All Iowa Reads
Announcing the 2025 All Iowa Reads titles!
The 2025 All Iowa Reads titles are here! Get ready to dive into this year’s selections, handpicked to spark conversation and connect readers across Iowa. Check out the amazing titles for adults, teens, and kids that will bring our communities together!
Program Information
Find out more about All Iowa Reads:
Staff Contacts
Adult Committee Chair:
Helen Dagley
Teen and Kids Committee Chair:
Janeé Jackson-Doering
Established in 2003, the purpose of All Iowa Reads is to foster a sense of unity through reading. Iowans are encouraged to come together in their communities to read and talk about a single book title in the same calendar year. All Iowa Reads consists of three programs, each with one title chosen per year: adults, teens ages 12-18, and kids ages 8-12.
Libraries, book clubs, schools and other local organizations are encouraged to sponsor discussions of the titles. See the information below for current and past selections as well as materials including book reviews, discussion questions, author bios, and publicity materials to help libraries and groups prepare successful discussions.
2025 All Iowa Reads Selections & Program Resources
Adult Program Selection:
Distant Sons by Tim Johnston
What if Sean Courtland’s old Chevy truck had broken down somewhere else? What if he’d never met Denise Givens, a waitress at a local tavern, and gotten into a bar fight defending her honor? Or offered a ride to Dan Young, another young man like Sean, burdened by secrets and just drifting through the small Wisconsin town?
Instead, Sean enlists Dan’s help with a construction job in the basement of a local—the elderly, reclusive Marion Devereaux—and gradually the two men come to realize that they’ve washed up in a place haunted by the disappearance of three young boys decades earlier. As Sean and Dan’s friendship deepens, and as Sean gets closer to Denise and her father, they come to the attention of a savvy local detective, Corrine Viegas, who has her own reasons for digging into Dan’s past—and for being unable to resist the pull of the town’s unsolved mystery. And with each chance connection, an irreversible chain of events is set in motion that culminates in shattering violence and the revelation of long-buried truths.
This gripping crime novel is also about friendship, love, and hard work, and about how the most random intersection of lives can have consequences.
Teen (ages 12-18) Program Selection:
Rez Ball by Byron Graves
These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team—even though he can’t help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident.
When Jaxon's former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his dream of playing in the NBA, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him.
But stepping into his brother’s shoes as a star player means that Tre can’t mess up. Not on the court, not at school, and not with his new friend, gamer Khiana, who he is definitely not falling in love with.
After decades of rez teams almost making it, Tre needs to take his team to state. Because if he can live up to Jaxon's dreams, their story isn’t over yet.
Kids (ages 8-12) Program Selection:
Jawbreaker by Christina Wyman
Max Plink’s life just got a lot more complicated. Trouble at home? Check―with money tight, her parents haven’t been getting along lately. School bullies? Double check―especially if you count her sister, who is the worst bully of them all. Dental drama? Oh, you have no idea. With a mismatched puzzle of a jaw, Max has a Class II malocclusion, otherwise known as a severe overbite. She already has braces, which means she lives on Advil and soft foods after each orthodontist appointment. But now Max has to wear totally awkward orthodontic headgear nicknamed “the jawbreaker.” Could things get any worse?
Yes, they could. The journalism competition Max wants to enter has a video component. But being on camera means showing her face not just to her junior high classmates, but possibly the whole city. Going viral is the last thing Max needs, but winning this competition is what she wants most. Turns out, following her dreams is complicated, too.
Inspired by Christina Wyman’s own experience with a Class II malocclusion, Jawbreaker is a humorous and refreshingly honest story perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier, Terri Libenson, Kelly Yang, Gordon Korman, and other endlessly funny and deeply heartfelt books that tackle big topics and universal coming-of-age experiences alike.
