Illustration from Otto: A Palindrama by Jon Agee.

The following books will receive starred reviews in the March/April 2022 Horn Book Magazine:

John’s Turn by Mac Barnett; illus. by Kate Berube (Candlewick)

I’m Not Small by Nina Crews (Greenwillow)

Here We Come! by Janna Matthies; illus. by Christine Davenier (Beach Lane/Simon)

Mardi Gras Almost Didn’t Come This Year by Kathy Z. Price; illus. by Carl Joe Williams (Atheneum)

Emile and the Field by Kevin Young; illus. by Chioma Ebinama (Make Me a World/Random)

Otto: A Palindrama by Jon Agee (Dial)

Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos (Atheneum)

Cornbread & Poppy by Matthew Cordell (Little, Brown)

Those Kids from Fawn Creek by Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow)

Cress Watercress by Gregory Maguire; illus. by David Litchfield (Candlewick)

Ironhead, or, Once a Young Lady by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem; trans. from Dutch by Kristen Gehrman (Em Querido/Levine Querido)

Marshmallow Clouds: Two Poets at Play Among Figures of Speech by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek; illus. by Richard Jones (Candlewick)

Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds; illus. by Jason Griffin (Dlouhy/Atheneum)

Murder Among Friends: How Leopold and Loeb Tried to Commit the Perfect Crime by Candace Fleming (Schwartz/Random)

Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura Gao; illus. by the author; color and art assistance by Weiwei Xu (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)

Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas by Jeanne Walker Harvey; illus. by Loveis Wise (Harper/HarperCollins)

Sanctuary: Kip Tiernan and Rosie’s Place, the Nation’s First Shelter for Women by Christine McDonnell; illus. by Victoria Tentler-Krylov (Candlewick)

Parks for the People: How Frederick Law Olmsted Designed America by Elizabeth Partridge; illus. by Becca Stadtlander (Viking)

Out of the Shadows: How Lotte Reiniger Made the First Animated Fairytale Movie by Fiona Robinson (Abrams)

How to Build a Human: In Seven Evolutionary Steps by Pamela S. Turner; illus. by John Gurche (Charlesbridge)

Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler by Ibi Zoboi (Dutton)