Young Adult: 2025 New Releases

This book list contains new and upcoming young adult titles with publication dates in 2025. These books span a variety of genres, from contemporary thrillers to anthologies in verse. While these titles are fictional, their stories highlight Indigenous experiences, celebrate Indigenous cultures and traditions, and engage with crucial issues like book bans and censorship.

In these books, Native students will see themselves and their cultures represented and celebrated in literature, while the contemporary and historical issues raised will facilitate important discussions within the classroom and beyond.

Book cover of The Unfinished

The Unfinished

Author

Cheryl Isaacs (Mohawk)

Summary

When small-town athlete Avery’s morning run leads her to a strange pond in the middle of the forest, she awakens a horror the townspeople of Crook’s Falls have long forgotten: The black water. The water has been waiting, watching, hungry for the souls it needs to survive. As the black water haunts Avery—taking a new form each time—people in town begin to go missing. While Avery had never really connected to her Indigenous culture or understood the stories her Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) relatives told her, the Elders may be the only ones who have the answers she needs. When Key, Avery’s best friend and longtime crush, is the next to disappear, she is faced with a choice: listen to the Kanien’kéha:ka and save the town but lose her friend forever… Or listen to her heart and risk everything to get Key back.

Notable Achivements

Kirkus Reviews Best Books; Indigo Best Books of the Year

Trade Reviews

Publishers Weekly: “Sharp prose and humorous banter permeate this stellar debut by Isaacs, who crafts an atmospheric mystery filled with intrigue and harrowing imagery that shimmers brilliantly amid the eerie setting.”

Link to review

Kirkus: “A harrowing work that combines suspense with a coming-of-age journey of cultural exploration.”

Link to review

School Library Journal: “This chilling quest to save a best friend (and perhaps the town) reveals the bravery that Avery needs to come face to face with her greatest fears. Readers will finish this feeling spooked and reflective of their own secure attachments.”

Link to review

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It Don’t Come Easy

Author

Eric Gansworth (Onondaga)

Book cover of Banned Together

Banned Together: Authors and Allies on the Fight for Readers’ Rights

Editor

Ashley Hope Pérez

Illustrator

Debbie Fong

Summary

Books are disappearing from shelves across the country. What does this mean for authors, illustrators, and—most crucially—for young readers? In this collection, fifteen authors and illustrators confront the high-stakes question of what is lost when books are kept from teens. Includes an acrostic poem “Read Banned Books” by Cherokee author Traci Sorell.

Trade Reviews

Kirkus: “An empowering and critically timely blueprint for action.”

Link to review

Book cover of Legendary Fry Bread Drive-In

Legendary Fry Bread Drive-In

Editor

Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Nation)

Summary

The road to Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside every urban Native hangout. The menu offers a rotating feast, including traditional eats and tasty snacks. But Sandy June’s serves up more than food: it hosts live music, movie nights, unexpected family reunions, love long lost, and love found again. Edited by Muscogee author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this anthology includes stories from Indigenous authors Kaua Mahoe Adams, Marcella Bell, Angeline Boulley, K. A. Cobell, A. J. Eversole, Jen Ferguson, Eric Gansworth, Byron Graves, Kate Hart, Christine Hartman Derr, Karina Iceberg, Cheryl Isaacs, Darcie Little Badger, David A. Robertson, Andrea L. Rogers, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Brian Young.

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Together We See

Author

Ari Tison (BriBri)

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All Power to the People: Poems to Address the Past, Present, and Future of Policing

Author

Ari Tison (BriBri) & Ty Chapman

Book cover of All the Love Under the Vast Sky

All the Love Under the Vast Sky

Editor

Kip Wilson

Summary

Love can be many things — all-consuming, fleeting, vengeful, selfless, toxic, uplifting, and always, a core part of the teen experience that leaves an indelible mark. Through twelve short stories in verse, this anthology explores the highs and lows of love — romantic, platonic, familial, and self-love. Includes a short story in verse by Onondaga author Eric Gansworth.

Conclusion

The 2025 young adult titles included in this list are excellent additions for educators to include in their libraries and classrooms. These stories will allow Native students to see themselves and their cultures represented in literature, while also facilitating necessary discussion about the injustices faced by Indigenous peoples throughout history and today.

A headshot of author Traci Sorell

About the Author

Traci Sorell

This book list was compiled by author Traci Sorell. You can find her online at https://www.tracisorell.com.