Review of The Secret Astronomers, by Jessica Walker

Award Winners, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Secret Astronomers

A Novel in Notes

by Jessica Walker

Viking, 2025. 304 pages.
Review written December 12, 2025, from a book sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review
2026 Mathical Book Prize Honor Book, Grades 9-12

The Secret Astronomers is, as the subtitle tells us, a novel in notes. The book is a facsimile of an 1888 textbook on astronomy – which someone has started writing in, doing art over the pages, and putting post-it notes in.

At the front of the book we see a note taped in (the tape and note paper are in the image) with this written on it:

Find the oldest book in the Green Bank High School Library. Hidden inside are the secrets that are being left behind forever. If you’re smart enough to figure out the message, then you have a right to know why a small town in the-middle-of-nowhere West Virginia is the center of intelligent life in the known universe.

We come to realize that the art and notes in the following pages are from a girl who’s been forced to move to Green Bank to stay with her grandparents after her mother’s death. The textbook everything’s written over is the oldest book in Green Bank High School Library.

The writer complains about living in Green Bank, where the Internet is forbidden because of the radio telescopes, and talks about what it’s like (with pictures) – when someone else joins the conversation, using Post-it notes instead of writing directly in the book. This new person begins with:

Hey would you PLEASE stop destroying this book? I know these pages are as old as Methuselah, but it’s one of the only astronomy textbooks in our library and I need to reference it for my college application essay.

After that, the two get a conversation going. After some discussion and sharing about their lives, they decide to remain anonymous to each other. They call each other Copernicus and Kepler, and agree that they won’t try to meet in person.

And then we learn about their lives and their Senior years in Green Bank. About their crushes and family drama. But they also slowly solve the puzzles and codes that Copernicus’s mother left behind when she was a high school student in Green Bank, and that involves some clever twists.

Both want to get out of Green Bank – Copernicus to go back to San Francisco to be with her Dad, and Kepler to go to college (still worried about that application essay).

The art on the pages plus the hand-written notes do make this book an amazing reading experience. I’m glad our library doesn’t have the eaudiobook, because this is one I’m glad I experienced visually.

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Review of Adventures in Math, written by Carleigh Wu, illustrated by Sean Simpson

Award Winners, Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

Adventures in Math

How to Level Up Your Math Game

written by Carleigh Wu
illustrated by Sean Simpson

Kids Can Press, 2025. 80 pages.
Review written January 5, 2026, from a book sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review
Mathical Book Prize Honor Book, Grades 6-8

I love what the author is doing here. Instead of giving you specific techniques for solving certain math problems, this book tells you how to think about doing math and gives you techniques based on psychological research for approaching math problems successfully.

There are five chapters, each giving a simple principle and busting a myth about math. And short biographies are given of mathematicians whose lives bust the myths.

The first myth is that you have to be born with a math brain to be good at math. The truth is that everyone can work at it to get better, and the author explains a growth mindset. We learn about great mathematicians who didn’t start out good at math.

Next they tackle the myth that you should be able to solve math problems by yourself.

Math is social. It’s better together.

The mathematicians here worked with collaborators. One of the tips in this section is about an interesting study done that if you physically move closer to a problem, it will seem more difficult, but if you take a step back, it will seem easier. This encourages kids to see the big picture.

Another myth tackled is that if you make mistakes, you’re not smart. A whole chapter emphasizes how important mistakes are to help you learn. They give an example of astronauts who need to make zero mistakes in space – so they train in simulations on earth, where they can make lots of mistakes and perfect their techniques. Another example that most kids can relate to is video games. Most kids don’t think they’re bad at video games if they lose a life quickly the first time they play. They keep playing, and get better each time. Other fields – including math – are like that, too.

And there’s much more in this book. There’s discussion of using diagrams to solve problems, thoughts on how there are usually multiple ways to solve math problems, how creativity can help with math problems, and an example of out-of-the-box thinking about a contest to design toilets without plumbing or electricity.

