New York, N.Y.–(January 9, 2025)–The Jane Addams Peace Association is delighted to announce 12 finalist titles under consideration for the 2025 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award in the Chapter Book category. Please find them listed at the conclusion of this release.

The Jane Addams Peace Association will announce winning and honor books from among these finalists on January 18, 2025. Awards will be presented to the winning and honored authors and illustrators at an in-person ceremony on April 24, 2025, at 5:30pm EST at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. 

Since 1953, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award has annually recognized “children’s books of literary and aesthetic excellence that effectively engage children in thinking about peace, social justice, global community, and equity for all people.” A national committee of members with passion for and expertise in children’s literature and social justice is responsible for making the choices each year. 

We believe that these books, and others like them, can open up conversations between children and their adults–teachers, librarians and caregivers–about what is happening in the world around them and how they can be changemakers in their own families and communities. We hope that promoting our final contenders in this way will serve to highlight a greater number of excellent children’s books that can deepen understanding of peace and justice.

A special thanks to the Hastings Peace & Justice Fund for their generous support of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for many years.

2025 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Finalists for Chapter Books

(Each  book is linked to Teachingbooks.net for further information and resources)

Amil and the After. Veera Hiranandani. Kokila/Penguin Random House.

Barracoon: Adapted for Young Readers: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo.” Zora Neale Hurston, adapted by Ibram X. Kendi, illustrated by Jazzmen Lee-Johnson. Amistad Books for Young Readers/HarperCollins. 

Black Star. Kwame Alexander. Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Fake Chinese Sounds. Jing Jing Tsong. Kokila/Penguin Random House.

Find Her. Ginger Reno. Holiday House. 

Force of Nature: A Novel of Rachel Carson. Ann E. Burg, illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Scholastic Press.

I’m from Here Too. Kashmira Sheth. Peachtree/Holiday House.

Kareem Between. Shifa Saltagi Safadi. G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House.

Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice. Anna Lapera. Levine Querido.

Not Nothing. Gayle Forman. Aladdin Books/Simon & Schuster.

Safiyyah’s War. Hiba Noor Khan. Allida/HarperCollins.

Save Our Forest! Nora Dåsnes, translated by Lise Laerdal Bryn. Hippo Park/Astra Publishing.