Picture books
Take a peek at this year’s winners.
The 10 winners of The New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award are chosen each year by a rotating panel of three expert judges. On the 2025 panel were the Hans Christian Andersen Medal-winning illustrator Peter Sís, the children’s author Tracey Baptiste and the children’s librarian Amber Moller. Children’s book publishers were invited to submit up to 10 picture books published this year in the United States. The judges made their selections from the nearly 800 books we received purely on the basis of artistic merit.
Making Art
written and illustrated by Diana Ejaita
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Both the writing and the illustrations in this book are spare and bright, making for a complementary and captivatin…
Picture books
Take a peek at this year’s winners.
The 10 winners of The New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award are chosen each year by a rotating panel of three expert judges. On the 2025 panel were the Hans Christian Andersen Medal-winning illustrator Peter Sís, the children’s author Tracey Baptiste and the children’s librarian Amber Moller. Children’s book publishers were invited to submit up to 10 picture books published this year in the United States. The judges made their selections from the nearly 800 books we received purely on the basis of artistic merit.
Making Art
written and illustrated by Diana Ejaita
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Both the writing and the illustrations in this book are spare and bright, making for a complementary and captivating reading experience. The narrative celebrates all kinds of art-making while demonstrating how art affects both the artist and the audience. The deceptively simple story line introduces complex ideas about the nature of art and the good that creativity does for society. At the same time, Ejaita’s use of transparent bodies and contrasting outlines for some characters is an invitation to readers to fit themselves into the spaces and join in on the creating. Young artists are sure to feel seen and encouraged by an artist who not only understands the nature of art and creation, but also knows that even the act of reading is a creative collaboration. — Tracey Baptiste
Dragon Flower
written and illustrated by Chen Jiang Hong; translated by Alyson Waters
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This book’s stunning illustrations evoke traditional Chinese folk art. Chen’s color palette, style and even his depictions of the young heroine, Mae, and the dragon’s eyes feel like a modern extension of classic paintings. Green, blue and brilliant red help Mae and her antagonist stand out against more muted backgrounds, highlighting the action, adventure and danger at the story’s core, while black brushstrokes recall Chinese calligraphy. Mae’s quest to find the magic flower that’s the sole cure for her mother’s illness will engage readers from the start, but her determination, intensity and courage as illuminated in Chen’s art will keep them turning the pages to the tale’s sweet conclusion. — T.B.
Broken
written and illustrated by X. Fang
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The mischievous youngster Mei Mei just wants to play a prank on Mimi the cat, but everything seems to go wrong when she accidentally breaks Ama’s favorite cup. Mei Mei’s imagination runs wild with fear as she worries about what will happen: Will Ama be angry? Will she yell? Will Mei Mei have to leave for good? Mei Mei tries to let Mimi take the blame, but guilt comes flooding out of her. Much to Mei Mei’s surprise, Ama reacts with tenderness and care. Fang’s illustrations are rich with color and texture. Cinematic framing and clever use of perspective draw readers into Mei Mei’s inner world and show how a young child experiences difficult feelings, turning an everyday accident into a relatable tale of honesty, repair and love. — Amber Moller
Wind Watchers
written and illustrated by Micha Archer
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A trio of young children explore and play as the wind dazzles, frightens and comforts them through all four seasons. In spring, it blows delicate petals from the trees and sends rain shimmering down from the clouds, then jostles chimes to sing the three to sleep. In summer, it sends their kites soaring through the air and surprises them with wild storms. In fall, it softly scatters seeds and impishly tosses leaves, before bringing winter’s chill. On icy cold days, it’s at their backs as they skate (“Thanks for the extra-looooong glide!”); on blizzardy nights, it swirls snow outside their window. Scenes rendered in striking ink and collage art perfectly convey the movement and beauty of wind and weather. Every flower, blade of grass, raindrop and leaf is intricately crafted from patterned paper. Through it all, Archer captures the way children find joy, awe and reverence in nature, marveling at the wind’s invisible power. — A.M.