This book makes me think of The Willpower Instinct, except for kids, because it’s about how to think about math in order to get better at doing it. I’d love to give this to a kid who doesn’t think they’re “good at” math.

carleighwu.com
seansimpsonillustration.com

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Review of Imposter, by Cait Levin

Contemporary, Mathematical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Imposter

by Cait Levin

Charlesbridge Teen, 2025. 232 pages.
Review written December 2, 2025, from my own copy, sent by the publisher.
Starred Review
2026 Mathical Book Prize Winner, Grades 6-8

Imposter is an issue book, but the character-building makes it much more than an issue book.

Cam is a high school sophomore who loves making. So she decides to take the intro to computer science class as her elective – and it turns out she’s the only girl. The boys there – and even the teacher – treat her as if she doesn’t belong.

But she has a supportive best friend, Viv, who joins her signing up for the Robotics team – to build a submarine robot to compete in San Diego the upcoming summer. Again, they are the only girls and face some pushback.

However, the only other Sophomore in Computer Science, Jackson, a guy who’s always playing video games, agrees to be her partner for the big CS project. They decide to take on the problem of how women are treated in STEM fields – both in schools and in industry. Cam does research to back up their points, and Jackson uses her ideas to make a game where women overcome obstacles to defeat the big boss.

Along the way in both class and the RoboSub team, Cam keeps facing obstacles. She sees her own mother deal with a coworker being harassed at work, and gets motivated to stand up for herself.

As I started the book, I was skeptical of tackling this issue simply with a game shedding light on it. But as the book went on, I got more and more hooked by the characters. And the situations they faced as the story went on seemed all too realistic.

Without giving anything away, there are two little romantic subplots for each of the two girls, and I loved the way they turned out. It put the emphasis on their friendships and made this book more than just a typical YA romance.

By the end of the book, I was enthusiastically cheering for Cam and Viv. I know awareness alone won’t solve all their problems, but Cam feels all the more equipped to tackle future obstacles and to help other girls follow her example.

I am sorry that the situation hasn’t changed since the 1980s when I was a math student. This indeed sounds worse, since I was never harassed or made to feel like I didn’t belong. But I was always definitely a minority in math and science classes. So I’m glad for another person shining light on the problem, complete with a lists of research and resources at the back. (Though let me also refer people interested in this topic to Eugenia Cheng’s X + Y: A Mathematician’s Manifesto for Rethinking Gender.

caitlevin.com
charlesbridge.com

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Review of Seven Little Ducklings, by Annette LeBlanc Cate

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Seven Little Ducklings

by Annette LeBlanc Cate

Candlewick Press, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written January 15, 2026, from a copy sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review
2026 Mathical Book Prize Winner, PreK

When I first read this book, I didn’t fully appreciate it. But after discussing it with the Mathical Book Prize committee today and wholeheartedly selecting it as our winner, I want to post a review. (I’ll wait to post this until after the announcement is made.)

With the title and the opening, I thought it was, ho-hum, a counting book – something that’s already been done quite well in various other books. And sure enough, as the book opens, seven ducklings hatch while their mother is sleeping. And they step out into the wild.

This mother isn’t one to blithely go on her way while losing ducklings! She sets out looking for them.

And I almost didn’t notice the twist. At first, things are predictable. She finds the first duckling and they go on swimming together, then the second. But then we get this spread with four pictures:

From the jaws of a fox
she saves child number three.

The fourth duck is stuck
in the roots of a tree.

Three more small babies
are pulled from the ooze.

She plucks one from a dive,
then counts them, confused.

Because Mother Duck now has more babies than she started with!

This is when an astute reader notices the pictures – that some of the ducks are colored differently than the originals, and some of the babies aren’t ducks at all.

And she keeps collecting more babies in humorous ways – and eventually decides that all thirteen belong safe in her nest under her wings.

