The American Library Association announced the winners of its 2025 Youth Media Awards, which honor books for children and young adults.
The John Newbery Medal, given to “the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children,” went to Erin Entrada Kelly for The First State of Being; the children’s science fiction novel was also a finalist for the National Book Award. Kelly won the 2018 Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe.
Four books received Newbery Honors: Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar; Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All, written and illustrated by Chanel Miller; One Big Open Sky by Lesa Cline-Ransome; and The Wrong Way Home by Kate O’Shaughnessy.
Rebecca Lee Kunz won the Randolph Caldecott Medal, given to “the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children,” for Chooch Helped, written by Andrea L. Rogers.
The Caldecott Honor books were Home in a Lunchbox, illustrated and written by Cherry Mo; My Daddy Is a Cowboy, illustrated by C.G. Esperanza and written by Stephanie Seales; Noodles on a Bicycle, illustrated by Gracey Zhang and written by Kyo Maclear; and Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu and written by Anita Yasuda.
Twenty-Four Seconds From Now..., written by Jason Reynolds, won the Coretta Scott King Author Book Award, while Brownstone, written by Samuel Teer and illustrated by Mar Julia, took home the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.
A full list of winners is available at the ALA website.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
