STEM Tuesday

STEM Tuesday– Award-Winning MG STEM Titles–Book List

By on December 7, 2021   /   Award-winning MG STEM Books, STEM Tuesday  

 

 

Hurrah, it is time to celebrate all the recent award winning middle grade STEM titles! These books are the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the cherry on top of the sundae. You’ll surely want to add them to your reading list. Drumroll…

NSTA 2020 Outstanding Trade Books

Beyond Words: What Elephants and Whales Think and Feel by Carl Safina

Readers will follow researcher Carl Safina as he tracks elephants and monitors whales. A wonderful young edition of the bestselling adult title. 

Dreaming in Code: Ada Byron Lovelace Computer Pioneer by Emily Arnold McCully

If you’ve enjoyed the many picture books on this STEM pioneer, it’s time to step into her deeper story in this middle grade book. 

The Electric War: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Light the World by Mike Winchell

Readers will find the competition to be the first to light the world inspiring.

Poison Eaters: Fighting Danger and Fraud in our Food and Drugs by Gail Jarrow

This many starred title introduces readers to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. 

The Woolly Monkey Mysteries: The Quest to Save a Rain Forest Species by Sandra Markle

Sandra Markle captures a conservation recovery team’s efforts to save a rainforest animal in her latest book. 

Undaunted: The Wild Life of Birute’ Mary Galdikas and Her Fearless Quest to Save Orangutans by Anita Silvey 

This book follows two previous award winning biographies by Anita Silvey. You’ll want to read all three! 

Best STEM Books, NSTA   

Save the Crash Test Dummies: An Action-Packed Journey Through the History of Car Safety Engineering by Jennifer Swanson

Readers will dive in to the history of car production and the science behind car safety measures. 

Saving the Tasmanian Devil: How Science is Helping the World’s Largest Marsupial Carnivore Survive by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Step out of the cartoons for this latest book in the popular Scientists in the Field series that explores the recovery of this iconic species. 

AAAS/Subaru Prize Winners   

Can You Hear the Trees Talking? Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest by Peter Wohlleben

Based on the NY Times bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees, this young edition is filled with facts, simple activities, photos, and more to engage readers in forest ecosystems. 

Green Earth Book Award Winners 2021

One Earth: People of Color Protecting the Planet by Anuradha Rao

Discover extraordinary stories of environmental activists in this award winning title. 

Condor Comeback by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Tianne Strombeck

The story of the recovery of California condors is a great edition to the Scientists in the Field series.  

Kids vs. Plastics: Ditch the straw and find the pollution solution to bottles, bags, and other single-use plastics by Julie Beer

Plastic fills our lives. This title is filled with shocking stats and surprising facts. Find out how to reduce plastic use and create a more plastic-free future. 

Mathical Book Prize

How we got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure by John Rocco

Beautifully illustrated, this took serves as a guide to the people and technology behind the moon landing. 

Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math by Jeannine Atkins

Jeannine Atkins works her magic on this collective biography, novel-in-verse of several STEM pioneers who began their life as girls who loved math. 

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Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years. Her titles have earned numerous honors, including the Green Earth Book Award, Junior Library Guild Selection, NSTA Outstanding Trade Book, Eureka Nonfiction honors. Nancy’s research has taken her all over the world from the Galapagos to Russia.  She strives to inform, inspire, and empower her readers. She is a certified National Geographic Educator.

Watch for her upcoming books, including WHEN THE WORLD RUNS DRY and THE WOLVES AND MOOSE OF ISLE ROYALE, a Scientist in the Field title, in 2022. Visit her at www.nancycastaldo.com. 

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Sibert Honor author Patricia Newman shows young readers how their actions can ripple around the world. Using social and environmental injustice as inspiration, she empowers young readers to seek connections to the real world and to use their imaginations to act on behalf of their communities. One Texas librarian wrote, “Patricia is one of THE BEST nonfiction authors writing for our students in today’s market, and one of our MUST HAVE AUTHORS for every collection.”

Titles include: Planet Ocean (new); Sibert Honor book Sea Otter Heroes; Green Earth Book Award winner Plastic, Ahoy!; The NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book Eavesdropping on Elephants; California Reading Association’s Eureka! Gold winner Zoo Scientists to the Rescue. Visit Patricia online at her website, on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Pinterest.

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STEM Tuesday — Give the Gift of STEM/STEAM Books for the Holidays

By on November 30, 2021   /   Articles, STEM Tuesday  

 

Happy Holidays from the STEM Tuesday team! Can you believe it’s that time of year again when you have to go out and buy gifts?

