The National Book Foundation has revealed the 2025 National Book Award longlist for Young People’s Literature. The five finalists will be named on October 7, and the winner will be announced during the 76th awards ceremony on November 19 in New York City.
The 2025 longlist for Young People’s Literature:
- A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne (Crown)
- The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum (HarperCollins)
- The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes (Viking)
- The Leaving Room by Amber McBride (Feiwel and Friends)
- A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez by María Dolores Águila (Roaring Brook)
- (S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi (Versify)
- Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout (First Second)
- The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri (Levine Querido)
- Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr (Amulet)
- A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff (Dial)
Four of this year’s longlisted authors—Derrick Barnes, Kyle Lukoff, Amber McBride, and Ibi Zoboi—were previously finalists for Young People’s Literature.
A total of 325 books were submitted for the award. The judges are David Bowles (chair), Cathy Berner, Candice Iloh, Jung Kim, and Maulik Pancholy.