So, yes, it’s a counting book. But the story is so much more, and kids will love figuring out which are the new babies in the family. This stands up to repeated readings, with new things to spot each time. Besides counting, the pre-math skills of comparing and sorting are included – and kids get to be smarter than Mama Duck.

candlewick.com

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Sonderling Sunday – Das Buch der Tausend Tage – Out of the Tower!

Sonderling Sunday 0

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! It’s the time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books. Tonight’s edition is brought to you by snow outside – snow that kept me home from my Sunday gaming group today.

And I’m in the mood to go back to Das Buch der Tausend Tage, Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale. Maybe because I’m celebrating #Sonderbooks25, my 25th year of posting Sonderbooks, and I’m getting sort of close to 2007, the year Book of a Thousand Days was my favorite book read.

Whatever the reason, it’s been a long time since we looked at this book, but last time we left off with Day 8 after our two main characters got out of the tower where they’d been imprisoned.

So let’s begin with the next chapter, Day 33, Tag 33:

“Three weeks we’ve been walking and still not another soul.”
= Wir sind jetzt drei Wochen unterwegs und immer noch niemandem begegnet.

“remains of some villages” = Überbleibsel einiger Dörfer

“Will we find the city gutted and full of the dead unburied?”
= Werden wir auch diese Stadt geplündert und voller Toter vorfinden, die niemand begraben hat?

“beset by darkness” = umnachtet

“a hollowed overhang by the stream”
= eine überwucherte Einbuchtung am Fluss
(“an overgrown indentation along the river”)

“She calmed at once.”
= Sie beruhigte sich auf der Stelle.

“sharpened a new stick” = einen neuen Stock angespitzt

“boiled the sting out of some nettle leaves”
= Nesselblätter gekocht, bis sie nicht mehr brannten

“speared a fish in the stream”
= einen Fisch im Fluss afgespießt

“Seven years of food isn’t worth trading for the sky.”
= Den Anblick des Himmels sollte man nicht gegen sieben Jahre Essen eintauschen.

“traders” = Kaufleuten

“wiped it out” = Erdboden gleichgemacht (“earth-floor the same made it”)

“cranky” = unleidlich

“breathlessly huge” = atemberaubend weit

“uncovered” = enthüllten

“dye pots” = Färbertöpfe

“bolts of silk” = Seidenballen

“skins of wine” = Weinschläuche

“bricks of incense” = Räuchersteine

“contortionists” = Schlangenmenschen (“snake-people”)

“storytellers” = Geschichtenerzähler

“merchant stalls” = Verkaufsbuden

“plain as plain” = Sonnenklar (“sun-clear”)

“snapped” = fauchte

“shouting and chasing” = riefen und rannten

Here’s a phrase that might come in handy:
“throwing wash water out the window”
= kippten Waschwasser aus dem Fenster

The German’s been more alliterative:
“fighting and kissing” = kämpften und küssten

“wasp’s nest” = Wespennest

“the laces on my boot” = meinen Schnürsenkeln

“calluses” = Schwielen

“squinted” = aus zusammengekniffenen Augen an

“washing hearth” = Spülfeuerstelle

And finally, a sentence I can definitely use:
“I’ll pay for this writing time tomorrow.”
= Morgen werde ich für diese Geschreibsel büßen.

That’s it for tonight! I finished at the end of Day 46, page 135, Seite 148 in the German edition.

Now think of ways you can use these phrases in a sentence on your next trip to Germany! Hopefully not Werden wir auch diese Stadt geplündert und voller Toter vorfinden, die niemand begraben hat?

Review of A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, by Wilda C. Gafney

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church

Year W

A Multi-Gospel Single-Year Lectionary

by Wilda C. Gafney

Church Publishing Incorporated, 2021. 336 pages.
Review written February 17, 2026, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

I heard about this book at my church’s women’s retreat last year from pastor Lauren Todd. So though technically the book begins with readings for the start of the Church Calendar in Advent, I started in the middle, and you can, too.

