haley’s 2025 Top 10 Picture Books
Haley’s ten favorite picture books from 2025 (not necessarily published in 2025) in alphabetical order by author.
The Sleeper Train
by Mick Jackson and Baljinder Kaur
Aboard the Indian sleeper train, everyone is getting ready for bed. But one little girl is too excited to sleep. She thinks it might help to try to remember all the places she has slept in the past, like the beach, her grandparents' house, or a tent in the countryside. This gentle bedtime book feels like a classic. I particularly loved Baljinder Kaur's wonderfully detailed art, which takes readers into a magical dreamland of colors and patterns. —Haley
If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone
by Gideon Sterer and Emily Hughes
"If you make a call on a banana phone, who will answer?" The boy in this picture book finds out when he strikes up a long-distance friendship with a gorilla. Emily Hughes's soft-looking illustrations show the boy and the gorilla as they learn about each other and compare their lives. The repetition of "if..." may remind readers of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie—and like that forty-year-old classic, If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone also has an enduring quality. Perfect for a cozy read-aloud!
Anything
by Rebecca Stead and Gracey Zhang
The young protagonist in Anything tells us she can wish for very hard things—a rainbow in her room or the biggest slice of pizza in the whole world! But wishes (or "anythings," as she calls them) only go so far when you've just moved into a new apartment that doesn't feel like home. The girl's father has a few tricks up his sleeve to make her wishes come true and help the two of them create new memories. This is Newbery winner Rebecca Stead's first picture book and she writes for a younger audience with the same emotional intelligence that she brings to her middle-grade books.