Staff Faves 2025: Kids Picture Books
Every year we ask our staff across the library system for their favorite books published in a given year. Enjoy this list of some of our favorite 2025 picture books for kids - some with staff annotations, and some with annotations from Kirkus, NoveList Plus, and School Library Journal. (Created November 2025)
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Everyday Bean
Meet Bean, a very tiny hedgehog. She loves ghosts, swings and a stuffie called Clem. Meet Bean’s grandma. She loves strawberries, sweaters and tiny Bean burritos. And they both love stories. [NoveList Plus]
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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For A Girl Becoming
A baby girl is welcomed to the breathing world by generations of her family and set on the magnificent journey of becoming. [NoveList Plus]
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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A Book of Maps for You
Before moving away, a child creates a hand-drawn guidebook to his neighborhood and home to leave behind for the child moving in after him. [NoveList Plus]
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Lily's Dream
A fairy struggling to fly finds friendship with a kindhearted girl. A quiet tale of magic and friendship. [Kirkus]
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Prisons Must Fall
On a moonlit road, tucked away from prying eyes, a child sees a prison complex...[and] we come to see the prison as a child sees it. As dandelion stars float up in the air, this dreamscape becomes a hope-scape, where love transcends the prison walls. [NoveList Plus]
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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Our Lake
A brother takes his little brother to swim in the lake for the first time without their father, in a vulnerable exploration of love, loss, longing and connection as the boys hear Father's laugh and see his memory around them. [NoveList Plus]
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Everybelly
Take a dip in a pool where everyone is welcome. A unique, joyful celebration of bellies, bodies, and beauty. [Kirkus]
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Who Ate Steve?
Meet Marcel and Steve, a bird and worm who will help us learn about size. And how to resist our mischievous side when we need to focus. [NoveList Plus]
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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Astro
This Spanish import mixes meditations on mortality with an outer-space setting. An achingly beautiful testament to life, love, and death among the stars. [Kirkus]
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Every Peach Is A Story
Little Midori discovers that every peach on her Japanese American family's farm is a sweet reminder of those who've come before, as Jiichan, her grandfather, teaches her about her heritage and her family's connection to the land. [NoveList Plus]
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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