Books NPR Loves 2025
Skip to comments
NPR has released their list of Best Books published in the year 2025.
The Graphic Novels category includes a few books whose authors have comic strip credentials.
J vs. K by Jerry Craft and Kwame Alexander – – – Buy the book
Two bestselling, Newbery Medal-winning kids’ book authors and friendly rivals team up to write a book about … two creative fifth-graders with their own rivalry! Kwame Alexander and Jerry Craft (or Jerry Craft and Kwame Alexander, depending on who you ask) not only produce a fun story with lively illustrations, but also sneak in lessons for kids on how to tap into their own creativity, maybe write and draw their own stuff. To which I say yay and amen! (For ages 8 to 12)
— Emiko Tamagawa, senior producer, Here & Now
Photographic Memory: William Henry Jackson and the American West by Bill Griffith – – Buy the Book
Notable underground-era cartoonist and Zippy creator Bill Griffith turns his attention to his namesake in this serious, deeply researched biography told in sharply attentive black-and-white comics. Griffith’s great-grandfather, William Henry Jackson, was best known as the official photographer on the 1870 government survey of Yellowstone, with photographs that led to the establishment of the first national park. Griffith builds on a vast archive – including letters, diaries and a published autobiography – to painstakingly detail the 90 years of this adventurous illustrator, adventurer and photographer’s life, including brushes along the way with the likes of Ansel Adams, Thomas Nast, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Richard F. Outcault.
— Tahneer Oksman, book critic, comics and graphic novels
Spent: A Comic Novel by Alison Bechdel – – Buy the Book
Best known for her graphic memoir Fun Home, Alison Bechdel has created a new “comic novel,” part self-parody, part ornate diatribe, that tracks a character in midlife (with the author’s same name) living with her partner on a goat farm in Vermont. The book’s cast of characters go about their lives against the backdrop of an exhausting cultural and political landscape. Sound familiar? Underneath the missives, jokes and Marxian headlines, the warmth of Bechdel’s storytelling is undeniable, and comforting. In an era calling for reinvention, Bechdel has produced her own inimitable genre.
— Tahneer Oksman, book critic, comics and graphic novels
I missed Jerry Craft’s book in our monthly Hey Kids! Comics! list, and I apologize for the over sight.
There is another book on NPR’s Best Books of 2025 I was completely unaware of — and it’s a doozy.
Hansel and Gretel retold by Stephen King and illustrated by Maurice Sendak – – Buy the Book
Sometimes a book lands in your lap that feels like a gift you didn’t know you needed, and Stephen King’s Hansel and Gretel, with haunting, gorgeous illustrations by the late Maurice Sendak, is exactly that. Both familiar and unsettling, this retelling is deliciously creepy, slyly funny and brimming with wonder. King’s spare narration gives the classic tale a pulse, while Sendak’s art brings the darkness and wonder to life in a way only he could. It’s rare to see two legends so perfectly in sync. This isn’t just a picture book – it’s a treasure, an event, a must-read. (For ages 6 and up)
— Juanita Giles, director, Virginia Children’s Book Festival
From the publisher’s description via Barnes & Noble (where the illustrations also come from):
The haunting tale of two brave children lost in a dark and dangerous forest is reimagined by literary legends Stephen King and Maurice Sendak in an all-new picture book.
Let Stephen King, global bestselling and award-winning author of The Long Walk, and Maurice Sendak, beloved creator of the Caldecott Medal–winning Where the Wild Things Are,” guide you into the most deliciously daring rendition of the classic Grimm fairy tale yet. But will you find your way back out?
With a personal introduction from Stephen King, the beautiful book has been created in close collaboration with The Maurice Sendak Foundation. This stunning storybook makes the perfect gift for fans of King, Sendak, and the Brothers Grimm.
feature image © The Maurice Sendak Foundation, Inc.
Comments 1
Comments are closed.