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Check Out These Winning Books!

The 2025 Newbery and Caldecott Medals went to the best books of 2024. Here’s more about the big winners!

Side by side book covers for The First State of Being and Chooch Helped.

© Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, Illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz, used with permission of Levine Querido; Photo Composite Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

The First State of Being (left) won the Newbery Medal, while Chooch Helped (right) won the Caldecott Medal.

It’s awards season for children’s books, and this year’s biggest winners have just been revealed.

On January 27, the American Library Association (ALA) awarded its two highest honors—the Newbery Medal for outstanding children’s literature and the Caldecott Medal for excellence in children’s picture books. The Newbery and Caldecott medals are awarded each year. The 2025 awards went to books that were published in 2024.

The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly is the winner of this year’s Newbery Medal. The book, which takes place in 1999, is about 12-year-old Michael Rosario, who worries the world might be thrown into disorder when the year 2000 arrives—a common concern at the time. When Michael meets a time traveler from the future, he becomes desperate to know what will happen in the next 20 years.

The Caldecott Medal went to Chooch Helped, illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz and written by Andrea Rogers. Chooch Helped is about Sissy, a kid whose 2-year-old brother, Chooch, messes up everything. Sissy becomes even more frustrated when her parents say that Chooch is only trying to help.

An interior page from Chooch Helped shows a sister and her infant brother sitting on a bed.

Illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz, used with permission of Levine Querido.

A page from Chooch Helped, the winner of the 2024 Caldecott Medal for excellence in picture books.

The ALA recognized other books with Newbery Honors and Caldecott Honors. For an author, receiving an “honors” recognition is a bit like winning a silver medal instead of a gold medal at the Olympics. It’s still a pretty big deal.

Several children’s books received other honors, including Coretta Scott King Book Awards, which recognize Black American authors and illustrators. Below is an incomplete list of winners. Find them online or at the library!

Newbery Honor Books

  • Across So Many Seas, by Ruth Behar
  • Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All, by Chanel Miller
  • One Big Open Sky, by Lesa Cline-Ransome
  • The Wrong Way Home, by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Caldecott Honor Books

  • Home in a Lunchbox, written and illustrated by Cherry Mo
  • My Daddy Is a Cowboy, illustrated by C.G. Esperanza and written by Stephanie Seales
  • Noodles on a Bicycle, illustrated by Gracey Zhang and written by Kyo Maclear
  • Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu and written by Anita Yasuda

Coretta Scott King Author Book Award

Twenty-four Seconds from Now…, by Jason Reyolds

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Book Award

My Daddy Is a Cowboy, illustrated by C.G. Esperanza and written by Stephanie Seales

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books

  • Black Girl You Are Atlas, by Renée Watson
  • Black Star, by Kwame Alexander
  • One Big Open Sky, by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books

  • Coretta: The Autobiography of Mrs. Coretta Scott King, illustrated by Ekua Holmes and written by Coretta Scott King with the Reverend Dr. Barbara Reynolds
  • Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem: The Vision of Photographer Roy DeCarava, illustrated by E.B. Lewis and written by Gary Golio
  • Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller, illustrated by April Harrison and written by Breanna J. McDaniel
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Did You Know?

In 1999, many people worried about the “Y2K bug.” This was thought to be a bug (problem) inside computer systems that would prevent computers from being able to handle calendar dates after 1999. If this bug existed, computers around the world would stop working correctly when the calendar changed over to the year 2000. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

Two men in uniform look worried as they speak on phones at a command center with several phones and computers.

© Mark Leffingwell—AFP/Getty Images

In this 1999 photo, two U.S. military officers make preparations for the arrival of the year 2000. Many people were concerned that computer systems would not be able to handle it.

Looks Good, Tastes Good!

A woman wearing virtual reality goggles pours a virtual cup of coffee, shown as an illustration, while illustrations of other foods hover around her.

© Best View Stock/Getty Images

Scientists in Hong Kong have invented a handheld device that they’re calling a “virtual reality lollipop.” Virtual reality (VR) technology lets people use their senses to experience (see and hear) objects and environments that aren’t really there. Scientists are trying to expand VR experiences so that users can use their other three senses—smell, touch, and taste.

The VR lollipop has tiny pouches filled with different gels. When users lick one of the gels, they taste one of nine flavors—sugar, salt, citric acid, cherry, milk, green tea, passion fruit, grapefruit, and durian (a type of fruit).

The Newbery Medal

Side by side covers of Big by Vashti Harrison and The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers.

© Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Knopf Young Readers/Random House Children’s Books, Photo Illustration Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers, was the winner of the 2024 Newbery Medal. Big, by Vashti Harrison, won the Caldecott Medal.

If you’re looking for a good book to read, it’s hard to go wrong with a Newbery Medal winner. You can read about the Newbery Medal and find a list of all the previous winners at Britannica.

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