Do you know what you’re getting? Why not consider the gift of a STEM/STEAM book? It’s a great way to introduce a love of science to kids (of ALL ages)  OR to expand upon and encourage a love of STEM to grow.

Not sure where to find awesome STEM/STEAM books? We can help!

Look at our site! Each month comes with a Book List for the topic we are covering that month. Just search by topic on our home page HERE

Then click on the search by topic part and you’ll get a drop down menu where you can select the topic you’re looking for. Most of the books on the list are already attached to Bookstop so you can just click on the title and ORDER and you’re done!

 

 

If you’re looking for more ideas of STEM/STEAM books for kids, check out STEAM Team Books! It’s a website that highlights the amazing fiction and nonfiction books that have come out that year.

​STEAM-related books bring the spirit of inquiry, discovery, and creative problem-solving to your learners

while engaging them in rich literacy experiences.

 

Here are some suggestions from the STEAM Team members for “Books for Kids Who Like…” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a reminder, TODAY IS #GIVINGTUESDAY 

So, if you don’t have a young reader to buy a book for, consider donating to a nonprofit charity that provides books to Kids!

There are MANY amazing charities out there. Pick one you love and support it. Here are a few to check out:

KidLiteracy, Inc. 

Lit World 

Room To Read

World Literacy Foundation

Books for Africa

Ferst Readers

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Book Spotlight: Wonderworks by Angus Fletcher

By on November 26, 2021   /   Articles, Book Lists, books, For Writers, Nonfiction, STEM, STEM Tuesday  

It’s the time of the year to be grateful. Grateful for what we have in life. Grateful for communities like From the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors. Grateful even though life sometimes throws us curveballs. 

Life does throw us curveballs. Sometimes we hit the ball, most of the time we miss. Life also has been known to lob a ball right down the fat part of the plate allowing us to take one heck of a swing. Sometimes we drive those for base hits; other times we knock the ball out of the park. Life provides unexpected opportunities.

Recently, while listening to the fantastic three-part episode on The Little Mermaid from Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent podcast, Revisionist History, life lobbed a pitch that floated across the strike zone as big as a beach ball. 

In Episode 2 of the Revisionist History podcast, Malcolm Gladwell talks to Angus Fletcher, a literature professor at the Ohio State University’s Project Narrative. Dr. Fletcher talks about fairy tales and what makes the oldest of the fairy tale twist stories work for kids while the poetic justice fairy tale stories and their modern “Disney-fied tales really don’t resonate with them.

After listening to Dr. Fletcher’s interview, two things jump out.

  1. Angus Fletcher is a neuroscientist turned English professor.
  2. He has just released a book called, Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature.

Cover for Wonderworks

Wait! A literature professor with a background in brain science wrote a book about 25 ground-breaking literary inventions?

Count me in!

So I bought the book. I started reading the book. I knew immediately I needed to share this book with my MUF friends and family.

The format of Wonderworks is well designed. Each literary invention is a chapter. It starts with a literary history and a background as existed at the time of the invention. The literary invention is introduced by an author or philosopher in their creative work with an explanation of why the invention worked. Examples are often provided highlighting the use of the invention by different authors.

The kicker, the hook, the thing about this book that reels me in is the section of each chapter where Dr. Fletcher delves into the brain science, the neurology and neurochemistry behind how and why the literary invention works for the reader. Shots of dopamine. Left brain/Right brain interactions, the HPA Axis (Hypothalamus, Pituitary gland, and Adrenal gland), the balance between the amygdala vs the prefrontal cortex. So much awesome, I’m in reader/writer/scientist heaven!

As a scientist/STEM-enthusiast and writer, this connection is what earns Wonderworks a place on the top shelf of my writing resource books. Absolutely fascinating to read a book about the effect literature has on the brain.

Confession time. I fully expected to be completely through Wonderworks by the time this post was due. 

I’m not. But there’s a great reason why.

Each chapter is so intriguing and packed with information, I find myself needing to work slowly through each of the literary inventions. I find myself seeking out the works mentioned as examples. Some of these books I have on my own shelves. Some I find online, while others I’ve found in my local library. I’ve landed on the Project Narrative website at Ohio State seeking more story knowledge and have downloaded academic papers from the participating faculty. Talk about going down the rabbit hole! Each invention listed in Wonderworks has sprouted many paths to investigate, directions to discover, and mysteries to seek out.

Have a wonderful holiday season, everyone! Enjoy the process. Create like the world needs your work because the world needs your work. Be grateful and celebrate the power of words. If you get time, I recommend Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature.

The story of story, it turns out, is a fascinating story.

 

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