One Book, One San Diego

One Book, One San Diego is our region's premier literary program, presented in partnership between KPBS and over 80 public libraries, service organizations and educational institutions. Now in its 19th year, the purpose is to bring our community closer together through the shared experience of reading and discussing the same book.

Each year, One Book, One San Diego features one book for adults, one for teens, one for kids and one for Spanish language readers (One Book Sin Fronteras).

Year round, the community is asked to nominate titles the entire region should read together. The Advisory Committees review these nominations and ultimately select titles they believe fit the selection criteria best. In the fall, KPBS and our community partners host events inspired by the books selected.

Introducing the 2025 One Book, One San Diego selections!

2025 Selection for Adults

Deacon King Kong

by James McBride

Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction
Winner of the Gotham Book Prize
One of Barack Obama’s “Favorite Books of the Year”
Oprah’s Book Club Pick
New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
Named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and TIME Magazine
A Washington Post Notable Novel

From the author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, and the bestselling modern classic The Color of Water, comes one of the most celebrated novels of the year.

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range.

The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride’s funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird. In Deacon King Kong, McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood’s Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters—caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York—overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion.

Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us.

More about James McBride

2025 Selection for Teens

Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam

by Thien Pham

Eisner Award Winner for Best Graphic Memoir

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist

An NPR Best Books of 2023

A moving young adult graphic memoir about a Vietnamese immigrant boy's search for belonging in America, perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and The Best We Could Do!

Thien's first memory isn't a sight or a sound. It's the sweetness of watermelon and the saltiness of fish. It's the taste of the foods he ate while adrift at sea as his family fled Vietnam.

After the Pham family arrives at a refugee camp in Thailand, they struggle to survive. Things don't get much easier once they resettle in California. And through each chapter of their lives, food takes on a new meaning. Strawberries come to signify struggle as Thien's mom and dad look for work. Potato chips are an indulgence that bring Thien so much joy that they become a necessity.

Behind every cut of steak and inside every croissant lies a story. And for Thien Pham, that story is about a search—for belonging, for happiness, for the American dream.

Discussion Guide

More about Thien Pham

2025 Selection for Kids

The Interpreter

by Olivia Abtahi and Monica Arnaldo (Illustrator)

An Amazon Best Book of January (2025)

A sharp and heartfelt picture book about a young soccer-loving girl who’s an interpreter for her Spanish-speaking parents.

Some kids have one job: to be a kid! Cecilia has two. When she isn’t on the soccer field scoring goals, she’s accompanying her parents to all kinds of grown-up places, like the DMV, the accountant’s office, and the auto shop. She helps them translate from Spanish to English and from English to Spanish. It’s an important job, and it can even be fun. It’s also hard work.

Sometimes Cecilia’s second job is so much responsibility, it feels like she’ll split in two! Is it time for Cecilia to blow her whistle and call for a time-out?

Olivia Abtahi’s clever text and Monica Arnaldo’s charming illustrations capture a common aspect of life for immigrant and bilingual families while offering a model for teamwork that helps everyone feel understood.

*Also available in Spanish/también disponible en español: La intérprete

More about Olivia Abtahi

Where To Get The Books!

Check out all of the selections for free through the San Diego County Library at an in-person branch or through Overdrive, https://sdcl.overdrive.com/.

Or, purchase the 2025 selections online from The Library Shop, https://www.libraryshopsd.org/one-book.

The Library Shop is a well-curated nonprofit book & gift shop catering to librarians, library lovers, literary obsessives and book nerds inside the Downtown Central Library. Proceeds support the entire San Diego Public Library System.

You can now nominate books for One Book, One San Diego year round! Please submit nominations prior to March 15 for titles to be considered for the 2026 season. Share your favorite title or two today!

View the full list of past One Book selections here