Every year, the New York Public Library undertakes a massive, lovingly intense project: reading thousands of titles across every genre imaginable to determine which books truly defined the year. The result is the NYPL Best Books of 2025—a curated collection across Adults, Teens, and Kids categories that reflects the breadth, ambition, and imagination of today’s publishing landscape.
This year’s lists feel especially vibrant. They span continents and communities, move between the personal and the political, and showcase voices rewriting what storytelling can look like—across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, fantasy, romance, and works that defy categorization entirely. And as always, NYPL’s picks carry the quiet promise that there is a book waiting for everyone.
Below are the full lists by category.
The Afterlife of Malcolm — Mark Whitaker
The Appalachian Sea — Steve Scafidi
The Art Spy — Michelle Young
Audition — Katie Kitamura
The Beast in the Clouds — Nathalia Holt
Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance — Ben Passmore
Blood on Her Tongue — Johanna van Veen
The Book of Records — Madeleine Thien
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter — Stephen Graham Jones
The Burial Tide — Neil Sharpson
Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance — Joe Dunthorne
The City Changes Its Face — Eimear McBride
The Confessional — Paige Hender
The Country Under Heaven — Frederic S. Durbin
Dead Girl Cameo: A Love Song in Poems — M. Mick Powell
Death of the Author — Nnedi Okorafor
The Devils — Joe Abercrombie
The Director — Daniel Kehlmann
Drome — Jesse Lonergan
Dwelling — Emily Hunt Kivel
The End Is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother — Jill Bialosky
Fair Play — Louise Hegarty
A Flower Traveled in My Blood — Haley Cohen Gilliland
The Forgotten Sense — Jonas Olofsson
Fresh, Green Life — Sebastian Castillo
Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love — Samin Nosrat
Groceries — Nora Claire Miller
Heartwood — Amity Gaige
I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness — Irene Solà, translated from Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem
I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always — Douglas Kearney
Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children — Noliwe Rooks
The Jailhouse Lawyer — Calvin Duncan and Sophie Cull
The Jamaica Kollection of the Shante Dream Arkive — Marcia Douglas
King of Ashes — S. A. Cosby
The Last Guy on Earth — Sarina Bowen
The Living and the Rest — José Eduardo Agualusa
No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson — Gardiner Harris
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This — Omar El Akkad
Perfection — Vincenzo Latronico
Precious Rubbish — Kayla E.
Promise Me Sunshine — Cara Bastone
Stone Yard Devotional — Charlotte Wood
Terrestrial History — Joe Mungo Reed
A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke — Adriana Herrera
The Trouble with Anna — Rachel Griffiths
The True Happiness Company — Veena Dinavahi
Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticing — Lili Taylor
Valley of Forgetting — Jennie Erin Smith
Vantage Point — Sara Sligar
The Wilderness — Angela Flournoy
After We Burned — Marieke Nijkamp
American Spirits — Barb Rosenstock
Angelica and the Bear Prince — Trung Le Nguyen
Ban This! — Christina Ellis, Renee Ellis, Edha Gupta, Ben Hodge, Patricia A. Jackson, and Olivia Pituch
Breath of the Dragon — Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee
Brewed with Love — Shelly Page
Deadstream — Mar Romasco-Moore
Death in the Jungle — Candace Fleming
Devils Like Us — L. T. Thompson
Exceptional X-Men Vol. 1 — Eve L. Ewing
Fight AIDS! — Michael G. Long
First Love Language — Stefany Valentine
Flip — Ngozi Ukazu
Get Real, Chloe Torres — Crystal Maldonado
Hello Sunshine — Keezy Young
Honeysuckle and Bone — Trisha Tobias
The House No One Sees — Adina King
How to Survive a Slasher — Justine Pucella Winans
How We Play the Game — Alexis Nedd
I Wanna Be Your Girl Vol. 1 — Umi Takase
If We Were a Movie — Zakiya N. Jamal
The Invisible Wild — Nikki Van De Car
I'll Pretend You're Mine — Tashie Bhuiyan
Knucklehead — Tony Keith Jr.
