Holiday Book Pick Wrap-Up!

Looking for that perfect something-to-read to wrap up your holiday gift shopping? Browse 24 Carrot Writing's Book Picks for 2025, as well as some of our Book Pick authors' personal favorites to treat the special people in you life.

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STEPHANIE LUCIANOVIC'S BOOK PICK

MONTY AND THE MUSHROOMS by Dev Petty and Jared Chapman

In Monty and the Mushrooms (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025), Monty is a grumpy-ish marmot who has his prized peace and solitude broken by a veritable plague of mushrooms. The mushrooms are too chatty, too friendly, TOO LOUD! I adore this book because:
1. I'm a sucker for mushroom books.
2. Imagining mushrooms as loud, obnoxious, clueless partiers is hilarious because, I don't know, I've always personified mushrooms as soft and quiet and maybe very shy?
3. It's goofy as heck.
4. The twist ending is a killer. Truly.

On Writing 
Dev is a text-only writer and yet has authored quite a few dialogue-heavy (some have been 100% dialogue) picture books, which is unusual. Typically, dialogue-heavy or dialogue-exclusively picture books are put out by author-illustrators. Monty and the Mushrooms is mostly dialogue, and it is a masterclass on how a text-only author can not just get away with so much dialogue but also an example of how to do it WELL. However, don't sleep on the sparse narration in this book, either -- it is so clever, voice-y, and hilariously understated.​
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Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic writes award-winning, New York Times-bestselling books in the San Francisco Bay Area surrounded by a few kids, a few cats, and one husband. Her most recent books include Touch the Sky (Carolhoda Books, 2024), Zombie and Brain are Friends (Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2025), and Not Like Every Day (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2025). To learn more about author Stephanie Lucianovic visit her website. 

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MEGAN LITWIN'S BOOK PICK

FIREWORKS by Matthew Burgess 

Fireworks, written by Matthew Burgess and illustrated by Catia Chien (Clarion, 2025), was my favorite picture book of 2025. Every single thing about this book is spectacular - the poetry, the colors, the suspense, the joy! We follow two children from breakfast to bed on a steamy day in the city, all the way up, up, up to a rooftop…where Catia Chien’s firework art wows them (and us) in grand finale fashion. KABOOM!
 
On Writing
Writers will also be wowed by the poetry of Matthew Burgess. Study this text and you’ll see so much care taken with word choice, so much attention to the details of word sounds. Not a single beat is wasted here. The result? Sentences that dance in your mouth as you read. We often hear that in picture books, every single word matters. Let this be a mentor text for that.
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Megan Litwin is a children’s book author, a former classroom teacher, and a forever believer in book magic. Her books include Twinkle, Twinkle, Winter Night (Clarion, 2022) - a 2023 Massachusetts Must-Read title and New England Crystal Kite finalist), the Dirt and Bugsy (Penguin Young Readers, 2023) series  - a 2023 Cybils Award finalist) -,  and the new picture book Gather Grateful. (Candlewick, 2025). 

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 24 Carrot Writing 2025 Book Picks

I'm Sorry You Got Mad by Kyle Lukoff is a fun and fabulous epistolary style picture book about the art of apologizing with sincerity and empathy. Find the full book pick here.

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The Book That Almost Rhymed by Omar Abed is a silly sibling romp and a smart mentor text about using rhyme. Click here to read the full book pick with fabulous tips about writing in rhyme. 

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Like by Annie Barrows is a humorous look at the ways we are similar to one another. Find the book pick here.

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A Little More Beautiful by Sarah Mackenzie is a lovely intergenerational book about sharing talents. Click here for the full book pick.

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The Man Who Didn't Like Animals by Deborah Underwood is the hilarious and brilliant origin story of Old MacDonald. Read the full book pick here.

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