Below is Fanfare, a list of the books that the Horn Book editors and reviewers have selected as the best of 2025. The annotated list will be published in the December issue of Notes from the Horn Book (sign up!) and in the January/February 2026 issue of the Horn Book Magazine (subscribe!). Help us “blow the horn” on social media (Facebook: @Facebook.com/TheHornBook | Instagram: @thehornbook | Bluesky: @thehornbook.bsky.social). Happy reading!

Picture Books

Sato the Rabbit: Morning Light
by Yuki Ainoya, illus. by the author, trans. from Japanese by Michael Blaskowsky; Enchanted Lion

The Moving Book
by Lisa Brown, illus. by the author; Porter/Holiday

Fireworks
by Matthew Burgess, illus. by Cátia Chien; Clarion/HarperCollins

Island Storm
by Brian Floca, illus. by Sydney Smith; Porter/Holiday

Moon Song
by Michaela Goade, illus. by the author; Little, Brown

The House That Floated
by Guojing, illus. by the author; Random House Studio/Random

When I Hear Spirituals
by Cheryl Willis Hudson, illus. by London Ladd; Holiday

Our Lake
by Angie Kang, illus. by the author; Kokila/Penguin

Your Farm
Your Forest
Your Island
by Jon Klassen, illus. by the author; Candlewick

Cat Nap
by Brian Lies, illus. by the author; Greenwillow

A Place for Us
by James E. Ransome, illus. by the author; Paulsen/Penguin

Afloat
by Kirli Saunders, illus. by Freya Blackwood; Levine/Levine Querido

How to Reach the Moon
by Nicolás Schuff, illus. by Ana Sender, trans. from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel; Amazon Crossing Kids

Anything
by Rebecca Stead, illus. by Gracey Zhang; Chronicle

Fiction

Rebellion 1776
by Laurie Halse Anderson; Dlouhy/Atheneum

If Looks Could Kill
by Julie Berry; Simon

Beasts
by Ingvild Bjerkeland, trans. from Norwegian by Rosie Hedger; Em Querido/Levine Querido

Sisters in the Wind
by Angeline Boulley; Holt

I Am the Swarm
by Hayley Chewins; Viking

Night Light
by Michael Emberley, illus. by the author; Holiday

Sọmadịna
by Akwaeke Emezi; Knopf

The Strongest Heart
by Saadia Faruqi; Quill Tree/HarperCollins

Everyday Bean
by Stephanie Graegin, illus. by the author; Tundra

Oasis
by Guojing, illus. by the author; Godwin/Macmillan

The Forest of a Thousand Eyes
by Frances Hardinge, illus. by Emily Gravett; Amulet/Abrams

Titan of the Stars
by E. K. Johnston; Tundra

Your Turn Marisol Rainey
by Erin Entrada Kelly, illus. by the author; Greenwillow

Everything Is Poison
by Joy McCullough; Dutton

How to Say Goodbye in Cuban
by Daniel Miyares, illus. by the author; Schwartz/Random

The Rose Field
by Philip Pullman; Knopf

Truth Is
by Hannah V. Sawyerr; Amulet/Abrams

The Winter of the Dollhouse
by Laura Amy Schlitz; Candlewick

Run Away with Me
by Brian Selznick, illus. by the author; Scholastic

Song of a Blackbird
by Maria van Lieshout, illus. by the author; First Second

All the Blues in the Sky
by Renée Watson; Bloomsbury

Poetry

How Elegant the Elephant: Poems About Animals and Insects
by Mary Ann Hoberman, illus. by Marla Frazee; Tingley/Little, Brown

Dear Acorn (Love, Oak): Letter Poems to Friends
by Joyce Sidman, illus. by Melissa Sweet; Clarion/HarperCollins

Nonfiction

How Sweet the Sound
by Kwame Alexander, illus. by Charly Palmer; Little, Brown

White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History
by Ann Bausum; Roaring Brook

Hurricane
by Jason Chin, illus. by the author; Porter/Holiday

A World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, a Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes Out
by Nicholas Day, illus. by Yas ­Imamura; Random House Studio/Random

Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown
by Candace Fleming; Schwartz/Random

Outside In and the Inside Out: A Story About Arnold Lobel
by Emmy Kastner, illus. by the author; Viking

We Carry the Sun
by Tae Keller, illus. by Rachel Wada; Norton

Imogen: The Life and Work of Imogen Cunningham
by Elizabeth Partridge, illus. by Yuko Shimizu; Viking

This Is Orange: A Field Trip Through Color
by Rachel Poliquin, illus. by Julie Morstad; Candlewick

The History of We
by Nikkolas Smith, illus. by the author; Kokila/Penguin

The Endless Sea
by Chi Thai, illus. by Linh Dao; Candlewick

I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This
by Eugene Yelchin, illus. by the author; Candlewick