The Secret Astronomers
Penguin Young Readers Group · Print & ebook · November 4, 2025
A Young Adult pick for readers exploring The Secret Astronomers.
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- Who it’s for
- An illustrated, epistolary friendship brings astronomy, secret crushes, and a decades-old mystery into one story.
- Themes
- Unlikely friendship, Grief after a parent's death, Solving a long-buried mystery
- Genres
- Letters & Diaries for Teens, YA Mysteries, Friendship for Teens
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For younger readers: See You in the Cosmos, The Secrets of Lovelace Academy, We Are Not Alone
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Start with this bookAbout this book
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.
Continue reading
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.
Notes Across Time
An illustrated, epistolary friendship brings astronomy, secret crushes, and a decades-old mystery into one story.
Come here for
- The intimacy of diary entries answered by an unexpected pen pal
- Astronomy, doodled pages, and small-town secrets in the same mix
Expect
- Two very different girls searching for answers together
- A friendship story with family, romance, and life in Appalachia
Where it sits
| Friendship for Teens | 71% |
|---|---|
| YA Mysteries | 71% |
| Letters & Diaries for Teens | 65% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Coming of Age
- Letters & Diaries for Teens
- Friendship for Teens
- Authors
- Jessica Walker
- Publisher
- Penguin Young Readers Group
- Published
- November 4, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Unlikely friendship · Grief after a parent's death · Solving a long-buried mystery
- Reading lane
- Coming of Age