Legendary Frybread Drive-In — edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Loudmouth — Deborah Heiligman
Needy Little Things — Channelle Desamours
On the Wings of La Noche — Vanessa L. Torres
One of the Boys — Victoria Zeller
Our Infinite Fates — Laura Steven
Ours to Tell — Eldon Yellowhorn & Kathy Lowinger
Rebis: Born and Reborn — Irene Marchesini
The Red Car to Hollywood — Jennie Liu
Say a Little Prayer — Jenna Voris
The Scammer — Tiffany D. Jackson
The Secret Astronomers — Jessica Walker
Silenced Voices — Pablo Leon
Somadina — Akwaeke Emezi
Spacewalking with You Vol. 1 — Inuhiko Doronoda
The Swans of Harlem — Karen Valby
Tall Water — S. J. Sindu
That Devil, Ambition — Linsey Miller
They Bloom at Night — Trang Thanh Tran
This Moth Saw Brightness — A. A. Vacharat
Tiger Slayer — Ruby Lal
Truth Is — Hannah V. Sawyerr
The Unexpected Consequence of Bleeding on a Tuesday — Kelsey B. Toney
When Devils Sing — Xan Kaur
White Lies — Ann Bausum
You and Me on Repeat — Mary Shyne
Ablaze: The Story of America's First Female Smokejumper — Jessica Lawson
Akeem Keeps Bees! — Kamal Eugene William Bell
Algunos y los otros — Dipacho
All the Blues in the Sky — Renée Watson
Amina Banana and the Formula for Friendship — Shifa Saltagi Safadi
And There Was Music — Marta Pantaleo
Angélica y la güira — Angie Cruz
Another Word for Neighbor — Angela Pham Krans
Are You a Friend of Dorothy? — Kyle Lukoff
Beansprout — Sarah Lynne Reul
Before I Lived Here — Stacy S. Jensen
Benny on the Case — Wesley King
Bienvenida a casa, Esmerelda — Daniela Ramirez
Billions to Burn — Taylor Banks
The Black Mambas: The World's First All-Woman Anti-Poaching Unit — Kelly Crull
Brianna Banana, Helper of the Day — Lana Button
Broken — X. Fang
Buscando a Ahmed — Jesús Ballaz
Cabin Head and Tree Head — Scott Campbell
Carousel Summer — Kathleen Gros
Cat Nap — Brian Lies
Cosas pequeñas y extraordinarios — Daniela Arroio & Micaela Gramajo
Creaky Acres — Calista Brill & Nilah Magruder
Dad Rock Dragon Quest — Joan Reardon
Dancing with Water — Gwendolyn Wallace
Deeply Dave — Michael Grover
El libro de magia de una joven bruja — Soledad Romero
El mejor mal día de mi vida — Marianna Coppo
El Niño — Pam Muñoz Ryan
Every Monday Mabel — Jashar Awan
Everybelly — Thao Lam
Faith Takes the Train — Kesi Augustine
Filo's Butterflies — Litea Fuata
Firefly Song — Colleen Paeff
Fireworks — Matthew Burgess
The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice — Amy Alznauer
For a Girl Becoming — Joy Harjo
Free Piano (Not Haunted) — Whitney Gardner
Freedom Celebration: A Juneteenth Party — Angela Dalton
The Freedom Seeker — Ruchira Gupta
The Grimmelings — Rachael King
Halfway to Somewhere — Jose Pimienta
Hermanas, llueva o truene — Nelly Buchet
Higher Ground — Tull Suwannakit
Hilwa's Gifts — Safa Suleiman
How Sweet the Sound — Kwame Alexander
How the Word Is Passed (Adapted for Young Readers) — Clint Smith & Sonja Cherry-Paul
I Dance — Diana Rañola
I Want You to Know — Mona Damluji
The Ink Witch — Steph Cherrywell
Instante — Roger Ycaza
The Interpreter — Olivia Abtahi