Pencil
written and illustrated by Hye-Eun Kim
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Kim’s lovely wordless debut picture book follows a young girl (modeled on her own young daughter) as she purchases the title character at an art store and takes it to a once lush forest whose trees have been felled … to make pencils, perhaps the very one she holds in her hand. Wearing a green lattice-patterned sundress, she bends down and traces the rings on one of the tree stumps, then stands up to draw branches to climb on, ultimately creating a whole new forest of art — many different trees in many different colors and shapes — not to mention this wondrous book, drawn with … what else? … colored pencils. — Peter Sís
Fireworks
written by Matthew Burgess and illustrated by Cátia Chien
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How I remember taking our kids out on a summer day when the air was so hot, so humid, so heavy for the adults, but those little bundles of energy would laugh as they ran and skipped — jumping into the fountain in Washington Square. Later, as day became night, we waited on the roof of our tenement building (like the two wide-eyed children Chien depicts) for the first fireworks to explode against the darkness. This book brings it all back. Its mixed-media art (created with pastels, pencils, paint and scratch board) makes loud sounds — so clear, so close — and expresses big feelings. The typography, too, pops and bursts and darts like sparklers. “Swish … Zing … Tizzle-ting … POOF!” Then the giant, echoing, rose-colored BOOMs of what feels like the finale. “Is it over?” one child asks. “Wait!” says the other. “A lull before … KABOOM.” — P.S.
Sunday
written and illustrated by Marcelo Tolentino; translated by Rahul Bery
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Every Sunday feels the same for a young boy named Martin and his dog, Maize. While his family members are absorbed in their quiet, daily routines, Martin longs to discover more. He uses his imagination to transport himself from an ordinary day at home into an epic adventure. Tolentino’s detailed ink drawings in a soft vintage palette feel both familiar and full of childlike wonder. Each spread invites readers to look closely and spot how everyday objects transform through Martin’s eyes: The fridge becomes an Arctic landscape, his mother’s cake a volcano, his grandfather’s face a vast arid desert, as Martin and Maize embark on a fantastical journey. Back home, as Martin tells his grandmother about his travels, we are encouraged to wonder where else in the world, and beyond, our imaginations might take us. — A.M.
Little Rebels
written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales
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Three spirited children set off together to play in the waters of a nearby lagoon. Along the way, they learn what it means to be little rebels — curious, bold and resourceful. They learn to trust one another, and their own intuition, as they dream up a world that is safe for all among them. When they reach the lagoon they find it has been devastated by drought and an animal friend is in trouble. They learn that, though they may not have all the answers, they can rely on their shared knowledge and the wisdom of their ancestors to protect them and create change through collective care. Morales’s powerful mixed-media illustrations combine elements of Mexican folklore, photography, painting, embroidery and collage to create an atmosphere of layered colors and textures that feels both grounded and magical. — A.M.
The Three-Year Tumble
written and illustrated by Dayeon Auh; translated by Tim Mohr
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Auh retells a Korean folktale about curses and cleverness with exuberant illustrations that are both incredibly skillful and endearingly childlike. Young readers are certain to be drawn in by each colorful page and by the relatably worried-looking grandfather with spiky dark hair, not to mention the story itself, with its unexpected hero and delightful (mathematical!) conclusion. Auh’s bio says she hopes to “spread joy and inspiration” with her art, and these illustrations do just that. They seem to speak the same visual language as pictures drawn by children, showing young artists that their own handiwork is just as worthy as anyone else’s. — T.B.
The Lighthouse Keeper
written by Eugenio Fernández Vázquez and illustrated by Mariana Villanueva Segovia; translated by Kit Maude
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Segovia’s magical-realist art is playful and energetic. She draws the long beard of the lighthouse keeper — who lives “out where the foam starts its fizzing, and you don’t know if the beach is ending or beginning” — as a shoal of sardines, cascading from his chin like the surging sea itself. Though isolated, the keeper is a cheerful, colorful fellow who’s eager to help anyone in need. Standing on the deck at the top of a pink and red lighthouse, he wears a yellow suit with lime-green stripes, himself a beacon of neon on the blackest of nights. In one image, as he embraces a nearly lost soul whom he’s rescued, his beard, too, gently wraps around the sailor. And his dance of friendship with the warm, winking, bright-white moon, who “tells him about her travels across the world” and brings him news of storms and gales and waves, provides a beautiful, glowing visual counterpoint to this tale of selfless valor and compassion. — P.S.
A version of this article appears in print on , Page 12 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: Children’s Books. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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