I didn’t grow up in a church tradition that uses lectionaries. They are a collection of Scripture readings to go with the church calendar. For each Sunday and for special feast days. Each day’s readings include an Old Testament passage, a passage from Psalms, a gospel reading, and a section from one of the Epistles.

In the Introduction, Wilda Gafney tells us the questions she posed:

What does it look like to tell the Good News through the stories of women who are often on the margins of scripture and often set up to represent bad news? How would a lectionary centering women’s stories, chosen with womanist and feminist commitments in mind, frame the presentation of the scriptures for proclamation and teaching? How is the story of God told when stories of women’s brutalization and marginalization are moved from the margins of canon and lectionary and held in the center in tension with stories of biblical heroines and heroes? More simply, what would it look like if women built a lectionary focusing on women’s stories?

Honestly, those were questions I’d never thought to ask. Reading this book showed me a fresh and eye-opening way to look at Scripture.

I especially loved her translations of Psalms, a book I’ve memorized in the New International Version – She uses female pronouns for God in all of them. I was surprised how powerful that felt. As she says at the front:

Exclusively masculine language constructs and reinforces the notion that men are the proper image of God and women are secondary and distant. Further, the simple reality that men and boys have always heard their gender identified with God cannot be overlooked as a source of power and authority and security in terms of their place in the divine economy. Many, if not most, women and girls have not heard themselves identified by their gender as and with the divine and for those who have had that experience, it has been profoundly moving, rare, and even sometimes profoundly disturbing.

She also has a list of names she uses for God in place of “Lord” – which is a “common male human slave holding title.” She reasons that she is following in the tradition of “the ancient biblical and rabbinical practice of substituting something that can be said for that which cannot.” The list at the back is lovely to browse through, and even use in prayer, with names like “The Ageless One,” “Author of Life,” “Generous One,” “Mother of Wisdom,” “Sheltering God,” and many others.

Each set of readings has text notes about her choices in translation and preaching prompts, which obviously I didn’t need, but gave me things to think about.

After reading this whole thing, I’m ready to go through it again another year. I would like to see an entire translation from her, at least of the Book of Psalms, but this way the readings are directed and thematic – and a true blessing.

wilgafney.com

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Review of The Man Who Counted, by Malba Tahan

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Mathematical, Old Favorites, Starred Review 0

The Man Who Counted

A Collection of Mathematical Adventures

by Malba Tahan
translated by Leslie Clark and Alastair Reid
illustrated by Patricia Reid Baquero

W. W. Norton and Company, 1993. First published in Portuguese in Brazil, 1972.
Review written September 14, 2021, from my own copy.
Starred Review

It was a delight to revisit this book, a tale of mathematical feats and curiosities performed in Baghdad by a man who began life as a humble shepherd.

The narrator of the story is a man traveling home to Baghdad who meets Beremiz Samir, a man who can count the number of birds in a flock as they fly by. But his mathematical agility goes beyond counting, as he solves mathematical puzzles for people and gains a post with the vizier in Baghdad.

The stories are told with middle eastern flourishes and the reader is entertained by the situation as well as the many puzzles. Here’s an example of the first puzzle solved:

We had been traveling for a few hours without stopping when there occurred an episode worth retelling, wherein my companion Beremiz put to use his talents as an esteemed cultivator of algebra.

Close to an old, half-abandoned inn, we saw three men arguing heatedly beside a herd of camels. Amid the shouts and insults, the men gestured wildly in fierce debate, and we could hear their angry cries:

“It cannot be!”
“That is robbery!”
“But I do not agree!”

The intelligent Beremiz asked them why they were quarreling.

