16 of the Best Early Readers and Chapter Books of 2025

16 of the Best Early Readers and Chapter Books of 2025 Book List
The Children’s Book Review

2025 brings an extraordinary collection of early readers and chapter books designed to ignite young imaginations and celebrate the thrill of independent reading!

From Kate DiCamillo’s heartfelt tales of friendship to Tom Angleberger’s wildly inventive graphic novels, this year’s lineup offers something special for every emerging reader. You’ll find treasured series favorites like Skunk and Badger and Dory Fantasmagory alongside fresh launches featuring remarkable new characters—a poetry-writing badger, a saxophone-playing bird, a detective hedgehog, and a courageous girl finding her way in an unfamiliar country.

These books masterfully blend captivating stories with thoughtful illustrations that support growing readers while exploring meaningful themes of friendship, identity, courage, and belonging.

Here are sixteen of the best early readers and chapter books of 2025:

A squid spots an irresistible fashion find: a boatload of abandoned clothes. “Two shoes. FLIP-FLOP! / One shirt. / Tank top!” But when the clothes’ original owner returns, it’s the beginning of a hilarious and friendly negotiation in this Ready-to-Read Level 1 title.

Read our full review of Squid in Pants here.

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A blackout! Right in the middle of “the last” bedtime story. When the parent gathers stars from the sky to light up the child’s room, the moon starts crying! In this Geisel Award-Winner’s new comic, parent and child pack up their blankets and pillows to sleep outside under the stars.

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Earl is a happy-go-lucky bird who plays saxophone to his plants because they love music in the morning. His neighbor Worm would rather read in silence. How will these very different neighbors become the very best of friends? With sweet lemonade, the right shade of paint, an unfinished poem, and sharing a little bit about themselves.

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What could be better than a boat ride with your best friend? Little do Duck and Cat know that the other passengers include a family of hungry crocodiles. When dinner gets canceled, they must spring into action to make sure they don’t end up on the menu instead!

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Orris the rat and Timble the owl are unlikely friends. Each night, Timble visits Orris in the barn and listens to his stories, but Timble is growing up. When the owl doesn’t appear one evening, Orris wonders if their friendship is over—or could it be that Timble has a tale of his own to share?

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Beyond the doorway of the first page awaits a dragon piñata, an alligator on the A train, a hungry yeti, jetpack sneakers, and so much more. This spellbinding collection of poems celebrates the power of words to awaken the imagination and transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, featuring seven die-cut portals throughout.

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When their BONE is GONE, the Letter Setters—four dynamic dogs—sound the GONG and spring into action! In this phonics-based early reader from Geisel Medalist Ethan Long, each story starts with a three-letter word, then one swapped letter makes a new word and a new canine caper.

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Jasper the Rabbit collects creepy stories to share as cautionary tales. Charlie Marmot’s tonsils have become infected and have to come out, but when he decides to keep them in a jar for show and tell, things get creepy—strange slurping sounds keep him awake, and then his tonsils go missing. Could they be out for revenge?

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Someone’s stolen the wooden cheetah from the City Zoo’s carousel! Hitch, a shrewd and edgy hedgehog detective, and his food-loving sidekick Vinnie must navigate sneaky meerkats and a dramatic cabbage-eating contest to catch the culprits and let Hitch take a nap, once and for all.

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Amina loves bananas, science, and all things yellow! Her family recently arrived from Syria to Indiana, and she’s starting at a brand-new school. She develops the perfect formula to make friends: Speak English + wear a perfect outfit + be a good student + eat American food = Make American Friends! But when the first few days are harder than imagined, why doesn’t her formula add up?

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Two-Headed Chicken uses both the AstroCap and TimeCap at the same time, causing chaos so ridiculous that the reader slams the book closed. Escaping into the Cosmic Library, Two-Headed Chicken hops through familiar titles—from a hundred-acre wood to a kissy vampire novel—leaving mayhem in their wake.

Read our interview with Tom Angleberger about Two-Headed Chicken: Chaos in the Cosmic Library here.

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When a shoemaker discovers a tiny girl (as small as a mouse!) in his shop, he names her Evangeline and raises her as his own. But when the shoemaker’s wife rids herself of the girl, Evangeline finds herself lost in the wide world—brave, resourceful, and determined to find her way home again.

Listen to Kate DiCamillo discuss Lost Evangeline in this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast.

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Dory is on her first soccer team with her best friends, but Rosabelle is having a meltdown over cleats and George is mysteriously acting like a baby. When Dory tries to befriend new teammate Valentina, who kicks perfectly every time and steals all the attention, she seeks help from her reliable imagination to flip the score.

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Septimus is not good at being a badger—he adores the sunset, dreams of going to Venice, and lives alone in a charming cottage by the sea. When a gull of very few words lands on his windowsill, Septimus leaps at the possibility of friendship, but when Gully goes missing, he must venture into new territory to find his best friend.

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Skunk and Badger have an easy roommate rhythm until they take in two orphaned rat pups, Zeno and Zephyr. Badger needs focus to write an Important Rock Work article, but it’s winter, hibernation threatens every routine, and raising rats takes a village—one where chickens wear parkas and Yard Sheep host spaghetti dinners.

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From Newbery Medalist Donna Barba Higuera comes a singular reimagining of the Aztec myth of the origin of man—and man’s best friend. Not much is known of Xolotl, the dog-headed twin brother of Quetzalcoatl, the god of lightning, death, and misfortune. This is what really happened.

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