Dive beneath the waves with us this week as we explore our world ocean. Did you know our planet is 70% ocean and only 30% land? Yet the ocean is less explored than outer space. Use these books to explore the wild, the weird, and the wonderful about our blue planet.
Planet Ocean: Why We All Need a Healthy Ocean by Patricia Newman; photographs by Annie Crawley
Readers will discover how closely THEY are connected to the ocean, regardless of where they live. Be sure to explore the dazzling QR code videos! Jeff Bridges, Academy Award winner and environmentalist, call this book a “must read.”
Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact by Jennifer Swanson
Discover how scientists prepare for exploring deep-space and deep-sea.
Plasticus Maritimus: An Invasive Species by Ana Pego; illustrated by Isabel Minhos Martins and Bernado P. Carvalho
Readers will explore plastic pollution in the ocean inspired by biologist Ana Pego’s life’s work.
Beneath the Waves: Celebrating the Ocean Through Pictures, Poems, and Stories by Stephanie Warren Drimmer
Enjoy amazing animal profiles, poetry, photography, and lots of great facts.
The Next Wave: The Quest to Harness the Power of the Oceansby Elizabeth Rusch
Readers will meet the scientists and engineers working to tarnish our oceans for renewable energy.
Into the Deep: An Exploration of Our Oceans by Wolfgang Dreyer; illustrated by Annika Siems
Discover the latest scientific research through a ride on a submarine.
Secrets of the Seaby Kate Baker
Explore rocky pools, shoreline, and the deepest depths of the ocean.
Oceanology: The Secrets of the Sea Revealedby DK/Smithsonian
An informative and beautiful introduction into the ocean ecosystem.
Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motionby Loree Griffen Burns
This Scientists in the Field title explores the exploration of ocean trash.
Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kidsby Joseph K. Gados and Audrey DeLella Benedict
This title explores the creatures that call the Salish Sea home, from the rhinoceros auklet to the giant Pacific octopus.
Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years including, THE STORY OF SEEDS, which earned the Green Earth Book Award, Junior Library Guild Selection, and other 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. Nancy also served as Regional Advisor Emeritus of the Eastern NY SCBWI region. Her 2020 international title about farm and food is THE FARM THAT FEEDS US: A Year In The Life Of An Organic Farm. Visit her at www.nancycastaldo.com.
Patricia Newman writes middle-grade nonfiction that empowers young readers to act on behalf of the environment and their communities. Academy Award winner and environmentalist Jeff Bridges calls Planet Ocean a “must read.” Newman, a Sibert Honor author of Sea Otter Heroes, has also received an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book Award for Eavesdropping on Elephants, a Green Earth Book Award for Plastic, Ahoy!, and a Eureka! Gold Medal from the California Reading Association for Zoo Scientists to the Rescue. Her books have received starred reviews, been honored as Junior Library Guild Selections, and included on Bank Street College’s Best Books lists. During author visits, she demonstrates how young readers can use writing to be the voice of change. Visit her at www.patriciamnewman.com.
As we come up on our fourth anniversary of STEM Tuesday (yes – FOUR years!) I thought it would be a great time to remind you of the AMAZING authors who make STEM Tuesday possible.
The STEM Tuesday blog posts are written by a group of award-winning children’s authors, teachers, and writers who are passionate about presenting STEM/STEAM topics in a way that kids of all ages will find exciting, inspiring, and engaging.
You can find more information about each of them by visiting their websites, purchasing some of their books, and also inviting them to your schools and conferences.
Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years. Her 2016 title THE STORY OF SEEDS: From Mendel’s Garden to Your Plate, and How There’s More of Less To Eat Around The World introduces older readers to the importance of seeds, farming, and the crisis we currently face. It received the Green Earth Book Award and many other accolades.
Christine has written more than 80 books including The Lost Tribe series. She has been an advocate for diversity in character representations and led by example.
Taylor-Butler majored in civil engineering and architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1981. She has written nonfiction for Scholastic, including for their True Book educational series.
Mary Kay Carson is a nonfiction children’s book author. She’s written more than fifty books for kids about wildlife, space, weather, nature, and other science and history topics.
Janet Slingerland is the author of more than 20 books for readers in grades K through 12. Her favorite subjects include STEM, history, and the history of STEM.
Janet grew up reading, writing, and conducting science experiments. After working for 15 years writing computer programs, She started writing books.
Carla Mooney is an award-winning children’s author from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
She is the author of numerous nonfiction and fiction books and magazine articles for children and teens. She has won several nonfiction awards for her books.
Award-winning author Patricia Newman shares her excitement for writing and hopes to inspire readers and writers of all ages to share their vision of the world.
Karen writes books about animals, and she looks for them wherever she goes—from leafcutter ants trailing through the Amazon rain forest in Guyana, where she was born, to puffins in cliff-side burrows on the Irish island of Skellig Michael. She especially enjoys creating books about nature, biodiversity, conservation, and groundbreaking scientific discoveries—but also civil rights, astronomy, historical moments, and many other topics.
Kirsten used to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes books for curious kids. Kirsten is the author of WOOD, WIRE, WINGS: EMMA LILIAN TODD INVENTS AN AIRPLANE, as well as 25 nonfiction books for the school and library market.
Sue Heavenrich is an independent environmental journalist and children’s writer. She has written for a variety of magazines including Ranger Rick, Highlights, Cobblestone, and Organic Gardening as well as local and regional newspapers. She writes the “Archimedes Notebook” science column for Ithaca Child, a bimonthly parenting publication.