“We are brothers” the oldest explained, “and we received these 35 camels as our inheritance. According to the express wishes of my father, half of them belong to me, one-third to my brother Hamed, and one-ninth to Harim, the youngest. Nevertheless, we do not know how to make the division, and whatever one of us suggests, the other two dispute. Of the solutions tried so far, none have been acceptable. If half of 35 is 17 ½, if neither one-third nor one-ninth of this amount is a precise number, then how can we make the division?”

“Very simple,” said the Man Who Counted. “I promise to make the division fairly, but let me add to the inheritance of 35 camels this splendid beast that brought us here at such an opportune moment.”

Beremiz presents a solution, and continues to present solutions to problems that come his way. He also expounds on fascinating facts about certain numbers and provides interesting history of mathematics. There are a wide variety of problems. I am especially fond of the liars and truth-tellers puzzle at the end.

I will say that Beremiz presents his calculations as if by magic – he doesn’t really explain how the reader, too, could have gotten the solution. So the book gives the impression that magical mathematical geniuses exist. However, for anyone who enjoys mathematical puzzles, the fun in this book will make up for that.

It was a delight to revisit this classic. It’s similar to The Number Devil, by Hans Magnus Enzensberger — perfect for people who like to play with numbers.

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Review of Trans History, by Alex L. Combs & Andrew Eakett

Audiobooks, Graphic Novel, History, Starred Review, Teen Nonfiction 0

Trans History

From Ancient Times to the Present Day

by Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett
read by a full cast

Listening Library, 2025. 3 hours, 36 minutes.
Review written February 10, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2026 Odyssey Award Young Adult Winner

The Odyssey Award is given each year for the best audiobook production, and I always make sure to listen to the winners and honor books, because they are without fail wonderful. As it happened, I already had the print graphic novel version of this book checked out, and I always wonder how audiobook producers can pull off converting a graphic novel to an audiobook.

Let me tell you, these folks went all in. They used music and sound effects to help enhance your understanding of what was going on. And when they say “Full Cast” – I don’t see an indication of how many different voices they used, but I have no doubt the number is high. (I think they read off names at the end of the audiobook, so they weren’t without credit.) Especially meaningful was that the last chapter features twelve modern-day trans folks, and these people spoke their own words on the audiobook.

I did take a look at the graphic novel – and I think that both formats offer something unique. But the audiobook production was so deserving of the award, don’t miss that version!

If you ever thought that transgender people are a recent phenomenon, this book will put that idea to rest. They cover trans history, yes, beginning in ancient times – with the caveat that the historical people they talk about would have used different words and wouldn’t necessarily have called themselves trans if they had lived today. But they make a clear point that diversity of gender expression has been around as long as humans have.

The chapters cover the ancient world, Europeans and colonialism, the rise of Sexology, the history of trans people in the United States, and then present day voices from the trans community.

In the preface, the authors say they have three goals for the book:

1. Help dispel the myth that trans people are a “new thing.”

2. Demonstrate that what it means to be trans varies greatly among trans people.

3. Empower trans people by helping them learn about trans history.

They met these goals well, and they also presented a fascinating history I hadn’t known much about, in an entertaining way. The production of this audiobook is stunning and the stories were riveting. May this super informative and helpful look at trans history break down myths and stereotypes and fight marginalization.

alexlcombs.com
candlewick.com

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Review of The Trouble with Heroes, by Kate Messner

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The Trouble with Heroes

by Kate Messner
read by Mack Gordon

Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2025. 4 hours, 16 minutes.
Review written February 2, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’m embarrassed. I have a print copy of this book, signed by the author, which I received at ALA Annual Conference last June and was eager to read. But somehow, with award reading, one thing and another – I didn’t get it read until my audiobook hold came in. However, all is not lost – the book was good enough that I will certainly want to read it again, and I do own a copy.

