The First National Book Awards Longlist is Here!

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

The NBA Longlist for Young People’s Literature

It doesn’t truly feel like book awards season has kicked off until we start getting the National Book Awards announcements, and that begins now with the 2025 longlist for Young People’s Literature freshly out. The list includes four past finalists in this category (Derrick Barnes, Kyle Lukoff, Amber McBride, and Ibi Zoboi). Here are the YPL longlist contenders for the 76th National Book Awards:

A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez by María Dolores Águila, The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff The Leaving Room by Amber McBride The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout (S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi

Finalists in all five NBA categories will be announced on October 7th.

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Reading Skills of High School Seniors at a New Low

New federal testing data delivered disappointing news about the reading and math skills of 12th graders in the U.S. Reading skills are the lowest they’ve been in 30 years and math skills are the worst they’ve been in 20 years. The biggest impact is seen among lower performers, which includes children learning English and kids from lower income households. It’s hard to imagine a world where this doesn’t lead to further widening income gaps and have lasting impact on the careers of kids entering an AI-dominated workforce. With book bans, heavy screen usage (in tandem with poor reading comprehension and media literacy), and an administration that is entirely unserious about education, the outlook on lifting up lower performers isn’t looking too hot.

In Better News…

A Louisville, KY county public school system is seeing a surge in library usage less than a month into a system-wide cell phone ban. It feels like early days and not enough data to make any big pronouncements about the direct impact of cell phone bans on reading, but I’ll take the news as promising especially since other schools are reporting similar trends.

A Podcast to Get You to Well-Read

I think we’d all like to say we’re well-read, but if it’s been an important yet inaccessible goal for you, we’re here to help with a new podcast. Book Riot’s CEO, Jeff, and Chief of Staff, Rebecca, who have been working in books for ages and hosting our main podcast for years, present Zero to Well-Read, a podcast that tells you everything you need to know about the books you wish you’d read. Read all about it here.