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Our 2025 reading list just got a lot longer.
Each year, the New York Public Library's (NYPL) librarians sift through an avalanche of new releases to curate their Best Books of the Year list, a tradition that’s more than a century old and as close as NYC gets to an official annual syllabus. It’s basically a cultural cheat sheet for anyone who wants to keep pace with the city’s literary pulse.
The lists span four main categories—kids, Spanish-language kids’ books, teens and adults—that cover everything from graphic novels to memoirs, from Appalachian poetry to Gothic romance, from sci-fi family sagas to the (very hungry) exploits of a cartoon rat. All titles are available through the library’s catalog, with many offered as e-books, audiobooks and accessible editions. Place your holds now.
Here are the best books of 2025 according to the New York Public Library:
10 best books for adults
The Afterlife of Malcolm X by Mark Whitaker
The Appalachian Sea by Steve Scafidi
The Art Spy by Michelle Young
Audition by Katie Kitamura
The Beast in the Clouds by Nathalia Holt
Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance by Ben Passmore
Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen
The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
The Burial Tide by Neil Sharpson
10 best books for teens
Death in the Jungle by Candace Fleming
Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young
Loudmouth: Emma Goldman vs. America (A Love Story) by Deborah Heiligman
One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller
Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris
The Secret Astronomers by Jessica Walker
Spacewalking with You, Vol. 1 by Inuhiko Doronoda
This Moth Saw Brightness by A. A. Vacharat
When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur
White Lies by Ann Bausum
10 best books for kids
Amina Banana and the Formula for Friendship by Shifa Saltagi Safadi; illus. by Aaliya Jaleel
The Black Mambas by Kelly Crull
Carousel Summer by Kathleen Gros
Faith Takes the Train by Kesi Augustine; illus. by Mokshini
The Interpreter by Olivia Abtahi; illus. by Monica Arnaldo
I Want You to Know by Mona Damluji; illus. by Ishtar Bäcklund Dakhil
Ratnip: Lost and Found in the City by Cam Higgins; illus. by Allison Steinfeld
Return to Sender by Vera Brosgol
Schoolbot 9000 by Sam Hepburn
The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman
10 best books for children in Spanish
Angélica y la güira por Angie Cruz; ilustrado por Luz Batista; traducido por Kianny N. Antigua
Buscando a Ahmed por Jesús Ballaz; ilustrado por Ed Oner
La Charla por Alicia Williams; ilustrado por Briana Mukodiri Uchendu; traducido por Alison Ridley
Cosas pequeñas y extraordinarias por Daniela Arroio, Micaela Gramajo y Nono Pautasso
Instante por Roger Ycaza
¡Es mío! por Klara Persson; ilustrado por Charlotte Ramel; traducido por Amanda Eda Monjonell Mansten
El mejor mal día de mi vida por Marianna Coppo; traducido por Laura Lecuona
Ochún y yo por Adiba Nelson; ilustrado por Alleanna Harris; traducido por Issa M. Mas
Tíos y primos por Jacqueline Alcántara; traducido por Yanitzia Canetti
Los viernes comemos churros por Jenny Alvarado; traducido por Ana Izquierdo