What books, movies, and things people in Salem loved checking out in 2025

The most checked-out book by Salem residents this year was “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” which tells the story of an elderly widow who cultivates an unlikely friendship with an octopus. 

It’s the Salem Reads pick for 2026 – a designation that reliably earns books a top slot in the Salem Public Library’s listing of popular items.

Some close runnerups were the fantasy romance novel “Onyx Storm,” and “The Waiting,” a bestselling novel about a detective who tracks down a serial rapist after a case runs cold. 

All of the top books this year are in the adult fiction category, but the Hunger Games series took the cake in the teen fiction category with “Sunrise on the Reaping,” “The Hunger Games,” and “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” all making the top of the list. 

This year there were about 1.5 million checkouts at the Salem Public Library in 2025, according to data from City Librarian Bridget Esqueda. That’s up from a little over a million checkouts last year. 

In 2023, there were about 734,000 checkouts. 

The increase in library usage comes after hours and staffing at the public library were expected to be cut significantly this year. The cuts were avoided and Sunday and evening hours were restored in November after voters accepted a property tax increase last May. 

In addition to a lot of books, people in Salem also routinely checked out DVDs, cultural passes and items from the Library of Things.  

Here are the most popular library checkouts for Salem residents this year. See last year’s rankings here.

Library staff also shared their favorite reads of the year.

Top five checkouts

• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
• The Waiting by Michael Connelly
• Cultural Pass: The Gilbert House Children’s Museum
• In Too Deep by Andrew Grant and Lee Child

Top five adult fiction

• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
• The Waiting by Michael Connelly
• The Crash by Freida McFadden
• In Too Deep by Andrew Grant and Lee Child

Top five adult nonfiction

• The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Abundance by Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein
• Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

Top five teen fiction

• Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
• Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
• Powerless by Lauren Roberts

Top five teen graphic novel series

• One Piece written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda
• One-Punch Man by One and illustrated by Yusuke Murata
• My Hero Academia written and illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi
• Demon Slayer written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge
• Jujutsu Kaisen written and illustrated by Gege Akutami

Top five teen nonfiction

• Guinness Wold Records: Gamer’s Edition 2025
• Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm Chill Life by Michael A. Tompkins
• My Pokémon Baking Book by Jerrett Melendez
• Player’s Handbook by Gary Gygax
• Queer Mythology: Epic Legends from Around the World by Guido A. Sanchez

Top five children’s picture books

• Bluey
• Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
• The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! by Mo Willems
• Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! by Mo Willems
• Will the Pigeon Graduate? by Mo Willems

Top five children’s fiction

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down by Jeff Kinney
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess by Jeff Kinney
• Odder written by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by Charles Santoso
• The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass

Top five children’s fiction series

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
• Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
• Wings of Fire by Tai T. Sutherland
• Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel

Top five children’s nonfiction

• Minecraft
• National Geographic Kids Almanac
• Polar Bears
• I Spy by Jean Marzollo
• Dinosaurs

Top five children’s graphic novel series

• Dog Man by Dan Pilkey
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Splatoon by Sankichi Hinodeya
• Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland
• Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce

Top five Library of Things

• CCRLS T-Mobile Hotspot
• Electric Pressure Washer
• 3D Printer
• Telescope
• Pickleball Paddles

Top five DVDs

• Midsomer Murders
• The Brokenwood Mysteries
• Star Trek
• Death In Paradise
• Call the Midwife

Staff favorites (in no particular order)

Adults

• Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
•  Six Seasons of Pasta: A New Way with Everyone’s Favorite Food by Joshua McFadden
• Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
• Speak To Me of Home by Jeanine Cummins
• I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest
• Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
• Bad Nature by Ariel Courage
• The Favorites by Layne Fargo
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• The River Has Roots by El-Mohtar, Amal
• The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
• The sheet pan: 150+ easy, creative meals from your most versatile pan, by America’s Test Kitchen
• Whale Eyes by James Robinson
• Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
• From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty (audiobook)
• The River Has Roots by El-Mohtar, Amal
• Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
• The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
• Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman
• In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
• The Lost and Early Writings of James Connolly, 1889-1898
• Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
• Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield
• Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou
• Old Soul by Susan Barker
• Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
• How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones
• Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung
• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
• My Olive Tree by Hazar Elbayya
• The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood and Boyfriends by Jamie D’Amato
• The Wilderlands by R.E. Bellesmith 
• Genocide Bad: Notes on Palestine, Jewish History, and Collective Liberation by Sim Kern
• Perfect Victims and Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd
• Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
• The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
• The Best of Kamala Das by Kamala Das
• The Borrow a Boyfriend Club by Page Powars
• They Called Me a Lioness by Ahed Tamimi
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
• The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem
• Wake the Wild Creatures by Nova Ren Suma
• God of the Woods by Liz Moore
• The Confessional by Paige Hender
• When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain
• A Mother Always Knows by Sarah Strohmeyer
• The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Children

• Mi abuela es una bruja by Mayra Cuevas
• ¡¿Ropa vieja para la cena?! by Nathalie Alonso
• Los Ojos y lo imposible by Dave Eggers
• Earl & Worm #1: The Bad Idea and Other Stories by Greg Pizzoli
• Dreamslinger by Graci Kim

Young adult

• Ghost Roast by Shawnelle Gibbs
• Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
• Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim
• Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
• Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier
• Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens

Middle grade

• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
• Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
• Lunar Boy by Jacinta Wibowo
• Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
• Insectopolis: A Natural History by Peter Kuper
• Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley
• A Rebellion of Care: Poems and Essays by David Gate
• The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected]. 

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