Publishers Weekly Best Young Adult Books of 2025

Publishers Weekly has announced their list of best books for 2025. Here are the selected books in YA:

And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen

A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne

The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum

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

The Leaving Room by Amber McBride

One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller

Reasons to Hate Me by Susan Metallo

Reasons We Break by Jesmeen Kaur Deo

Run Away with Me by Brian Selznick

Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue

Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Nicole Goux

The Tournament by Rebecca Barrow

Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr

Wake Your Friday Brain Cells – November 14 Edition

From the amazing new library where I am Assistant Director.

And I’ll brag a little bit more:

Appleton Public Library wins 2025 Wisconsin Library of the Year award for distinguished service – Post Crescent

Appleton Public Library Wins AIA Chicago People’s Choice Award – SOM

Inside SOM’s Forward-Thinking Appleton Public Library Design – GB&D

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

‘Strega Nona’ is still reaching audiences at 50 years old – NPR

Travel Can Make Classic Children’s Books Come Alive – New York Times

LIBRARIES

How the Library Made Me an Author – SLJ

Ohio Republicans are messing with libraries, but voters just sent a clear warning shot – Cleveland.com

Some Tennessee Libraries Shut Down For “Emergency Closure” Over Transgender Books – Erin in the Morning

YA LIT

Chloe Gong: The Books That Sparked My Dystopia Era – Paste