Illustration from Maybe a Whale by Kirsten Pendreigh; illus. by Crystal Smith

The following books will receive starred reviews in the November/December 2023 Horn Book Magazine.

Don’t Blow Your Top! (Orchard/Scholastic) by Ame Dyckman; illus. by Abhi Alwar 

Mnoomin maan’gowing / The Gift of Mnoomin (Groundwood) by Brittany Luby; illus. by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley; trans. into Anishinaabemowin by Mary Ann Corbiere  

Maybe a Whale (Groundwood) by Kirsten Pendreigh; illus. by Crystal Smith 

The Blood Years (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins) by Elana K. Arnold 

Duel (Simon) by Jessixa Bagley; illus. by Aaron Bagley 

The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman (Levine Querido) by Mari Lowe  

Gone Wolf (Feiwel) by Amber McBride  

Stuntboy, In-Between Time (Dlouhy/Atheneum) by Jason Reynolds; illus. by Raúl the Third 

An Impossible Thing to Say (Allida/HarperCollins) by Arya Shahi  

Stories of the Islands (Holiday) by Clar Angkasa  

Run and Hide (Clarion/HarperCollins) by Don Brown  

You and the Bowerbird (Roaring Brook) by Maria Gianferrari; illus. by Maris Wicks  

Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story (First Second) by Sarah Myer  

They Hold the Line: Wildfires, Wildlands, and the Firefighters Who Brave Them (Chronicle) by Dan Paley; illus. by Molly Mendoza  

There Was a Party for Langston (Dlouhy/Atheneum) by Jason Reynolds; illus. by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey  

Beautiful Noise: The Music of John Cage (Schwartz/Random) by Lisa Rogers; illus. by Il Sung Na  

Shipwrecked!: Diving for Hidden Time Capsules on the Ocean Floor (Astra) by Martin W. Sandler  

Shigeru Ban Builds a Better World [Art for Good] (Tra) by Isadoro Saturno; illus. by Stefano Di Cristofaro 

Game of Freedom: Mestre Bimba and the Art of Capoeira (Abrams) by Duncan Tonatiuh  

To See Clearly: A Portrait of David Hockney (Abrams) by Evan Turk