The 20 best children’s books of 2025

Best picture books for early years

Hello Santa! (baby-2) by Sharon King-Chai

The award-winning illustrator of Julia Donaldson’s Animalphabet has taken the humble baby board book and given it a glow-up in her delightfully shiny Mirror Magic series. Babies will be entranced by the bold shapes and joyful designs. I’ve also seen grumpy, grown men stop to flick through the mirrored pages, which goes to show that some of us never lose our magpie eye for shiny, pretty things. Hello Santa! is the latest festive one, but the Mirror Magic range includes others like Hello Fish!, Hello Sun! and Hello Bee!, continuing the sensory experience for little ones the whole year round.
Two Hoots £8.99
Buy a copy of Hello Santa!

Oh Dear, Look What I Got! (3+) by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

It has been 36 years since the publication of their beloved classic, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. This year Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury teamed up again to create another winner that feels similarly destined to be read on repeat for many years to come. Each page has the child guessing which animal will appear next. Nostalgic and charming, it’s a masterclass in simplicity. How do they make it look so easy?
Walker £12.99
Buy a copy of Oh Dear, Look What I Got

Best picture books for children of all ages

What Feelings Do at Night (3-7) by Tina Oziewicz and Aleksandra Zajac

The talented Polish duo Tina Oziewicz, an author, and Aleksandra Zajac, an illustrator, have fun imagining what each emotion would look like were it a creature, and how it would spend its time when no one is watching. Neither plumps for the obvious choice when a weird and wonderful one will do instead. It’s a bit like an eastern European arthouse version of the Mr Men series — and I mean that in a good way. Some descriptions are playful: “Friendship orders a pizza.” Others are lyrical: “Love floats across the sky in Longing’s balloon.” The darker emotions are addressed, but in a healthy and optimistic way: “Hatred wishes it was always night. But every time, the dawn has to come and ruin everything. No matter what she does, the sunlight always returns.” And who needs colour when you have black-and-white pencil drawings this charming?
Pushkin £14.99
Buy a copy of What Feelings Do at Night

The Witch in the Tower (age 5-9) by Julia Sarda

Easily one of my favourite books this year. It may feature witches and cauldrons, but please don’t mistake this exquisite picture book as a novelty Halloween publication — it’s so much classier than that. There is something of the spirit of Maurice Sendak in the rhythm of the trippy story about one of three sisters who has been bullied. She gets her mojo back thanks to a wise old witch who looks like Kate Bush. There are several surprising things on every page. From the bathroom thick with plants and slime to the panopticon full of books and the crystal prisms scattering rainbows across the potion room, the artwork is sublime. Yes, there are spiders and broomsticks, but this is a book that will bewitch you all year round.
Walker £14.99
Buy a copy of The Witch in the Tower

The Cave Explorer (5+) by Kate Winter

Imagine the thrill of stumbling upon a forgotten cave and discovering a fabulous, flickering art show from 17,000 years ago. This exceptional picture book for readers of all ages takes us back to the moment a French teenager experienced exactly that. The Cave Explorer celebrates all the magic and wonder that Marcel Ravidat must have felt at 18 when he and three friends found the cave art at Lascaux in 1940 — and briefly kept it a secret — before sharing their discovery with the rest of the world. A book to be treasured.
Puffin £7.99
Buy a copy of The Cave Explorer

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The Forest of Dreams (5+) by Merve Atilgan

This intriguing picture book by the Turkish illustrator Merve Atilgan follows a girl who creates an enchanted forest in her mind. Lush, translucent layers of colour reveal a “secret world”: a Turkish version of woodland fairies and magic that feels quite unfamiliar. Witches dance round a fire, bears skate on ice, and a pair of toads in party hats are up to something, “their eyes gleaming with tricks”. Winding her way through them is a girl wearing brown moth wings over a bright red onesie.
Big Picture Press £12.99
Buy a copy of The Forest of Dreams

Best books for 6-9 year olds

The Appletree Animal Agency (6-9) by Katya Balen

If you’re looking for cosy, heartwarming escapism in the spirit of Dick King-Smith, this new series by the acclaimed children’s writer Katya Balen ticks all the boxes. Mattie dreams of having a puppy but knows her dad will never relent. When the new vet and animal rescuer Dr Polly finds herself overwhelmed by animals in need of forever homes, Mattie and her friends are only too happy to help.
Walker £6.99
Buy a copy of The Appletree Animal Agency

