by SLJ Reviews

These audiobooks for kids, tweens, and teens offer stories of resilience, hope, and joy.

From video games and documentaries to anime and tabletop RPGs, these standout stars shine at the top of their categories.

Our starred middle and high school nonfiction offerings for the first half of 2025 are sure to keep readers engaged and informed. 

These six titles show that good things come in small sturdy packages. Board books, for the pre-literate and newest readers, continue to surprise and delight in equal measure, and fly off the shelves for story hours.

From Pakistan to Spain to ordinary neighborhoods, the power of books has never been more visible than in these 65 gems plucked from the mines of picture books published in the first half of 2025. 

These three titles feature tweens with parents navigating incarceration and detention in the United States.

This month includes transitional books, holiday titles, poetry reads, and more receiving special recognition.

Margarita Engle’s collection of poetry heralds Latinx heroes and Juana Martinez-Neal’s latest celebrates a Peruvian scientist. A sprinkling of self-help titles round out the list.

In these stories, tween and teen protagonists with a range of abilities face real and fantastical challenges, from time loops to dust storms to going viral. Share these titles with readers in time for Disability Pride Month in July, and all throughout the year.