2025 Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List

BGNC_Banner

ALA’s Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table (GNCRT) is sharing the nominations for the 2025 Best Graphic Novels for Children (BGNC) Reading List. These reading list nominations highlight the best graphic novels for children aged 5 – 12 years old, published in late 2024 through 2025, and it aims to increase awareness of the graphic novel medium, raise voices of diverse comics creators, and aid library staff in the development of graphic novel collections.

The Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table (GNCRT) and its committees honor the entire creative team (including the writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, and translator) involved in the titles listed. All of these people play a critical role in the creation of the work, helping to lift the story and give it life.

Best Graphic Novels for Children 2025 Selection Committee

  • Andréa Fernandes, Committee Chair
  • Shaunterria Owens, Committee Vice-Chair
  • Ashley Cook, Committee Administrative Assistant
  • Alexx Burris
  • Althea Georges
  • Paige Harp
  • Benji Martin
  • Hayley Morgeenstern
  • Mark Riddle
  • Emilio Romero
  • Amie Villanueva
  • Allison (Ally) Watkins

2025 Best Graphic Novels for Children - Nominations

JANUARY

Fiction

All Ages (PreK-6th Grade, Ages 0-12)

Young Readers (PreK-2nd Grade, Ages 0-7)

Chip Plays Grown Up. Written by Maddie Frost. Art by Maddie Frost. 2024. HarperAlley, $17.99 (9780063306486).
Chip doesn't want to go to bed, so he pretends to be grown up while Mom takes the role of his child.

Middle Readers (Grades 3-4, Ages 8-10)

Fresh Start. Written by Gale Galligan. Art by Gale Galligan. Color by K Czap. 2025. Graphix, $24.99 (9781338045864).
After moving from Germany, Ollie begins a new school year in America. Finding new friends, facing new challenges, and discovering how to be true to themselves, Ollie has a year to remember that will resonate with middle grade readers of all interests!

Mixed-Up. Written by Kami Garcia. Art by Brittney Williams. Lettering by Tyler Smith. 2025. First Second, $22.99 (9781250142337).
Fifth-grader Stella is having trouble keeping up in school, and she discovers she has dyslexia. With the support of her school and her friends, will she learn to manage it?

The Other Side of Tomorrow. Written by Tina Cho. Art by Deb JJ Lee. 2024. HarperAlley, $24.99 (9780063011083).
Yunho and Myunghee, two North Korean children, face many great and terriying dangers as they attempt to escape through China into freedom.

Paws: Hazel Has Her Hands Full. Written by Nathan Fairbairn. Art by Michele Assarasakorn. 2025. G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, $22.99 (9780593695784).
Hazel, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy and uses a wheelchair, spends her summer walking dogs with her friends. When she is asked to cat-sit, she decides she can do it on her own with no help. However, when the cats get loose, Hazel may need more help than she realizes.

The Squad. Written by Christina Soontornvat. Art by Joanna Cacao. 2024. Graphix, $24.99 (9781338741322).
Things are finally going well for eighth grader Christina. When cheerleading tryouts are announced, Christina can't be more excited for an opportunity to join the squad. But an alarming revelation about her parents turns her life upside down.

Very Bad at Math. Written by Hope Larson. Art by Hope Larson. 2025. HarperAlley, $24.99 (9780063311299).
Very Nelson is good at everything. Except math. But when her math grades may keep her from continuing her student council presidency, she has to figure out how to move forward and on whom she can depend.

Older Readers (Grades 5-6, Ages 11-12)

No Rules Tonight. Written by Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada. Art by Ryan Estrada. Coloring by Amanda Lafrenais. 2024. Penguin Workshop, $24.99 (9780593521298).
In the early 80s in South Korea, your freedoms were very limited...especially after dark. One night a year, on Christmas Eve, curfew is lifted. Follow along as a group of young teens revive their book club, confess their feelings, and reveal hidden secrets.

Non-Fiction

All Ages (PreK-6th Grade, Ages 0-12)

Younger Readers (PreK-2nd Grade, Ages 0-7)

Middle Readers (Grades 3-4, Ages 8-10)

Older Readers (Grades 5-6, Ages 11-12)

History Comics: The Prohibition Era, America's War on Alcohol. Written by Jason Viola. Art by Roger Langridge. 2024. First Second, $21.99 (9781250801449).
Discover the historical influences that led to the prohibition of alcohol across the United States, as well as the consequences of the changes in these laws.