Download the 2025 Read for Empathy collection guides!

The 2025 Read for Empathy collection is here! Download the FREE guides to discover the 70 expertly-selected books, curated to build empathy.

About the collection 

EmpathyLab has produced a #ReadforEmpathy book collection, with accompanying book guides, annually since 2017. Each title in the collection has been chosen by a panel of judges to do a specific empathy-building job.

The list has been created as a practical tool to help young people learn more about empathy and put it into action, giving adults the resources they need to raise an empathy-educated generation.

Our judges are a group of national experts and grassroots practitioners from schools, public libraries and organisations including the School Library Association (SLA), The Open University, Youth Libraries Group (YLG) and the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE). They work hard to assemble a contemporary, diverse list of books.