Ladies and gentlemen, the moment has arrived! The 2025 OWL (Outstanding Works of Literature) Awards are back, and our spotlight is set on books that spark innovation, inspire learning, and create real-world impact.

At BookPal, we believe in the power of books to ignite curiosity, drive meaningful change, and foster lifelong growth. That’s the purpose of the OWLs: to recognize titles that don’t just read well, they spark real change in the world.

This year, our book experts reviewed hundreds of submissions from publishers and carefully evaluated them for impact, originality, and usefulness in organizations, classrooms, and communities. After weeks of reading, debating, and delighting in big ideas, we’re thrilled to share the results: the top five titles in each category have advanced to the next round.

So without further ado… here is the 2025 OWL Awards Longlist! Huge congratulations to the authors, editors, and publishing teams behind these exceptional works. 

Big Idea

Big Idea books pair audacious imagination with analytical rigor. They don’t chase trends; they set them, reframing how institutions allocate attention, harness technology, weigh risk, and define value. These titles ignite all-hands discussions, boardroom debates, and classroom inquiry, not as spectacle but as stewardship, serving as catalysts for serious conversation and frameworks for better decisions.

1. Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI by Karen Hao
2. The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource by Chris Hayes
3. Abundance by Ezra Klein
4. The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life by Sahil Bloom
5. The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West by Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska

Leadership

Great leadership is teachable. Leadership books explore the human side of performance: the ethics behind influence, the steadiness beneath strategy, and the empathy that unlocks potential. These titles equip leaders to communicate with precision, build trust that endures, and act with courage when it matters most.

1. The Need to Lead: A TOPGUN Instructor's Lessons on How Leadership Solves Every Challenge by Dave Berke
2. Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates
3. Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions by L. David Marquet and Michael Gillespie
4. Conquering Crisis: Ten Lessons to Learn Before You Need Them by William H. McRaven
5. Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit by Brené Brown

Management & Culture

Great cultures are built, not discovered. Management & Culture books translate company values into daily behaviors. They show leaders how to turn “why” into workflow, crafting environments where clarity, mattering, and emotional steadiness are the norm. The payoff is sustainable performance: teams that are both happier and more effective.

1. Why Are We Here?: Creating a Work Culture Everyone Wants by Jennifer Moss
2. The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance by Zach Mercurio
3. The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More by Jefferson Fisher
4. The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life by Arthur C. Brooks
5. Shift: Managing Your Emotions--So They Don't Manage You by Ethan Kross

Sales & Marketing

Sales & Marketing books spotlight the craft of winning modern markets: discerning real signals, designing memorable experiences, and scaling them with technology. They blend creative story with analytic rigor, showing teams how to generate demand, convert attention into action, and build brands that will last. 

1. Outgrow: How to Expand Market Share and Outsell Your Competition by Alex Goldfayn
2. Press Play: Why Every Company Needs a Gaming Strategy by Bastian Bergmann
3. Click Here: The Art and Science of Digital Marketing and Advertising by Alex Schultz
4. Read Your Mind: Proven Habits for Success from the World's Greatest Mentalist by Oz Pearlman
5. AI First: The Playbook for a Future-Proof Business and Brand by Adam Brotman and Andy Sack

Women in Business

Women in Business books turn well-documented barriers into actionable playbooks. These works blend narrative insight with data-driven strategy to advance pay equity, leadership access, and wealth creation, showing leaders and teams how to convert inclusion from intention to a measurable business advantage.

1. Wild Courage: Go After What You Want and Get It by Jenny Wood
2. Raising Brows: My Story of Building a Billion-Dollar Beauty Empire by Anastasia Soare
3. The Broken Rung: When the Career Ladder Breaks for Women--and How They Can Succeed in Spite of It by Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, and Maria del Mar Martinez
4. Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth, and Power by Victoria Bateman
5. Rich Girl Nation: Taking Charge of Our Financial Futures by Katie Gatti Tassin

Picture Books

Picture books blend art with heart, giving teachers a gentle toolkit for talking about feelings, friendship, problem-solving, and bravery. With every turn of the page, students practice listening and wondering together. The result: classrooms that feel safe to speak up, try again, and imagine more.

1. Best Buds by Becky Scharnhorst
2. Yumi and Monster by Kam Redlawsk
3. Marianne the Maker by Kelly Corrigan and Claire Corrigan Lichty
4. Diego Fuego the Firefighting Dragon by Allison Rozo and Rafael Rozo
5. Just One More Story by Perry Emerson

Elementary School

Elementary books deliver big adventure in bite-sized chapters. With humor, heart, and challenge, these books build fluency and stamina while inviting kids to question, predict, and connect. They’re perfect for read-alouds or independent time, sparking classroom conversations that stretch from vocabulary to values.

1. Barnacle Bay by Jana Curll
2. Growing Home by Beth Ferry
3. Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate
4. Arco’s Little House by Jess Fogel
5. InvestiGators: Case Files by John Patrick Green with Steve Behling and Chris Fenoglio

Middle School

Middle school reads blend high-stakes adventure with the first real taste of independence. These books invite tweens to test courage, decode tricky social dynamics, and wrestle with right and wrong, while turning pages that practically flip themselves. These books are perfect for instilling a lifelong love of reading.

1. The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes
2. Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers by Ibram X. Kendi
3. Schoolbot 9000: A Graphic Novel by Sam Hepburn
4. So Over Sharing by Elissa Brent Weissman
5. Dragonborn by Struan Murray

First Year Experience (FYE)

FYE titles help students do the two hardest things at once: find their people and find their purpose. These books open the year with conversations about wellness, identity, justice, creativity, and the ethics of technology, giving students a shared language for belonging and a toolkit for thinking clearly when everything feels new.

1. The Friendship Bench: How Fourteen Grandmothers Inspired a Mental Health Revolution by Dixon Chibanda, MD
2. Stitching Freedom: A True Story of Injustice, Defiance, and Hope in Angola Prison by Gary Tyler with Ellen Bravo
3. Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen
4. To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage
5. More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI by John Warner

Community-Wide Read

Community reads create a shared table where neighbors, students, and leaders meet as equals. They pair compelling narratives with questions that matter, helping communities build shared language around justice, care, and possibility. The result is more than a reading list: it’s a framework for listening together and acting together.

1. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
2. Slow Violence: Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom by Ranita Ray
3. Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care by Claudia Rowe
4. Voice for the Voiceless: Over Seven Decades of Struggle with China for My Land and My People by Dalai Lama
5. Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life by Shigehiro Oishi, PhD

Congratulations to all the incredible authors and titles that have made it through to the longlist of our OWL Awards! This achievement is a testament to their impact on readers and communities alike. Stay tuned as we narrow down to the top 3 titles for our 2025 shortlist! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter below and follow us on LinkedIn for exclusive updates and special content.