The 2025 picture book Fireworks is written by Matthew Burgess and illustrated by Catia Chien. Some picture books are primarily story, but this book draws its power from both creators.
The book begins in summer, in an unnamed city (perhaps New York), and follows first two kids, then more kids and the larger community out into the sun, the heat, and the fun they have and make in it. There are scenes of running through water from a fire hydrant, enjoying music in the park (and other places), and so on. There are screams of joy and two-page spreads of kids eating watermelon so energetically that you can hear their teeth motoring through the fruit.
Eventually, night falls and the fireworks come. They fill the growing dark, they fill the pages, with light and sound, and, eventually, they fill the kids we’ve followed through the book with countless bursts of light.
This reads more like a prose poem homage to city and community in summer (and fireworks, of course) than a traditional story. There’s no real plot. Instead we are all carried along by the day and the light and the sound and, of course, the fireworks.
(Chien also illustrated The Longest Letsgoboy.)
This book won the Caldecott in 2026, recognizing it as the most distinguished American picture book.
