Horn Book has announced the 2025 Fanfare, their picks for the best books of the year by their editors and reviewers. Here are the selected titles:
PICTURE BOOKS
Afloat by Kirli Saunders, illus. by Freya Blackwood
Anything by Rebecca Stead, illus. by Gracey Zhang
Cat Nap by Brian Lies
Fireworks by Matthew Burgess, illus. by Cátia Chien
The House That Floated by Guojing
How to Reach the Moon by Nicolás Schuff, illus. by Ana Sender
Island Storm by Brian Floca, illus. by Sydney Smith
Moon Song by Michaela Goade
The Moving Book by Lisa Brown
Our Lake by Angie Kang
A Place for Us by James E. Ransome
Sato the Rabbit: Morning Light by Yuki Ainoya
When I Hear Spirituals by Cheryl Willis Hudson, illus. by London Ladd
Your Farm, Your Forest, Your Island by Jon Klassen (three titles)
FICTION
All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson
Beasts by Ingvild Bjerkeland
Everyday Bean by Stephanie Graegin
Everything Is Poison by Joy McCullough
The Forest of a Thousand Eyes by Frances Hardinge, illus. by Emily Gravett
How to Say Goodbye in Cuban by Daniel Miyares
I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins
If Looks Could Kill by Julie Berry
Night Light by Michael Emberley
Oasis by Guojing
Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Rose Field by Philip Pullman
Run Away with Me by Brian Selznick
Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley
Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi
Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout
The Strongest Heart by Saadia Faruqi
Titan of the Stars by E. K. Johnston
Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr
The Winter of the Dollhouse by Laura Amy Schlitz
Your Turn Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly
POETRY
Dear Acorn (Love, Oak): Letter Poems to Friends by Joyce Sidman, illus. by Melissa Sweet
How Elegant the Elephant: Poems about Animals and Insects by Mary Ann Hoberman, illus. by Marla Frazee
NONFICTION
Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming
The Endless Sea by Chi Thai, illus. by Linh Dao
The History of We by Nikkolas Smith
How Sweet the Sound by Kwame Alexander, illus. by Charly Palmer
Hurricane by Jason Chin
I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This by Eugene Yelchin
Imogen: The Life and Work of Imogen Cunningham by Elizabeth Partridge, illus. by Yuko Shimizu
Outside In and Inside Out: A Story about Arnold Lobel by Emmy Kastner
This Is Orange: A Field Trip through Color by Rachel Poliquin, illus. by Julie Morstad
We Carry the Sun by Tae Keller, illus. by Rachel Wada
White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History by Ann Bausum
A World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, a Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes Out by Nicholas Day, illus. by Yas Imamura
Waking Brain Cells 