“The Secret Astronomers is more than a deeply-felt story of an unlikely, unique high school friendship between two fully-realized characters, more than a slow-burn mystery reaching for answers from a loved one who’s passed. It’s a wildly impressive and completely immersive reading experience.”
— Meg Willing, Devaney, Doak & Garrett Booksellers, Farmington, ME
Description
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.
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.
Praise For…
Praise for The Secret Astronomers:
“Some books map bold new territory in form, at the expense of story. Some trod well-worn paths to tell an excellent story. It's the rare book that sails into uncharted waters of form to also tell a brilliant story, and this is one. This is a compelling, stirring, rural Appalachian coming-of-age tale worthy to stand with the finest.”—Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of In the Wild Light
*"A wholly original novel that celebrates connection in unlikely places."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
*"This epistolary tale is a complete joy not only to read but also to behold. Walker, the director of illustration at the Parsons School of Design, masterfully pulls off the notion of an old textbook full of notes left between two students, full of lively artwork and photographs. Readers will whiz through this clandestine correspondence and perhaps be spurred to start their own."—BookPage (starred review)
“Has a sense of stillness in the reading experience that is rare in YA.”—Booklist
"Elaborate full-color collages and artwork, as well as handwritten text scrawled on sticky notes and scratch-paper that covers the primer, make this a visually distinctive book you might have to see to fully appreciate."—The Washington Post
"In this intriguing epistolary novel, Walker (Baby Feminists) employs multimedia formatting to chronicle the anonymous, pen pal–adjacent friendship between two high school seniors in 2016 rural Green Bank, W.Va. . . . [A] conceptually innovative solo debut."—Publishers Weekly
“A tale told through notes, with gorgeous drawings and town secrets, that keeps readers wanting more… Readers will be entranced by the lush and creative hand-drawn illustrations and collages, as well as the mystery elements . . . A heartwarming tale about connection, grief, and challenging assumptions.” —School Library Journal
“This illustrated novel is stylistically compelling… [the girls’] distinct voices, witty banter, and deep emotions . . . make this an effective and moving character study.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
“The Secret Astronomers is more than a deeply-felt story of an unlikely, unique high school friendship between two fully-realized characters, more than a slow-burn mystery reaching for answers from a loved one who’s passed. It’s a wildly impressive and completely immersive reading experience.”
