall 2025

Norman Ollestad and Brendan Kiely | Tori Tadiar | Karina Yan Glaser | Nicholas Day

November/December: Picture Books and Graphic Novels

Norm Feuti | Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison | Eric Velasquez

In memoriam

• Barbara Elleman
• Jules Feiffer
• Uri Shulevitz
• Chrystal Carr Jeter
• Anne Elisabeth (Annabeth) Suter
• Jean Van Leeuwen
• Marjorie Agosín
• Harry Lerner
• Jane Gardam
• Sylvia Louise Engdahl
• Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Katie Cunningham
• Patty Campbell
• Allan Ahlberg
• Ken Mochizuki
• Jeanette Winter
• Jo Ann Allen Boyce
• Peg Kehret
• Sophie Kinsella
• Brian Doyle

Blogs

Calling Caldecott | Family Reading |Out of the Box

Miscellaneous

Booklists and resources

Book Reviews of the Week

Editorials

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