Best funny books

Diary of a Future Billionaire (8+) by Pamela Butchart

When his dad blows the family savings on a scam mongoose farm, Ben steps up with his big ideas to make his family a fortune. He needs to get rich quick, but the lack of support from his local kebab shop is just the first of many hurdles. This latest caper by Pamela Butchart, a bestselling author from Dundee, is entertaining, relatable and enlivened by doodles and illustrations every few paragraphs to encourage reluctant readers. (Or as Ben might say, to keep things “jazzy”.) He doesn’t quite become a billionaire, but he does triumph in a satisfying way that may even encourage the resourcefulness of a few budding entrepreneurs.
Scholastic £7.99
Buy a copy of Diary of a Future Billionaire

What Happens Online (11+) by Nathanael Lessore

In real life, friendless Fred feels invisible. He only has four contacts in his phone and one of them is Aldi customer services. But as soon as he sits in his leather wheelie gaming chair and logs on as his wisecracking gamer alter ego, Existor, he feels like the most popular guy on the planet. Nathanael Lessore is a rising star in children’s books and in Fred he has created an Adrian Mole for the gaming generation. His wisecracks and one-liners had my 11-year-old son in stitches. Beneath the jokes, there’s emotional depth to this cautionary tale about balancing your online life with your real one. It also provides youngsters with the added pleasure of explaining — tweensplaining? — all the slang terms to the adults in their lives. A brilliant read for tween boys and girls.
Hot Key Books £8.99
Buy a copy of What Happens Online

Best books for 9+

Maptastic! (9-12)

Did you know that Australia’s largest cattle ranch is almost as big as Belgium? Or that hurricanes never cross the Equator? Or that there’s a crater on the moon named after the medieval monk who made the first map of the whole of Africa? (Fra Mauro’s 1450 gold-flecked map showing cities, palaces and pyramids is still a thing of beauty.) This fantastic book is targeted at 9 to 12-year-olds, but younger children will also like the maps showing shipwrecks, sea monsters, satellite-tracked eagle flights and the places with the most deadly animals. Meanwhile, cartophiles and data geeks of any age can pour over aerial views of the Siege of Vienna and the underwater routes of the major fibreoptic cables that form the backbone of the internet. Consider all your festive trivia needs sorted.
DK Children £22
Buy a copy of Maptastic!

Deep Dark (9+) by Zohra Nabi

Like Little Dorrit in the Dickens novel, Cassia Thorne lives in the jail where her father is imprisoned for debt. She scrapes a living by selling ballads at Bartholomew Fair among the other street children who, like Cassia, have no one to watch out for them. When they go missing, no one seems to care. There is so much wonderful detail packed into this thrilling mystery, which takes place above and below 1830s London. The city feels noisy, pungent and merciless. There are plague pits and lost rivers that churn beneath the streets, spreading “out from the Thames like the fingers of a grasping hand”. The real villain in this fantasy is the injustice of being born poor, but there’s a massive kraken-like monster to keep things fun. Outstanding.
Simon & Schuster £7.99
Buy a copy of Deep Dark

Dragonborn (9+) by Struan Murray

The twist in Struan Murray’s Dragonborn is a good one. Our heroine doesn’t ride a dragon or train a dragon — she is a dragon. A fiery power resides within 12-year-old Alex, who discovers that she is descended from a line of dragons that took human form a long time ago. Cue a richly imagined journey of self-discovery in which she must learn how to transform into her true dragon self by harnessing big emotions and saying goodbye to her childhood. Think Tolkien meets Teen Wolf. There’s plenty to entertain fans of AF Steadman and Cressida Cowell. A sophisticated story that never talks down to its readers or underestimates their appetite for complex faerie worlds infused with British folklore. Come for the exceptional writing. Stay for the talking skulls and secret cities.
Puffin £14.99
Buy a copy of Dragonborn

