Summer reading does not take a holiday. Here’s a roundup of children’s book news for July into August 2025.
School Reading List has published its Autumn 2025 preview of new children’s and YA books, featuring over 100 much-anticipated new picture books, fiction, nonfiction and poetry titles.
August’s book club picks line up neatly with upcoming classroom needs. How to Catch an Idea by Forest Xiao leads the set. The Coming of the Iron Man by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Mini Grey, brings a classic to new readers. My Brother Is a Tiger by Joaquin Camp adds chaos with stripes.
First chapter options keep the page turning. Amber Class Making Friends by Enomwoyi Damali and Ruthine Burton focuses on school life. Luna Grace: Girl from Outer Space by Julie Sykes offers intergalactic adjustment. Dream Keepers: Map to Starlight Hollow by Rebecca Lewis Oakes and Anastasiya Kanavaliuk continues a magical map.
Series fans have fresh episodes. The Notwitches: Prison Break by Gary Panton returns with more misrule. How to Get Magically Popular by Radhika Sanghani introduces a twist in school dynamics. Moonboy by Anna Ciddor links the present with 1969. Wintour’s Fate by Brían Dungan pushes deeper into a time-bent plot. iNSiDE by Sally Gales raises the stakes outside the walls. Girls of Dark Divine by E. V. Woods turns the screws on stage.
New picture books in the notes offer quick wins for story times. Put Your Shoes On by Polly Dunbar uses family artwork to bring a child’s imagination to life. The Tour at School (Because You’re the New Kid!) by Katie Clapham, illustrated by Nadia Shireen, walks through the essentials with a friendly tone. The Summer Puppy by Jackie Morris, illustrated by Cathy Fisher, follows a collie through its first season.
Identity and belonging feature across younger choices. Farah’s Nose by Humera Malik, illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat, connects heritage with self-image. The Wood Where Magic Grows by Andy Shepherd, illustrated by Ellie Snowden, reframes a feared wood. Captain Danger and the Stupid Shadow by Victor Engbers, translated by David Colmer, chases a runaway shadow.
Poetry arrives collected and ready to use. The Poetry World of John Agard, illustrated by Shirley Hottier, gathers 80 pieces in one volume for classroom performance or quiet reading.
Middle-grade adventures stay practical for group reading. Cruise Ship Kid – Thief at Sea by Emma Swan, illustrated by Katie Saunders, places a mystery at sea. When the Storm Comes by Polly Ho Yen strands pupils and a teacher in a school library. My Soul, a Shining Tree by Jamila Gavin sets four voices against the backdrop of the First World War. Runaways by E. L. Norry pairs two children on the move from home.
Older readers will find plenty to debate. Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue bends the rules of time and space. Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel tests survival under a dome. Rebel Hearts by Tanya Byrne pairs activists who do not agree.
Prize announcements add structure to displays. The Jericho Prize named Sebrina O’Connor the winner of Best Picture Book Script for Dou Dou’s Brave. Ronke Owoeye won Best Baby and Toddler Script for This One? That One!. Both winners receive cash awards and a year’s membership of the Society of Authors, with support from Hachette Children’s Group and Inclusive Books for Children.
Nature writing steps forward with three lists. The Children’s Wainwright Prize for Fiction features Ghostlines by Katya Balen, Turtle Moon by Hannah Gold and Levi Pinfold, Ettie and the Midnight Pool by Julia Green and Pam Smy, Wildful by Kengo Kurimoto, Wildlands by Brogen Murphy, and Land of the Last Wildcat by Lui Sit and David Dean. The Children’s Wainwright Prize for Non Fiction includes National Trust: Look What I Found by the River by Moira Butterfield and Jesús Verona, University of Cambridge: Think Big: Secrets of Bees by Ben Hoare and Nina Chakrabarti, MEGA by Jules Howard and Gavin Scott, Cloudspotting for Beginners by Gavin Pretor Pinney and William Grill, Wildlife in the Balance by Dr Sharon Wismer and Terri Po, and Hamza’s Wild World by Hamza Yassin and Louise Forshaw.