Junius Leak and the Spiraling Vortex of Doom — Allan Wolf
Kahoʻolawe: The True Story of an Island and Her People — Kamalani Hurley
Kickturn — Brie Spangler
La charla — Alicia D. Williams
Las plumas: no son sólo para volar — Melissa Stewart
The Last Ember (The Aerimander Chronicles, Book 1) — Lily Berlin Dodd
The Last Resort — Erin Entrada Kelly
Lazos salvajes — Laura Camón
Los pantalones de Luisa — Susanna Isern
Los viernes comemos churros — Jenny Alvarado
Make a Pretty Sound: A Story of Ella Jenkins — Traci N. Todd
Mariam's Dream — Leila Boukarim
Martín Parlanchín — Carmen Mateo
Masks — Margaret Rae & Brian Nathanson
Mi abuela es una bruja — Mayra Cuevas
The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls — Judith Rossell
Millie of the Manor — Karina Evans
Miss Betti, What Is This? — Lela Nargi
My Name Is Jem — Olivia Muscat
Nearly Exactly Almost Like Me — Jennifer Bradbury
Never Silent — Setsuko Thurlow & Kathy Lowinger
Nightmare Hunter (Maxwell Dark, Book 1) — Brady Smith
Nightsong — Sally Soweol Han
The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli — Karina Yan Glaser
No más señora Mimí — Meg Medina
Nunu and the Sea — Isabella Kung
Ochún y yo — Adiba Nelson
Of the Sun — Xelena González
Old Blue Is My Home — Lita Judge
Ollie in Between — Jess Callans
On Guard! — Cassidy Wasserman
Para que tú llegaras — Claudio Aguilera
Pine Cone Regrown — Elisa Boxer
A Place for Us — James Ransome
Please Pay Attention — Jamie Sumner
The Queen Bees of Tybee County — Kyle Casey Chu
Ratnip: Lost and Found in the City — Cam Higgins
Return to Sender — Vera Brosgol
Safe Crossing — Kari Percival
Say Something, Poupeh Babaee! — Haleh Massey
Scarlet Morning — ND Stevenson
Schoolbot 9000 — Sam Hepburn
A Sea of Lemon Trees — María Dolores Águila
The Secret of Honeycake — Kimberly Newton Fusco
Seven Skies All at Once — Ted Kooser
Shark Girl — Kate Beaton
A Skeleton in the Closet — Claire Hatcher-Smith
Sleep Here, Wake There — Caio Zero
Smoke & Mirrors — Rosalyn Ransaw
Speak Up, Santiago! — Julio Anta
Squid in Pants — Kaz Windness
The Summer of the Bone Horses — Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
Sword of the Champion (Dragonforged, Book 1) — Eric Lide
Tres tigres tiquismiquis — Edu Flores
The Truth About the Tooth Fairy — Leah Cypess
Turtles Heading Home! — Liza Ketchum, Phyllis Root, and others
Tíos y primos — Jacqueline Alcántara
Un cuento a medias — Luciana De Luca
Unboxing Libby — Steph Cherrywell
The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest — Aubrey Hartman
The Unlikely Aventuras of Ramón and El Cucuy — Donna Barba Higuera
Valiant Vel — Jerrianne Hayslett
We Dig Fossils — Alliah L. Agostini
We Go Slow — Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie
We Leap Together — Christopher Silas Neal
Whale Eyes — James Robinson
What if We… — Vivienne Chang
The World Entire — Elizabeth Brown
Worm Makes a Sandwich — Brianne Farley
Xolo — Donna Barba Higuera
¡Es mío! — Klara Persson
¡Viva el aguacate! — Taltal Levi
¡¿Ropa vieja para la cena?! — Nathalie Alonso