From a girl who defied death to set nearly every aviation record in a rickety bi-plane, to a team of young women who literally invented computer coding with no guidance and very little credit, to a boy who revolutionized chemistry when he used the scientific method to create the color purple from coal tar, I write books about young people who followed their dreams to accomplish amazing things. There’s no reason to wait until you grow up to become a scientist. The books I’ve chosen will inspire your young scientist to explore and invent - right now!
I wrote
Perkin's Perfect Purple: How a Boy Created Color with Chemistry
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson visited New York’s Hayden Planetarium for the first time when he was just nine years old and the stars grabbed him. In Starstruck, non-fiction master Kathleen Krull and co-author Paul Brewer use relatable incidents, like a family trip when young Neil sees the dazzling night sky and decides to give up his ambition to be a baseball player to become an astrophysicist. Concepts like the Big Bang Theory and the reclassification of Pluto are explained simply but intelligently. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s road from inspired boy to world acclaimed scientist wasn’t easy, but it’s hard to imagine any kid- or adult- who won’t be motivated by this star-crossed journey.
A Step into Reading easy-to-read biography on science superstar Neil deGrasse Tyson, the groundbreaking American astrophysicist whose work has inspired a generation of young scientists and astronomers to reach for the stars!
This Step 3 Biography Reader introduces children to a young Neil deGrasse Tyson who was starstruck when he first visited the sky theater at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. He couldn't believe the crowded, glittering night sky at the planetarium was real--until a visit to the country years later revealed the impossible.
That discovery was like rocket fuel for Neil's passion about space--taking him from the…
Not all scientists work in laboratories. Me...Jane tells the story of primatologist Jane Goodall, climbing trees with her stuffed chimp, Jubilee, and a tattered copy of Tarzan. Sepia-tinged spreads look like pages torn from young Jane’s science notebook, with everything from sketches of wings to notes from “Alligator Club” meetings. Jane’s path - spending time outdoors, reading about science and nature, and studying hard – will feel both commendable and achievable. When it was published Me… Jane received many well-deserved awards and accolades. This book deserves a spotlight on your young scientist’s bookshelf, too.
In his characteristic heartwarming and minimalistic style, Patrick McDonnell tells the story of a young Jane Goodall and her special childhood toy chimpanzee named Jubilee. As the young Jane observes the natural world around her with wonder, she dreams of 'a life living with and helping all animals,' until one day she finds that her dream has come true.
One of the world's most inspiring women, Dr. Jane Goodall is a renowned humanitarian, conservationist, animal activist, environmentalist, and United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 1977 she founded the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), a global nonprofit organization that empowers people to…
We all know Beatrix Potter wrote and illustrated Peter Rabbit and other children’s books, but how many people are aware that young Beatrix was a groundbreaking mushroom scientist? In Beatrix Potter, Scientist, Metcalf unveils the secret scientific side of Beatrix Potter, long before her books became classics. Beatrix studied all sorts of fungi, discovering a mushroom known as the Old Man Of The Woods, but as a female she was prohibited from presenting a scientific paper to London’s Linean Society. I love one of this book’s underlying messages, that someone can be an artist AND a scientist; there’s no need to choose one or the other. There’s also a terrific author’s note and strong supporting end matter for further study.
Friends of American Writers Chicago Winner 2021 Young People's Literature Award
Beatrix Potter was a writer, an artist, and a scientist too, and she strove to find a place in the world for her talents.
Everyone knows Beatrix Potter as the creator of the Peter Rabbit stories. But before that, she was a girl of science. As a child, Beatrix collected nature specimens; as a young adult, she was an amateur mycologist presenting her research on mushrooms and other fungi to England's foremost experts. Like many women of her time, she remained unacknowledged by the scientific community, but her keen…
Gorgeous collage by Elizabeth Zunon brings the Malawi drought and teenager William Kamkwamba’s engineering solution to life in the picture book version of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Multicultural and celebratory in tone, William’s curiosity and ingenuity take center stage, along with his engineering triumphs, while some of the harsh realities of Malawi’s famine, detailed in the adult edition of this title, are omitted. There is also a chapter book for elementary school readers and a Netflix film based on this title. Clearly, it’s a STEM story that’s perfect for any age.
When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking for a solution. There, he came up with the idea that would change his family's life forever: he could build a windmill. Made out of scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William's windmill brought electricity to his home and helped his family pump the water they needed to farm the land. Retold for a younger audience, this exciting memoir shows…
Your kiddo is excited about science… now what? Science experiments at home don’t have to be hard or hazardous. Chrystal Chatterton’s Awesome Science Experiments uses ordinary household products or items that are very easy to find. The instructions are step by step and simple to follow. Best of all the concepts are, well, real science. Chatterton explains the ideas in understandable but authentic scientific language—no dumbing things down here. Best of all these projects are a lot of fun!
Hands-on projects to get kids ages 5 to 10 excited about science.
As kids grow older, they become more curious about the world around them, often asking, “How does this work?” Awesome Science Experiments for Kids teaches young brains the nuts and bolts of the scientific method using fun, hands-on experiments designed to show kids how to hypothesize, experiment, and then record their findings.
With awesome projects like a Fizzy Rocket, Magnet-Powered Car, and Pencil Sundial, kids will have a blast learning to build, design, and think critically―while getting inspired to interact with the world around them and make their…
Before William Perkins’ time, the color purple was reserved for the rich and royal. But in 1856, during his spring break from school, young William experimented on coal tar at a lab he’d set up at home. The result? The first artificial dye in a glorious shade of vivid purple! Before he knew it the whole world was clamoring for Perkin's Perfect Purple—Purple for the People. And a new field of organic chemistry had been born.
Francesca Sanna’s illustrations, based on historic documents and color tones, practically glow off the page. The endnotes include even more science detail, photographs, a thorough bibliography, and a “colorful” science experiment to do at home. I co-wrote this text with my friend and fellow writer, Debbie Loren Dunn.
I have been to, and loved, North, Central, and especially East Africa for over fifty years. Only six times have I been to Africa on holiday; more often, perhaps twenty or more times, as a television producer. Working in Africa gains a perspective of reality that the glories of vacation do not. Each has its place, each its pitfalls like stalled plane rides with emergency landings in the bush or attacks by wildlife. But, in the end, the magic of the “otherness,” what an old friend called “primitava” captures one’s soul and changes your life.
Keen to rekindle their love of East African wildlife adventures after years of filming, extreme dangers, and rescues, producer Pero Baltazar, safari guide Mbuno Waliangulu, and Nancy Breiton, camerawoman, undertake a filming walking adventure north of Lake Rudolf, crossing from Kenya into Ethiopia along the Omo River, following a herd of elephant making their annual migration.
Stumbling onto an elephant poaching, the team become embroiled in true financing of terrorism for al Shabaab –ivory sales–and are determined to stop the slaughter at any cost. Ivory trade financing terrorism involves UN refugee camps with two hundred thousand displaced Somali persons, powerful…
A documentary team hiking through East Africa collides with a gang of deadly poachers, in this gripping adventure by the author of Kidnapped on Safari.
Years of filming, extreme dangers, and daring rescues have taken their toll on documentary producer Pero Baltazar and his team. To relax and reconnect with the East African wildlife they love, Pero organizes a walking safari for him, his camerawoman Nancy Breiton, and their elite guide Mbuno Waliangulu. Still, Pero has trouble truly disconnecting from work. When the team comes across a herd of elephants making their annual migration north of Lake Rudolf, Pero decides…
