Illustration from Afloat by Kirli Saunders; illus. by Freya Blackwood.

The following books will receive starred reviews in the March/April 2025 Horn Book Magazine:

When I Hear Spirituals by Cheryl Willis Hudson; illus. by London Ladd (Holiday)

Sakina and the Uninvited Guests by Zahra Marwan (Bloomsbury)

Afloat by Kirli Saunders; illus. by Freya Blackwood (Levine/Levine Querido)

Head Full of Clouds by Joanne Schwartz; illus. by Afsaneh Sanei (Tundra)

Anything by Rebecca Stead; illus. by Gracey Zhang (Chronicle)

The Other Side of Tomorrow by Tina Cho; illus. by Deb JJ Lee (HarperAlley/HarperCollins)

Night Light [I Like to Read: Comics] by Michael Emberley (Holiday)

Oasis by Guojing (Godwin/Holt)

Everything Is Poison by Joy McCullough (Dutton)

Thunder City [Mortal Engines] by Philip Reeve (Scholastic)

The Lost Ones [Moonwind Mysteries] by Johan Rundberg; trans. from Swedish by Eva Apelqvist (Amazon Crossing Kids)

Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout (First Second)

All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson (Bloomsbury)

(S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi (Versify/HarperCollins)

A Forest Song by Kirsten Hall; illus. by Evan Turk (Random House Studio/Random)

How Sweet the Sound by Kwame Alexander; illus. by Charly Palmer (Little, Brown)

And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories by Andrea Davis Pinkney; illus. by Daniel Minter (Little, Brown)