Illustration from Little Red and the Cat Who Loved Cake by Barbara Lehman.

The following books will receive starred reviews in the January/February 2022 Horn Book Magazine.

Sato the Rabbit: The Moon by Yuki Ainoya; trans. from Japanese by Michael Blaskowsky (Enchanted Lion)

Mina by Matthew Forsythe (Wiseman/Simon)

Room for Everyone by Naaz Khan; illus. by Mercè López (Dlouhy/Atheneum)

Little Red and the Cat Who Loved Cake by Barbara Lehman (Clarion/HarperCollins)

Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty; illus. by David Roberts (Chronicle)

Little Bird’s Day by Sally Morgan; illus. by Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr (Blue Dot Kids)

The Legend of Gravity: A Tall Basketball Tale by Charly Palmer (Farrar)

Himawari House by Harmony Becker (First Second)

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe (Levine Querido)

Boris the Cat: The Little Cat with Big Ideas by Erwin Moser; trans. from German by Alistair Beaton (NorthSouth)

Stuntboy, in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds; illus. by Raúl the Third; color by Elaine Bay (Dlouhy/Atheneum)

When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez (Dial)

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee (Random)

Across the Rainbow Bridge: Stories of Norse Gods and Humans by Kevin Crossley-Holland; illus. by Jeffrey Alan Love (Candlewick Studio)

Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life by Marilyn Nelson (Ottaviano/Little, Brown)

Solitary Animals: Introverts of the Wild by Joshua David Stein; illus. by Dominique Ramsey (Rise/Penguin Workshop)