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The Secret Astronomers

By Jessica Walker
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Brief Description
Barnes & Noble's Best Young Adult Book of the Year! Two strangers. One forgotten astronomy textbook. A decades-old secret. A fascinating, highly illustrated, epistolary novel perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and Alice Oseman, featuring designed doodled edges! When a recent transfer student starts keeping her... Read More
Format: Hardback
$5300
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Releases 1st December 2026 (Approx. Date) Pre-order  "The Secret Astronomers" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

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In Green Bank, West Virginia, two teens--grieving, artistic Copernicus and Kepler, a small-town overachiever--become secret pen pals through a forgotten astronomy textbook and join forces to unravel a decades-old mystery tied to Copernicus's late mother.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Barnes & Noble's Best Young Adult Book of the Year!

Two strangers. One forgotten astronomy textbook. A decades-old secret.

A fascinating, highly illustrated, epistolary novel perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and Alice Oseman, featuring designed doodled edges!

When a recent transfer student starts keeping her diary in the oldest textbook at the Green Bank High School library, the last thing she expects is to receive a response. Thus begins a sweeping tale of unlikely friendship and long-buried secrets between two secret pen pals at a rural West Virginia high school.

Copernicus is adrift and searching for answers after the sudden death of her mother, and leaving her cosmopolitan life in San Francisco behind. Kepler is a small-town girl with straight A's and big plans to be the first person in her family to go to college, despite her family's modest means. The two girls are so different from one another but united in their goal to solve a mystery that has riddled Green Bank for decades.

Meticulously hand-drawn by debut author Jessica Walker across the pages of an actual ancient astrophysics textbook, The Secret Astronomers is a story of friendship, family, crop circles, secret crushes, giant telescopes, life in Appalachia, and two girls discovering new ways to connect across any divide that separates them.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780593692677

Publisher: Penguin USA

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 04 November 2025

Country: United States

Imprint: Viking Books for Young Readers

Illustration: FULL-COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS

Contributors:

  • Illustrated by Jessica Walker

Audience: Teenage

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 27.0mm

Width: 149.0mm

Height: 217.0mm

Weight: 669g

Pages: 304

Collections

Children's Fiction Children’s, Teenage and Educational Fiction Jessica Walker Penguin Books Pre-order Books Pre-orders Pre-orders by Release Date Young Adult

About the Author

Jessica Walker is a multidisciplinary artist, illustrator, filmmaker, and educator. She is an assistant professor of fine arts at Parsons and has exhibited films, books, and 2D media in solo and group shows in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Australia. Her work is housed in the permanent collections at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Research Library, Yale University Haas Family Arts Library, and the University of Washington Art Library. She is also the illustrator of Baby Feminists and Baby Feminists Too.

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