This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Our besties over at the NYPL have released their picks for the best books of the year. Right off the bat, one huge thing we love about their roundup compared to quite a few other best-of lists is how much space they hold for children’s and YA books. And, their lists for best Adult and YA books each total 50 books individually, while their list of the best Children’s books has 100 titles. They even have a children’s book list that features books in Spanish.
This is so refreshing to see when so many book lists—and awards, even, if we’re keeping it real—seem to merge YA and children’s categories, if they have them at all. What’s more, each list is organized by genre (like Biography & Memoir, Fantasy, Romance, and Historical Fiction) or form (like Comics or Poetry). The Children’s list has an even greater categorization, with 40 categorizations compared to the Adult list’s 11 and the YA list’s 17.
On top of everything, the content of the lists is excellent! There is a mix of buzzy it books and lesser known releases, and lots of diversity. I got a chance to speak to Susen Shi, the New York Public Library’s Young Adult Staff Engagement and Support Manager, about the curation of the list for an episode of Hey YA that you can listen to here.
Speaking of the YA list, it had many books I’d expect (like Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo and Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa) and even a few I wasn’t even aware of (Age 16 by Rosena Fung and Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne). This was also the case for the Adult list and the Children’s list—though, to be fair, I am less versed in children’s books all together.
Below is a sampling of each category’s lists:
For the full lists, visit NYPL.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.
:quality(85):upscale()/2025/05/19/981/n/1922564/93076eb0682bb18c994e06.89379902_.png "What to Wear to Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball Tour")
:quality(85):upscale()/2025/05/23/715/n/1922564/1e63d6e168309df259d956.72331408_.png "21 Best Memorial Day Clothing Sales 2025")
