Elizabeth’s Best: 5 New Children’s Books Worth Adding to Your Bookshelf
I have always loved children's books. Long before I began writing them myself, I loved the experience of reading with my four boys and watching what happened when a story captured their attention. Children have a wonderful way of letting you know immediately whether a book works. They don't care about reviews, bestseller lists, marketing plans, or what adults have decided is important. They care about the story.
Now, as a children's book author myself, I probably pay even more attention to what makes a picture book special. I notice the words, the illustrations, the rhythm, the message, the humor, and especially whether a book respects the child reading it. I love children's books that have something meaningful to say without feeling like they're trying too hard to teach a lesson.
So for this edition of Elizabeth's Best, I went looking at some of the newer children's books that have caught my attention. All five were published in 2025, and I love that they're completely different from one another. There is change, courage, patience, mistakes, family, community, nature, and the absolute thrill of a garbage truck arriving on Monday morning.
Because childhood should have room for all of it.
There is something so tender about a child trying to adjust when the familiar parts of life suddenly aren't familiar anymore. In Anything, a father offers his daughter three wishes as she adjusts to a new home. It is Rebecca Stead's first picture book, illustrated by Gracey Zhang, and was published in April 2025.
What I appreciate about this book is that it doesn't treat change as something children should simply get over. Moving can feel exciting to adults while feeling enormous to a child. A new bedroom, new neighborhood, new routines and all those little things we might overlook can represent an entire world changing.
And sometimes what children need most isn't for us to convince them that everything is wonderful. They need us to make room for what they're feeling while helping them discover that something new can eventually become home, too.
Why I Love It: I have spent so much of my own work writing and talking about change, and I love stories that help children understand that complicated feelings about change are allowed. We can miss what was and still make room for what comes next.
Read This With: A child experiencing a move, a new school, a family transition, or any of those moments when life suddenly looks different than it did before.
This one immediately spoke to me.
When a fire threatens the animals' home, the animals are frightened and unsure what they can possibly do. But a tiny hummingbird decides to do what she can, carrying a small amount of water toward the fire. Her action ultimately inspires others to contribute what they can, too. The book features Jerry Pinkney's final illustrations, completed after his death by his son, Brian Pinkney.
I love the idea at the center of this story because I believe it so deeply: you don't have to be the biggest person in the room to make a difference. You don't have to solve the entire problem. Sometimes you simply have to decide that you are going to do your part. Imagine what children can learn when we help them understand that their actions matter.
Why I Love It: This is the ripple effect in children's-book form. One small action inspires another, and suddenly something that felt impossible becomes something people are facing together. That message isn't only for children.
Read This With: The child who wants to help, the child who wonders whether they're too small to make a difference, or any family or classroom talking about kindness, courage, community, and caring for our world.
I love a children's book that reminds us to slow down and pay attention.
Janie wants desperately to see an owl. She searches for them in different places and keeps looking as the months pass, but seeing one isn't something she can simply make happen. A teacher who loves birds helps her understand that finding an owl requires quiet, patience, and careful attention. Matthew Cordell's 2025 picture book is recommended for ages four to eight and has been recognized for its celebration of curiosity and perseverance.
We live in a world where so much is instant. We press a button and something arrives. We ask a question and receive an answer. We tap a screen and we're entertained.
Nature doesn't work that way.
Neither does much of life.
Sometimes you have to wait. Sometimes you have to look closely. Sometimes the wonderful thing happens precisely because you were patient enough to notice it.
Why I Love It: This book celebrates wonder. It reminds children, and adults, that there is still magic in paying attention to the world around us.
Read This With: The little nature lover, bird watcher, explorer, or wonderfully curious child who wants to know what's hiding in the trees.
And now we need to laugh.
Izzy has had one of those days when seemingly everything goes wrong. She wants to be left alone, but eventually mistakes, family, food, humor, and tortillas come together in a wonderfully messy way. Mistaco is Eliza Kinkz's 2025 author-illustrator debut and has earned praise for combining humor with a reassuring message about mistakes and big feelings.
I love children's books that don't make perfection the goal.
Children are learning how to do practically everything. Of course they're going to get things wrong. So are we, for that matter.
There is something wonderful about helping children discover that a mistake doesn't have to become an identity. You made a mistake. You are not a mistake. And sometimes the thing that went completely wrong becomes the story everyone laughs about later.
Why I Love It: It's funny, colorful, imperfect and human. I especially love the reminder that resilience doesn't always have to look serious. Sometimes resilience looks like laughing, getting messy and trying again.
Read This With: The little perfectionist in your life, the child having a terrible day, or anyone who needs permission to make a mistake and keep going.
I saved this one for last because the premise makes me ridiculously happy.
Mabel loves Mondays.
Why?
The garbage truck comes.
She gets herself ready, brings her breakfast outside, drags out her chair and waits for what she considers one of the greatest events imaginable. The garbage truck arrives with all the noise, movement and excitement that adults barely notice and a child can find completely spectacular. Published in February 2025, Jashar Awan's book has since received a Caldecott Honor and recognition from numerous children's-book organizations and best-of-the-year lists.
I think this is one of the great gifts children give adults.
They remind us that ordinary things aren't necessarily ordinary.
A garbage truck can be an event. A puddle can be an adventure. A cardboard box can be more exciting than the toy that came inside it. A walk around the block can take forever because there are rocks and bugs and sticks and things adults somehow stopped seeing.
Maybe we need a little more Mabel in us.
Why I Love It: Joy doesn't always need an extraordinary reason. Sometimes the thing that makes you ridiculously happy is coming down the street on Monday morning.
Read This With: The child who has ever stopped everything to watch a truck, tractor, excavator, school bus, train, airplane, or anything else adults have forgotten is incredibly cool.
What Are You Reading With the Children in Your Life?
One of the reasons I love children's books so much is that the best ones aren't really only for children.
They give us opportunities to talk about things that matter without sitting everyone down for a serious conversation about things that matter. We can talk about change through a little girl making wishes. We can talk about courage through a hummingbird carrying a drop of water. We can learn patience while looking for an owl, laugh about mistakes over a misshapen tortilla, and remember the joy hiding in an ordinary Monday morning.
Sometimes we just need to sit close to a child we love and read them a book.
Those moments matter, too.
Now it's your turn. What newer children's book have you discovered that you can't stop recommending? Tell me in the comments. I'm always looking for the next book to add to my shelf.
With gratitude,
Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino
Elizabeth's Best
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