The Children’s Wainwright Prize for Picture Books lists Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield and Hoang Giang, Bothered By Bugs by Emily Gravett, HERD by Stephen Hogtun, The World to Come by Robert Macfarlane, Johnny Flynn and Emily Sutton, Frog by Isabel Thomas and Daniel Egnéus, Leave the Trees, Please by Benjamin Zephaniah and Melissa Castrillon, and The Wild by Yuval Zommer. Category winners receive £500, and one children’s title is awarded the Wainwright Children’s Prize Book of the Year with £2,500.
A broad set of titles appears in the Diverse Book Awards longlist. Picture books include A Fairy Called Fred, Aqua Boy, Flower Block, Grandma’s Locs, Mama Car, Me and my Hair, My Name is a Gift, Olu’s Teacher, Pearl and her Bunch, Priya Mistry and the Paw Prints Puzzle, Strong Like Me, The Boy Who Loves to Lick the Wind, The Language of Flowers, and Until You Find the Sun. Children’s fiction includes Alyssa and the Spell Garden, Birdie, Bobby Bains Plays a Binder, Bringing Back Kay Kay, Mayowa and the Sea of Words, The Boy Who Fell from the Sky, The Cheat Book (Vol. 1), The Fights That Make Us, The Nine Night Mystery, The Super Sunny Murder Club, The Wrong Shoes, Time Tub Travellers and the Silk Thief, We Are Family: Six Kids and a Super Dad!, and When I Feel Red. YA includes Damien Ike and the Fallen House of Draven, Dancers of the Dawn, Desi Girl Speaking, I Never Shall Fall in Love, If My Words Had Wings, King of Nothing, Not for the Faint of Heart, Some Like It Cold, The Big Ask, The Boy Next Door, The Thread That Connects Us, The Love Interest, Where Sleeping Girls Lie, and Wild East. Readers can vote in the Readers’ Choice Award until 1 September. The shortlist follows on 8 September. Winners are announced on 9 October at Waterstones Piccadilly.
One headline in YA closes the loop between festivals and shelves. Songlight by Moira Buffini won the YA Book Prize 2025 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Sales to date in the UK total 11,000+ copies. Screen rights have been sold, and a television series is in development. The shortlist included Four Eids and a Funeral by Faridah Àbíké Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar, Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan,
Lover Birds by Leon Egan, The End Crowns All by Bea Fitzgerald, The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson, Apocalypse Cow by O. R. Sorrel, The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle, If My Words Had Wings by Danielle Jawando, and Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald.
Opportunities for pupils and early career creators round out the picture. The Edinburgh International Book Festival Schools Programme runs from 19 to 22 August with in-person and online events. Comics Youth invites nominations for the Young Comics Laureate, a new UK-wide role for creators aged 18 to 30. The post involves advocacy, events, mentoring, resource development, and collaboration with the UK Comics Laureate.
Schemes aimed at schools continue to grow. The Inclusive Books for Children Awards are open for submissions from November, with a new Children’s Choice strand for schools in partnership with Peters. This sits alongside findings from the National Literacy Trust that reading enjoyment among 8-18-year-olds has fallen. Submissions close on 19 September at noon. Shortlists are announced in January. Winners are announced at the Southbank Centre on 25 February 2026.
International reading gets a push. The World Kid Lit Reading Challenge Award launches in September 2025 for English-speaking schools worldwide. Sponsors include Bloomsbury, Blue Dot Kids Press, Eerdmans Books, The Emma Press, Firefly Press, Gecko Press, Greystone Kids, HopeRoad, Levine Querido, Pushkin Press, Rock the Boat and Yonder. Three winning schools receive bundles of ten books across three age categories.
Audio brings familiar names into focus. Jacqueline Wilson Raised Us is a four-part podcast from Transworld and Cosmopolitan, released to support Picture Imperfect, an adult sequel to The Illustrated Mum.
Policy shifts may change library access. The government has pledged that by 2029, every primary school will have a library. The announcement came at Number 11 Downing Street during a Penguin Random House event with the National Literacy Trust. One in seven state primary schools currently has no library, with higher rates in more disadvantaged areas. Since 2018, the Libraries for Primaries campaign has installed more than 1,500 libraries.
Plenty to read, plenty to plan, and not a single excuse to let the bookmarks gather dust!
