Illustration by Jillian Tamaki, from Our Little Kitchen.

The following books will receive starred reviews in the November-December 2020 Horn Book Magazine. Oddity or trend?: all the starred books have pictures save one, (and that one is about the Donner Party, so fine).

The Night Before Christmas; by Clement C. Moore; illustrated by Loren Long (Harper/HarperCollins).

The Bear and the Moon; by Matthew Burgess; illus. by Cátia Chien (Chronicle). 

All Because You Matter; by Tami Charles; illus. by Bryan Collier (Orchard/Scholastic) 

Circle! Sphere!; The Last Marshmallow; Up to My Knees!; What Will Fit?; written and illustrated by Grace Lin (Charlesbridge).

I Talk like a River; by Jordan Scott; illus. by Sydney Smith (Porter/Holiday).

Our Little Kitchen; written and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki (Abrams).

Once upon a Winter Day; written and illustrated by Liza Woodruff (Ferguson/Holiday),

Class Act; written and illustrated by Jerry Craft (HarperAlley/Quill Tree/HarperCollins) 

Flamer; written and illustrated by Mike Curato (Godwin/Holt).

Twins; by Varian Johnson; illus. by Shannon Wright (Graphix/Scholastic).

Becoming Muhammad Ali; by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander; illus. by Dawud Anyabwile (Patterson/Little, Brown/Houghton).

Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It!; by Andrea Davis Pinkney; illus. by Brian Pinkney (Little, Brown).

The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party; by Allan Wolf (Candlewick).

Feathered Serpent and the Five Suns: A Mesoamerican Creation Myth; written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh (Abrams).

Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball; by Jen Bryant; illus. by Frank Morrison (Abrams) .

Your Place in the Universe; written and illustrated by Jason Chin (Porter/Holiday). 

How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure; written and illustrated by John Rocco (Crown).

Chance: Escape from the Holocaust; written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz (Farrar).