Dracula & Daughters (9+) by Emma Carroll

All is not well in Temstown. An actress has dropped dead on stage in mysterious circumstances. When Mina later discovers her empty grave in the necropolis, she fears the town may be on the brink of another vampire outbreak. She also realises there might be a better way to deal with vampires instead of all that messy stake-through-the heart business. With her sister Buffy and new ally Bella, the red-headed trio of vampire-healers take on the undead — and the patriarchy. Emma Carroll gives old vampire lore a whole new afterlife in this high-spirited adventure. Good, infectious fun.
Faber £7.99
Buy a copy of Dracula & Daughters

Best books for 10-12 year olds

Ride North (10+) by Maria De Jong

Forget Follyfoot and My Friend Flicka, this is a surreal and quirky survival story set in gritty, contemporary New Zealand. A grieving 12-year-old girl runs away from home, with her mother’s ashes and her trusted pony, Tooth. There are criminals, a strong sense of peril, and themes of grief and family breakdown. And did I mention the horse talks? Tender but never twee, it’s an indie movie just waiting to happen. I loved it.
Andersen £7.99
Buy a copy of Ride North

Roar (12+) by Manjeet Mann

Roar is a fiery, feminist tale about a schoolgirl from a rich family in New Delhi who finds herself at the centre of a social media witch hunt. How well it works will depend on how much throbbing righteous fury you like in your blank verse, but there’s no denying that it’s daring to do something different. Multiple storylines of witch hunts past and present are infused with Indian myth and magical realism. It’s also short and snappy — so ideal for reduced concentration spans.
Penguin £9.99
Buy a copy of Roar

Under a Fire Red Sky (12+) by Geraldine McCaughrean

Geraldine McCaughrean’s powerful, poignant novel follows the fates of four young evacuees who forge a close friendship when they make a split decision to abscond and flee back to the bombed out, rubble-strewn London neighbourhood they call home. The world of the Blitz is brought into raw, flaming life. It feels like plunging into one of those black and white Pathé film reels and finding everything in colour. Although the setting may be historical, the issues of peace, conflict, forgiveness and revenge are anything but. Brutal, beautiful and wise.
Usborne £8.99
Buy a copy of Under a Fire Red Sky

Best graphic novel

Unico: Hunted Volume 2 (8+) by Osamu Tezuka, Samuel Sattin and illustrated by Gurihiru

Finding age-appropriate manga for younger readers can be tricky, but this graphic novel hits the sweet spot for readers of eight and over. It’s exciting and cinematic without any realistic violence or sexualised content. When the “godfather of manga” Osamu Tezuka died, he left one of his most beloved characters, the brave young unicorn Unico, without an ending. The American writer Samuel Sattin teamed up with the Gurihiru illustration duo (two Japanese women, Chifuyu Sasaki and Naoko Kawano), to continue the story. The results are epic.
Scholastic £10.99
Buy a copy of Unico: Hunted Volume 2

Best of young adult novels

Torchfire (12+) by Moira Buffini

The second instalment in Moira Buffini’s deliciously audacious Torch Trilogy is an extraordinary achievement. It doesn’t so much sing as swagger. Our heroine, Lark, has had her secret gift for telepathy exposed and she is now on the run as the “number one mind-twisting whore of Northaven”. There’s political intrigue, social satire, some seriously creepy lobotomised maids, a spaceship and a whole cast of characters conniving and double-crossing each other. Buffini, an acclaimed screenwriter, has said that the story felt better suited to a novel than a screenplay, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this as a primetime drama. It has blockbuster energy. Bring on book three.
Faber £8.99
Buy a copy of Torchfire

Black Star (12+) by Kwame Alexander

Kwame Alexander is the real deal. The American poet specialises in sparky verse novels about sport and this one tells the powerful tale of a 12-year-old girl during segregation in the 1920s American South who dreams of becoming a baseball player: “Ready to launch winding my arm/ This ball’s on fire better sound the alarm.” It’s like a literary adrenaline shot. Best of all, it’s a great introduction to Harlem Renaissance poets such as Langston Hughes and the Pulitzer prizewinner Gwendolyn Brooks, whose best-known poem, We Real Cool, sets the bold tone.
Andersen Press £14.99
Buy a copy of Black Star