Five questions for Chanel Miller
The Moon Without Stars by Chanel Miller; Philomel.

Lessons in friendship
Dear Jackie by Jessixa Bagley, illus. by Aaron Bagley; Simon.
Spelling It Out by Margaret Finnegan; Atheneum.
Wrong Friend by Charise Mericle Harper, illus. by Rory Lucey; First Second.
When Tomorrow Burns by Tae Keller; Random.
Rainbow Fair by Diana Ma; Clarion/HarperCollins.
Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend by Lance Rubin; Clarion/HarperCollins.

Women in the arts
Cowboys at the Ballet: The Story of Choreographer Agnes de Mille by Claire Wrenn Bobrow, illus. by Ilaria Urbinati; Atheneum.
Teaching for Change: How Septima Clark Led the Civil Rights Movement to Voting Justice by Yvonne Clark-Rhines and Monica Clark-Robinson, illus. by Abigail Albano-Payton; Quill Tree/HarperCollins.
Fanny’s Big Idea: How Jewish Book Week Was Born by Richard Michelson, illus. by Alyssa Russell; Rocky Pond/Penguin.
Making Light Bloom: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Lamps by Sandra Nickel, illus. by Julie Paschkis; Peachtree.
Be the Light: How She Became Angela Davis by Daria Peoples; Greenwillow.
Marie’s Magic Eggs: How Marie Procai Kept the Ukrainian Art of Pysanky Alive by Sandra Neil Wallace, illus. by Evan Turk; Calkins/Astra.

Snowballing suspense
Up in Smoke by Nick Brooks; Holt.
Better the Devil by Erik J. Brown; Storytide/HarperCollins.
Secrets of the Blue Hand Girls by Rowana Miller; Sourcebooks Fire.
Erase Me by Josh Silver; Delacorte.
This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki, illus. by Nicole Goux; Abrams Fanfare.

From the February 2026 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.