2025 Reader’s Choice + Books of the Year

We are proud to present the winners of our inaugural Books of the Year Award!

*Most of this content was originally published in our May 2025 Quarterly Magazine.

The Redeemed Reader team has long wanted to launch our own Book of the Year Award. Why? First, we wanted to acknowledge the many excellent books written from both Christian and secular sources. Many good book awards exist for each of those spheres, but it is rare to see them both included.

Second, we have each served on book award committees before, and they are very rewarding (and challenging). Third, we know our audience best, and we wanted to acknowledge books that are the best in their category for our audience.

Our Process

For our Book of the Year and Picture Book of the Year Awards, we operated as traditional book award committees do: we formed committees, read lots of books, created a shortlist, and then critically discussed each shortlist title. Bribery isn’t allowed, but committee members have been known to lobby hard for their favorites!

We did the final vote via video meeting for the picture book committee so we could each look carefully at illustrations and the ways in which text and art blended together.

The Book of the Year is for longer works (middle grade and up), so that vote occurred via email and a team document.

Redeemed Reader Book of the Year

WINNER: Ferris written by Kate DiCamillo.

Emma Phineas Wilkey was born on the county fairgrounds under the Ferris wheel, hence the name everyone knows her by. Her quirky family makes for an interesting life, especially the summer when her rambunctious little sister became an outlaw, her Uncle Ted began an ambitious art project in the basement, and her grandmother Charisse played host to a ghost. Not a spooky ghost, but a grieving one, whom Ferris and her family might be able to help. Loss vies with wonder in this gently humorous tale that proves its own adage: “Every story is a love story.”

HONORS, in no particular order:

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. A precocious twelve-year-old and her genius brother work together to solve the mystery of their disappearing mother, in this WWII adventure set against the Enigma Code project.

The Found Boys by S. D. Smith pits three boys against the prevailing racist attitudes of their day in a tale leavened with humor and redemptive grace.

One Big Open Sky by Lesa Cline-Ransom is a moving verse novel in which a southern black family heads west in a wagon train to begin a new, self-sufficient life in the post-Civil War west.

Once a Queen by Sarah Arthur. While spending the summer in England with her grandmother, fourteen-year-old Eva navigates a world of secrets including some mysterious family tragedies. This Christian fantasy may be Narnia-inspired but stands perfectly well on its own.

Behind the Books

Readers encounter Middle Grade novels, the backbone of children’s literature, at an age when they are developing their own literary tastes and preferences. Some, like Ferris and The Found Boys, can be enjoyed by the whole family, while others are ideal for independent readers to tote to their favorite tree in the backyard for a quiet summer afternoon.

Our selection committee aims for a variety of genres, so there’s something for every taste. We look for novels with entertaining plotlines and engaging characters—but more importantly, depth of characterization and biblical themes of sacrifice, forgiveness, personal growth, and redemption.

Book of the Year Committee: Janie B. Cheaney (Redeemed Reader), Hayley Morell (Redeemed Reader) Sherry Early (Book blogger at semicolonblog.com), Pamela Palmer (former children’s librarian), Lori Schusterman (former 8th grade teacher), Renée Mathis (former homeschool mentor/educator), Jaclyn Hoselton (reader and freelance writer)

Picture Books of the Year

WINNER: A Pinecone! Written and illustrated by Helen Yoon.

Children can relate to the little girl and her delight in collecting a whole pinecone family, while adults will appreciate the parent dealing with the consequences. The dog provides additional comic relief, and the sweet, joyful ending is satisfying. Illustrations show much more than is described in the text, making this an excellent example of the picture book form in addition to its other charms.

HONORS, in no particular order:

Noodles on a Bicycle, written by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Gracey Zhang.

Oh, the joy of noodle delivery with acrobatics are involved!

I Worked Hard on That!, written by Robyn Wall, illustrated by A. N. Kang.

Kiara the spider keeps trying to make a web that is beautiful, not just practical, and her efforts are repeatedly foiled.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Dalmartian: A Mars Rover Story, written by Lucy Ruth Cummins.

Illustrations show so much more than the text in this funny book.

Just Like Millie, written and illustrated by Lauren Castillo.

A sweet picture book about friendship with outstanding illustrations.

Mr. Fox’s Game of “No!”, written by David LaRochelle and illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka.

A true crowd-pleaser, hilarious and witty.

*One additional honorable mention was announced after our Reader’s Choice Watch Party:

The Man in the Tree and the Brand New Start by Carl Laferton and illustrated by Catalina Echeverri

An excellent addition to the delightful Tales that Tell the Truth series, this book shines because of Echeverri’s illustrations. Illustrations offer so much to look at, especially Zacchaeus’s own expressions and antics. As with other tales in the series, Lafterton’s text points readers to Christ and show how the Bible story is relevant today for kids.

Behind the Picture Books

Picture books are unique because they are written for children, with adults in mind. Ideally the story and illustrations will be read aloud by a parent or educator, so the words need to flow from one page turn to the next, and the art must both complement the text and develop the story further. Above all, the book must genuinely appeal to children. Our committee looked for:

The book that best combines Truth (the degree to which this book reflects the world God made, His Truth, and the human condition) and Story/Art (the text and art must work together in a picture book; this refers to the overall quality of the book as a work of literature and art).

Picture Book Committee: Megan E. Saben (Redeemed Reader), Betsy Farquhar (Redeemed Reader), Josiah Pettit (Director of Westminster Books), Lucy Gunderson, (Founder of Storyglory Kids), Amy Bagby (Children’s Literature professor at Covenant College), and Acacia Buschbach (student at Covenant College)

Reader’s Choice Book of the Year

WINNER: A Place to Hang the Moon, written by Kate Albus.

The clear winner for our first ever Readers’ Choice Book of the Year, A Place to Hang the Moon is a pleasure with primary sources worked in, facts about life in wartime Britain, the evacuee experience and most of all —the books children of that time period could have read. A Place to Hang the Moon is a love letter to readers of all ages. An excellent family read aloud with the makings of a classic story.

RUNNERS UP, in no particular order:

The Vanderbeekers Ever After, written Karina Yan Glaser.

The bittersweet finale to the beloved Vanderbeekers series. The mixture of sadness and joy that seasons every life is palpable in these pages. But also hope and fulfillment, as each of the young Vanderbeekers gains a little more grounding, character, and purpose. We’re sorry to say good-bye to this family, but we know they’re going to be okay. And so will we.

Just Like That, written by Gary D. Schmidt.

Not unlike the Vanderbeekers book, this gem also explores love and loss with humor and poignancy. Just Like That might be the pitch perfect novel for kids at the turning point between childhood and adulthood, full of humor and heartbreak, young love and old love, national turmoil (the Vietnam War) and small town upheaval. It will break your heart on page 2, but healing occurs over the next 398 pages.

READERS’ CHOICE: THE PROCESS

Did you miss your chance to vote this year? Don’t worry! Our next Readers’ Choice vote will happen in early fall. Just like this year, we’ll start off with a list of our top 25 reviews from a 3-year period (beginning with starred reviews and then moving to the next best). We pull from our “middle grades” reviews because those books target the 4th -8th grade range and offer the widest audience appeal.

Then, YOU, our readers, get to vote for your top 10. The 10 books that rise to the top become our Readers’ Choice finalists. Everyone has 5 months to read at least 3 of them before voting for their favorites in March.

2026 Readers’ Choice Award Schedule:

• September, 2025
  • Vote for top 10
• October, 2025
  • Top 10 List Releases
• March, 2026
  • Vote for your top 3!