This audiobook packs a lot of punch into four hours. Finn Connelly was caught kicking over a headstone because his dad’s headstone wasn’t the kind you can kick over – and he’s in deep trouble. Turns out, he defaced the headstone of a beloved woman who had climbed all of the 46 High Peaks of the Adirondacks, and who had written letters to others who wanted to become 46ers, encouraging them in their paths. So the lady’s daughter says she’ll drop charges – if Finn will hike all 46 High Peaks that summer, and take her mother’s dog with him.

At the same time, Finn has a Language Arts poetry project he needs to complete in order to pass seventh grade. It’s supposed to be on the theme of heroes. The teacher suggests he write about his dad.

Finn’s dad was a firefighter who saved people on 9/11 and was captured in an iconic photo. And he went on to work overtime during the Covid-19 pandemic to save people. But Finn doesn’t buy the hero worship. Because he knows all too well how human his dad was.

The book is a novel in verse about Finn’s summer, climbing the 46 peaks with three different trail mentors. And the dog, whom he nicknames Drool-face. It’s told in Finn’s voice as he tries to complete poems for his poetry project. And it’s a whole lot of fun to watch his attitude slowly change – from thinking it’s all stupid and he’s a terrible person and heroes are all fake – to something much more optimistic. And at the same time, we watch him wrestle with who his dad really was.

And it’s all done in four hours! Honestly, I would have liked a little more. The story wasn’t incomplete, and plenty of details were filled in about these actual hikes – but I enjoyed my time with him and would have liked a little more of it. (This isn’t a real complaint – I think it’s fantastic to have good books for kids that aren’t ponderous tomes. But, yeah, I was a little sad it was so short.)

Oh, and the book will also make you hungry for cookies – as Finn devises a cookie to go with each of the 46 High Peaks. (Hmmm. I may have to look in the print book to try a recipe or two.)

A book that’s both powerful and heart-warming. At first, it made me want to go out and do some hiking, but the talk of rock scrambles and mud squelched that impulse to settle for enjoying reading about it.

katemessner.com

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Review of Overcoming Ménière’s, by Mark Knoblauch, PhD

Health, Nonfiction Review 0

Overcoming Ménière’s

How Changing Your Lifestyle Can Change Your Life

by Mark Knoblauch, PhD

Kiremma Press, 2018. 126 pages.
Review written December 20, 2025, from my own copy, ordered via Amazon.com.

I won’t say that I’ve been diagnosed with Ménière’s disease, because the doctor was rather careful not to use those words – since she’s not worried about my ability to drive, with my vertigo episodes few and far between – but I’m pretty convinced that’s what I have, and the doctor “discussed the possibility” – a possibility she didn’t seem to have much doubt about.

So of course I went looking for books on Ménière’s. I didn’t find much, but this one has been quite helpful.

This is the author’s story, and yes, that makes it anecdotal, but he does a good job of providing relevant background information, as well as plenty of reminders that everyone’s experience with Ménière’s is different. And I have to say that his attacks were much more frequent than mine, so much more devastating to his life. (I had four attacks in 2024, but only one in 2025. I also have constant rumbling tinnitus and pressure in my ears plus hearing loss.)

But his story is encouraging. Despite starting from a much worse place, he almost completely eliminated his Ménière’s symptoms with a low-sodium diet. He now is an Ironman in his quest to prove to himself that Ménière’s won’t limit his life.

So it’s an encouraging book to read. Although there is no “cure” for Ménière’s, that doesn’t mean that it will have a huge impact on my life forever. And besides his own story, there’s plenty of information about the disease itself and about the treatment options that do exist. And there’s even a low-sodium spaghetti recipe that I’ve been making frequently.

Sometimes it’s good to hear from someone who’s been through the same thing and come out the other side.

Edited to add: Since writing this review, I’ve gotten hearing aids (Hearing loss is another symptom of Ménière’s.), and I went on a diuretic that greatly helped reduce the rumbling – but also had intolerable side effects of muscle cramps and pain. So I’m trying a different one. But it’s good to have treatment besides the low-sodium diet, and I’m less discouraged about the whole thing.

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