The Secret Astronomers by Walker, Jessica

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.

Author: Jessica Walker
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Published: 11/04/2025
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.67lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.60w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780593692677
Age Range: 12-UP

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2025
Booklist 09/01/2025
Publishers Weekly 09/08/2025
School Library Journal 10/01/2025 pg. 83
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 11/01/2025
Horn Book Magazine 01/01/2026 pg. 83

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.