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The Secret Astronomers by Jessica Walker

Book

The Secret Astronomers

Jessica Walker

Penguin Young Readers Group · Print & ebook · November 4, 2025

Reading lane: Space Opera for Teens

A Young Adult pick for readers exploring The Secret Astronomers.

At a Glance

Why This Clicks

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

Book Details

Authors
Jessica Walker
Publisher
Penguin Young Readers Group
Published
November 4, 2025
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Space Opera for Teens · Friendship for Teens
Reading lane
Space Opera for Teens

Affinity

Publisher Categories

  • Coming of Age

  • Letters & Diaries for Teens

  • Friendship for Teens

About 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. Thus begins a sweeping tale of unlikely friendship and long-buried secrets between two secret pen...

Read full 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.

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