2025 National Book Awards Longlist and Winners for Young People's LiteratureLike this list

10 items

• A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe

  Browne, Mahogany L.,

  Add A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe to your for later shelf

  Through interconnected prose, poems, and stories, A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne tells the stories of resilient teens, their families, and the communities that were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Corruption of Hollis Brown

  Ancrum, K. (Kayla), 1991-

  Add The Corruption of Hollis Brown to your for later shelf

  The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum sets a queer romantic thriller against the backdrop of 17-year-old Hollis Brown’s rural hometown. After Hollis realizes that Walt, the mysterious, new-to-town stranger, is a ghost with unfinished business,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze

  Barnes, Derrick,

  Add The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze to your for later shelf

  Henson Blayze is a 13-year-old football prodigy, who is idolized in his small, predominantly white town. When his friend is the victim of police brutality, he must decide what he is willing to risk in order to speak out against injustice. In his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Leaving Room

  McBride, Amber

  Add The Leaving Room to your for later shelf

  *Finalist* In Amber McBride’s novel-in-verse The Leaving Room, a Keeper named Gospel is intent on providing peaceful final moments for recently deceased young people. After Melodee, a fellow Keeper, enters Gospel’s Leaving Room, they push the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Sea of Lemon Trees

  The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez

  Águila, María Dolores

  Add A Sea of Lemon Trees to your for later shelf

  Set against the Great Depression and Mexican Repatriation, A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez follows 12-year-old Mexican American Roberto Alvarez, an enthusiastic student who is not allowed to return to Lemon Grove Grammar School,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• (S)kin

  Zoboi, Ibi Aanu,

  Add (S)kin to your for later shelf

  *Finalist* (S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi alternates between the perspectives of Marisol, the 15-year-old daughter of a soucouyant—or shape-shifting, skin-shedding witch—and Genevieve, the 17-year-old daughter of a college professor suffering from an…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Song of a Blackbird

  Van Lieshout, Maria,

  Add Song of a Blackbird to your for later shelf

  Maria van Lieshout’s graphic novel Song of a Blackbird weaves together the stories of two girls whose lives, despite being separated by decades, are linked. In 1943, Emma joins the Dutch Resistance after witnessing the forced deportations of Jewish…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Teacher of Nomad Land

  A World War II Story

  Nayeri, Daniel

  Add The Teacher of Nomad Land to your for later shelf

  *Winner* In 1941 Iran, after the father of 13-year-old Babak and eight-year-old Sana is killed and the siblings are left orphaned, they come up with a plan to stay together: Babak will follow in his father’s footsteps and become an educator to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Truth Is

  A Novel

  Sawyerr, Hannah V.

  Add Truth Is to your for later shelf

  *Finalist* Truth Is follows Truth Bangura, a 17-year-old poet who begins to write poems that reveal her inner world—including her decision to have an abortion, and not tell her mother. When Truth’s slam poetry performance goes viral, her private…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A World Worth Saving

  Lukoff, Kyle,

  Add A World Worth Saving to your for later shelf

  *Finalist* In A World Worth Saving, Kyle Lukoff blends Jewish mythology and adventure to share the story of A, a trans teen who came out during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whose parents force him into attending weekly “Save Our Sons and Daughters…Read moreRead more of this annotation