In episode 232 of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast:

Team YKNR Christmas Party

Yes, it’s that time of year when Allison Rushby joins Allison Tait and Megan Daley to celebrate the festive season in the best way we know how – by sharing our favourite childrens and YA reads of 2025. Do we know how to party or what?

Books we mention

Click on the titles to find out more or buy. See contact page for affiliate disclosure.

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Team YKNR Fave Reads 2025

Meet Allison Rushby

PICTURE BOOKS

‘The Colt from Old Regret’ by Dianne Wolfer, illustrated by Erica Wagner

‘Who Might You Be?’ by Robert Henderson

‘One Day’ by Shirley Marr, illustrated by Michael Speechley 

‘Derek’ by Anne Donaldson, illustrated by Matt Shanks 

‘Shmoof’ by Heidi McKinnon

‘If We Were Dogs’ by Sophie Blackall

‘The Last Egg’ by Sofie Laguna and Jess Racklyeft

‘The Train At The End Of My Street’ by Tom Jellett

‘My Mum is a Bird’ by Angie Cui, illustrated by Evie Barrow

‘Cynthia is a Wild Dog’ by Tohby Riddle

‘Here Come the Cousins’ by Maggie Hutchings, illustrated by Sarah Zweck

JUNIOR FICTION (6-9)

‘Ebb and Flo’ (series) by Philip and Laura Bunting

‘Frog, Log and Dave’ by Trent Jamieson and Brent Wilson

‘Bravepaw and the Clawstone of Rotwood Mire’ by L.M. Wilkinson. Illustrated by Lavanya Naidu

‘Hannah Backwards’ by Kym Rackham, illustrated by Heidi Cooper   (Episode 219: 10 minutes with Kim Rackham)

Detective Galileo (series) by Peter Helliar, illustrated by Andrew Joyner   (Episode 231: 10 minutes with Peter Helliar)

The Cockatoo Crew (series) by Lora Inak, illustrations by Kruti Desai  (Listen to the first chapter here)

‘Spud and Snowball and the Fancy Fish’ by Judith Rossell

‘Frances Bloom’ by Katrina Nannestad, illustrated by Marina Zlatanova

‘Detective Beans Adventures in Cat Town’ by Li Chen   (Episode 207: 10 minutes with Li Chen)

MIDDLE GRADE (9-13)

‘Willow Bright’s Secret Plot’ by A. L. Tait  (Listen to the first chapter here)

‘Danger Road’ by A. L. Tait  (Listen to the first chapter here)

‘The Lone Husky’ by Hannah Gold

‘Little Bones’ by Sandy Bigna  (Listen to the first chapter here)

‘Inked’ by Karen Wasson, illustrated by Jake A. Minton

‘Spirit of the Crocodile’ by Aaron Fa’Aoso and Michelle Scott Tucker with Lyn White

‘The Surface Trials’ by H. M. Waugh

‘Sunny and Shadow’ by Helen Milroy  (Episode 189: 10 minutes with Helen Milroy)

‘Gloam’ by Jack Mackay

‘Hidden Treasure’ by Jessie Burton

‘R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins’ by Lucie Stevens  (Episode 203: 10 minutes with Lucie Stevens)

YOUNG ADULTS (14+)

‘The Foal in the Wire’ by Robbie Coburn

‘We Saw What You Started’ by Carla Salmon

‘Drift’ by Pip Harry

‘Ngurra Home’ by Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler. Illustrated by Dub Leffler 

‘This Season’s Draft’ by Jason Gent

‘Wandering Wild’ by Lynette Noni

‘We Won’t All Survive’ by Kate Alice Marshall

‘Hazelthorn’ by CG Drews

‘Unhallowed Halls’ by Lili Wilkinson

‘Grumpy Darling’ by Alexandra Moody

NON-FICTION BOOKS

‘The Deadly Diamond’ by Mark Greenwood 

‘The Wonder Horse’ by Mark Greenwood

‘Dogs with Jobs’ by Max Hamilton 

‘All about Antarctica’ by Marc Martin

‘Volcano’ by Claire Saxby and Jess Racklyeft

‘This Bird: Noticing our urban birds’ by Astred Hicks with Holly Parsons (Episode 139: Behind The Books: Book Designer)

‘The Story Writers’ Handbook’ by Katrina Nannestad, illustrated by Cheryl Orsini   (Episode 228: 10 minutes with Katrina Nannestad)

‘The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Fast and Slow Animals’ by Sami Bayly (Episode 129 10 minutes with Sami Bayly)

‘Cloud Atlas’ by Sarah Zambello, illustrated by Susy Zanella

YKNR community fave reads 2025 lists

• Your Kid’s Next Read Faves 2025: Picture Books

• Your Kid’s Next Read Faves 2025: Chapter Books

• Your Kid’s Next Read Faves 2025: Junior Reads

• Your Kid’s Next Read Faves 2025: Middle Grade

• Your Kid’s Next Read Faves 2025: Young Adult

All YKNR community book lists

THANK YOU

Thank you for listening in 2025! Megan and Allison will be back with our regular weekly podcast early in 2026. 

In the meantime, stay tuned for our SUMMER SERIES, beginning very soon. This year, we are going behind the scenes with some brilliant creative minds – authors and illustrators – to find out how they got started, how they choose their projects, what they’ve learnt over their careers and more!

Don’t miss it! Subscribe wherever you get your pods so you don’t miss a minute!

FOLLOW @YOURKIDSNEXTREAD ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM TO KEEP IN TOUCH

OTHER RELEVANT EPISODES

Episode 227: Books to gift to kids who ‘don’t read’

Episode 226: A Bookmail Blizzard

Episode 222: Boys and Reading

Episode 214: Encouraging Reading at Home

Our books

The Mapmaker Chronicles series by A. L. Tait

The Ateban Cipher (duology) by A. L. Tait

The Maven & Reeve Mysteries by A. L. Tait

The First Summer of Callie McGee by A. L. Tait

Willow Bright’s Secret Plot by A. L. Tait

Danger Road by A. L. Tait

The Beehive by Megan Daley

Teacher, Teacher (anthology), edited by Megan Daley

Raising Readers by Megan Daley

Connect with your show hosts

Facebook | Allison Tait | Megan Daley

Twitter | Allison Tait  | Megan Daley

Instagram at Allison Tait | Megan Daley

The YKNR community on Facebook here. 

Meet Allison Rushby, the third member of #teamyknr. Find out about Allison and her books here.