Which time-travel novel won the 2025 Newbery Medal?
Answer
The First State of Being
The time-travel novel that won the 2025 Newbery Medal was *The First State of Being* by Erin Entrada Kelly.
The Association for Library Service to Children announced the award in January 2025. Published by Greenwillow Books in 2024, Kelly’s novel combines coming-of-age fiction, science fiction and historical detail. Its story is connected to 1999, when the approach of the year 2000 and fears about the Y2K computer problem shaped popular culture.
The book follows young characters whose lives intersect with a mysterious time traveler. Rather than treating time travel only as a technological puzzle, the novel uses it to explore identity, friendship, family pressures and the way people imagine the future. The Newbery recognizes distinguished writing for children, not simply a book’s genre or commercial popularity.
The wrong options are previous Newbery Medal or Honor titles. *Hello, Universe* won the 2018 Medal, while *When You Trap a Tiger* won the 2021 Medal. *We Dream of Space* was a 2021 Newbery Honor Book, not the 2025 Medal winner.