Spotlighting Our Titles on Amazon's Best Children's Books of 2025
Penguin Young Readers and Random House Children’s Books are thrilled to celebrate their incredible achievement of having over 20 titles featured on the must-read Amazon Best Children’s Books of 2025 list. Three of Penguin Young Readers’ titles were recognized with spots in the coveted Children’s Top 20 list.
Amazon’s lists were compiled by the Amazon Editors after spending thousands of hours reading and evaluating a range of new titles. This list celebrates exceptional storytelling and the books that have most resonated with readers and critics alike throughout the year.
Congratulations to the teams involved in the success of these extraordinary titles!
Children’s Top 20 Overall
A chaotically funny debut picture book about a girl who’s had a terrible day full of mistakes and finds that making mistacos could be a delicious solution.
After an awful day at school (including a tragic but plausibly deniable mishap with a pudding cup), Izzy wants to be left alone. But it’s Friday, and that means making tortillas with Lito.
As the mistakes pile up, they come tumbling out of Izzy—and Lito surprises her by saying everyone makes mistakes, and if she makes a tortilla out of her mistakes, he will EAT it.
Who are we? We are a billion voices, bright and brave; we are light, standing together in the fight.
Girls are strong and powerful alone, but even stronger when they work to uplift one another. In this galvanizing original poem by presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, girls and girlhood are celebrated in their many forms, all beautiful, not for how they look but for how they look into the face of fear. Creating a rousing rallying cry with vivid illustrations by Loveis Wise, Gorman reminds us how girls have shaped our history while marching boldly into the future.
There is a secret world of dragons that lurks at the edges of our own. But dragons also live among us. These Slumberers have been human for so long they have forgotten their true selves—until something awakens the dragon within.
Twelve-year-old Alex Evans is about to wake up.
Ever since her father’s death, Alex’s overprotective mother has smothered her with unbreakable rules and unspoken fears. Feeling trapped, Alex’s frustration has become too big to hide away. Burning inside, she erupts into a fierce, fiery roar.
Ages Baby-2
LITTLE EXCAVATOR by Anna Dewdney (Viking Books for Young Readers)
BUS! STOP! by James Yang (Viking Books for Young Readers)
CAN YOU FIND IT? Bedtime with The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (World of Eric Carle)
GRUMPY MONKEY MINE! by Suzanne Lang (Random House Studio)
DIGGERS LOVE THEIR FRIENDS! by Brianna Caplan Sayres and Christian Slade (Random House Books for Young Readers)
Ages 3-5
THE BABY WHO STAYED AWAKE FOREVER by Sandra Salsbury (Doubleday Books for Young Readers)
FORTS by Katie Venit (Viking Books for Young Readers)
BOB THE VAMPIRE SNAIL (Random House Studio)
Ages 6-8
MISTACO by Eliza Kinkz (Kokila)
GIRLS ON THE RISE by Amanda Gorman (Viking Books for Young Readers)
GRUMPY MONKEY SCHOOL STINKS! by Suzanne Lang (Random House Studio)
MURRAY THE KNIGHT by Adam Stower (Random House Books for Young Readers)
NIGHT CHEF by Mika Song (Random House Graphic)
Ages 9-12
DRAGONBORN by Struan Murray (Dutton Books for Young Readers)
FINDING LOST by Holly Goldberg Sloan (Rocky Pond Books)
Best History of 2025
EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS by John Green (Crash Course Books)
Top 20 Teen & Young Adult Books
ANGELICA AND THE BEAR PRINCE by Trung Le Nguyen (Random House Graphic)
WE FELL APART by E. Lockhart (Delacorte Press)
HOUR OF THE PUMPKIN QUEEN by Megan Shepherd (Random House/Disney)
AND THE RIVER DRAGS HER DOWN by Jihyun Yun (Knopf Books for Young Readers)