It’s the end of December, and I’ve been thinking about everything I’ve read this year. If you’re looking for a book to kickstart your 2026 reading, here are some of my favourites – and I’m pretty sure there’s something here for everyone!
I read some absolute gems when it comes to children’s literature in 2025. The House with the Little Red Door by Grace Easton is a future classic about a little mouse and a young girl, both of whom are feeling a little lonely, especially in the winter months. A stunning lift-the-flap style illustrated book about the meaning of home, this is one to read curled up under a blanket.
I have to give a shout out to When Winter Comes by Ekaterina Trukhan – in fact, all the books in that series. They’re some of my daughter’s favourites, perfect for 1-3 year olds. A collaboration between Nosy Crow and National Trust, we follow a family through a year, learning about the changing seasons, and asking young readers to spot different things on every page. It has charming illustrations and gorgeous endpapers.
Julia Sarda is one of my favourite contemporary illustrators and I was thrilled to see that the second book in her The Three Sisters trilogy was published this year (and you absolutely don’t have to read them in order). These picture books are for slightly older readers (5-9), exploring the daunting yet exhilarating concept of growing up – think Maurice Sendak meets Spirited Away. The Witch in the Tower follows the second sister in this group of siblings as she wanders away from home, only to discover a witch in a tower who feels very much like a kindred spirit. It encourages young readers to embrace complicated emotions and wild dreams, and touches on coming to terms with changing relationships, all coated in magic.
Speaking of growing up, Alice with a Why by Alice James was an absolute delight. I have to admit, I’m sceptical of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan adaptations in general, feeling nostalgically territorial about both. However, I shall lay down my sword and admit that Alice with a Why, illustrated by the brilliant Matthew Land, is a triumph. Alyce, granddaughter of the Alice we already know and love, is summoned to Wonderland to help settle a dispute between The Sun King and the Queen of the Moon, who are arguing over an hour they both want to keep. Whimsical yet deeply moving, it brilliantly balances nods to Carroll’s world with new, inventive lore.
Moving away from children’s books, So Thrilled For You by Holly Bourne was one of the first novels I read in 2025 and it made me laugh and cry in equal measure. Four women come together for a baby shower: one is about to give birth, one is child-free by choice, one has recently had a baby and is struggling, and one is going through IVF. The novel opens with said baby shower literally going up in flames. We then jump backwards to discover how it managed to go so spectacularly wrong. Quite frankly, it’s a riot.
Someone to Watch Over You by Kumi Kimura, translated from the Japanese by Yuki Tejima, is a book that caught me off guard. I’ve enjoyed many of the Pushkin Japanese novella series but this one has been haunting me. Following two isolated individuals during the early months of the pandemic, we hover around their awkward exchanges, their darkest secrets, and their mounting paranoia. The whole text is coated in unease, and I mean that as a compliment.
Likewise, Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier was a book that slowly got under my skin and made a home there. We follow an eighteen-year-old pizza delivery girl who has recently discovered she’s pregnant. Life seems to be happening to her, not because of her, and when she is asked to make and deliver a pizza covered in pickles, she forms a rather odd relationship with the woman who ordered it. I’d recommend this one for fans of Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami.
Two Booker Prize books have made my list this year. Audition by Katie Kitamura opens with an actress having dinner with a young man. This young man tells the woman that he was adopted and that he thinks she may be his mother. She tells him that’s impossible. A few scenes later, the book reopens with the characters following a completely different plot. It’s a book that will playfully trip you up, time and time again, asking us to consider the roles we place on ourselves and other people, performative gestures, and unspoken rules.
My favourite of the Booker Prize longlist was Seascraper by Benjamin Wood. A short, biting novel, following Thomas, a young man in the northwest of England, who feels twice his age due to his gruelling job, scraping the shore for shrimp with his horse. One day a man called Edgar turns up in his kitchen, with a wad of cash and a proposition. This is a book for fans of Muriel Spark and Claire Keegan.
My absolute favourite read of 2025 was Hum by Helen Phillips. A speculative novel about AI, data sharing, climate crisis and family. It’s utterly captivating. What if all children want to talk to Tamagotchi-like creatures instead of their parents? What if adults lock themselves in their ‘wooms’ (virtual reality pods) to numb their senses? And what if a woman is pushed to her limits trying to secure her family’s safety in a world that wants to monetise every inch of human skin? Hum is this generation’s Never Let Me Go, and it’s mesmerising, horrifying and glorious in equal measure. I can’t recommend it enough.
Jen Campbell is a bestselling author and disability advocate. She has written fourteen books for children and adults, the latest of which is Please Do Not Touch This Exhibit. She also writes for TOAST Book Club.
Photography by Sanne Vliegenthart.
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