Heather L. Montgomery writes for kids who are wild about animals. Her 14 nonfiction books include SOMETHING ROTTEN: A FRESH LOOK AT ROADKILL, LITTLE MONSTERS OF THE OCEAN: METAMORPHOSIS UNDER THE WAVES, and BUGS DON’T HUG: SIX-LEGGED PARENTS AND THEIR KIDS.
For as long as anyone can remember, Maria had a book in her hands. During the summer of herthird grade year, she read every book in the Library’s children’s section A to Z. She loved to write, make up stories, and create elaborate treasure hunts and maps for my brother and sister. So she went to college and wrote for four years to earn a degree in English and Political Science. Then she took my love of writing and telling stories to Law School. Maria is passionate about using picture and chapter books to make reading and nature fun for children. Check out her Picture Book Buzz Blog
Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal opportunity sports enthusiasts, that is. If they keep a score, he’ll either watch it, play it, or coach it. He also is a history fanatic, especially regional history. A molecular microbiologist by day, middle-grade author, sports coach, and general good citizen by night.
Jennifer Swanson is the award winning author of over 40+ nonfiction books for children, mostly about science and technology. Jennifer’s love of STEM began when she started a science club in her garage at the age of 7. While no longer working from the garage, Jennifer’s passion for science and technology resonates in all her books but especially, BRAIN GAMES (NGKids) and SUPER GEAR: Nanotechnology and Sports Team Up (Charlesbridge), Astronaut-Aquanaut, and Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner, Save the Crash-test Dummies. Her BRAIN GAMES book was even #13 on the The Planets.org 50 Best Science books Ever Written.
We hope you are enjoying our STEM Tuesday blog. If you use it in your classroom or homeschool, please let us know. And if you have a topic that you would like us to cover that we haven’t yet, leave your suggestion in the comments below. GO STEM!!
How is one supposed to write a Writing Tips & Resources post tied into natural disasters? Besides being an apt descriptor of 99.9999% of my writing drafts, the tragedy of a natural disaster has very little to do with writing, right?
Well, my work here is done. Stay safe everyone, take care, and I’ll see you for my next STEM Tuesday post in three months!
(STEM Tuesday Voice-Over Narrator: Hays went back to watching college basketball. Again, he’s taken the easy way out and shirked his duties as a STEM Tuesday “expert”. All in favor of banishing him from ever taking another step onto the STEM Tuesday stage, say—)
Wait! Don’t banish me yet. I’ve just had a revelation, albeit a revelation triggered by my favorite team’s upset loss in the tournament and a completely busted bracket. Nevertheless, it’s still officially classified as a revelation.
Natural disasters actually can tie into a Writing Tips & Resources post. How? Let’s pull back and have a look at the big picture.
This image is created from eight images shot in two sequences as a tornado formed north of Minneola, Kansas on May 24, 2016. Photo by Jason Weingart Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Natural disasters affect everyone. They can come without warning or they can come as forecast. They come by land, sea, and air. They come in all shapes and sizes, just like writers. There is one thing, however, common to natural disasters. They wreak havoc. Take another look at the excellent book list for Natural Disaster Month. Havoc. Havoc. And more havoc.
Three things a writer of any age can learn from natural disasters.
Modeling & Predicting
There was a news blip from the time period after the worst of Hurricane Katrina had passed and before the 2008 financial crisis. It was the usual politics vs science funding BS that is so frustrating for a basic research scientist. A politician went on a rant about the “wasteful” funding in an appropriations bill about a grant awarded to a scientist at a major Texas university to study using GPS to determine and map exact heights on the earth’s surface. As you can probably imagine, the politician ranted on and on about the sheer stupidity of such an endeavor. If the scientist wanted to know how far something was off the ground, why don’t they just go outside and look at it instead of bloating their budgets with tax dollars?
When the reporter tracked down the research scientist, he explained his research was focused on developing this aspect of GPS technology to better map elevation data. The ultimate goal was to be able to model geographical regions most susceptible to dangerous flooding with specific rainfall patterns. (I wish I could find the source reference but I can’t. I will continue to search for it, though, and post it here if I find it.)
Establishing models by establishing the science. That’s the goal. Better models help explain the world around us. Better models help us to predict the natural world, including natural disasters. The ability to model and predict allows us to stay safer and survive when Mother Nature strikes.
A writer does something similar. They experiment to find out what processes work for them and what doesn’t work. Their individual writing process becomes the model and the model allows them to tell whatever story they want to tell. That’s kind of like a prediction for creating stories that accomplish what the writer wants to accomplish. Janet Slingerland did an exceptional STEM Tuesday In the Classroom post last week that highlights mapping, which is a form of modeling, as a tool.
Planning & Preparation
Being a lifelong resident of tornado alley, we are brought up to plan and prepare for the tornado season. Tornado drills, safe havens indoors and out, supply boxes, and many other preparations are part of everyday life from March to November. We learn to pay attention to the weather report. We learn to know what to do in case of a tornado watch and a tornado warning so when these situations arise, we can be ready.
Planning helps a writer by providing a course of action and a direction. Preparation through practice and learning gives the writer the tools needed to successfully reach that destination. Through planning and preparation, a writer knows what to do when situations arise and is ready to tackle those hurdles.
React & Recover
The cost to humanity from natural disasters is beyond measure. There is no price tag to the emotional, physical, and mental toll a disaster leaves in its wake. However, there is often a sliver of hope that arises from the destruction and chaos. People help each other. Families, households, neighborhoods, communities, nations come together to help each other recover. Out of the rubble springs a new future. Rebuilt and, hopefully, rebuilt better.
Writing is similar. The first draft, and in some of our cases, the second, third, and fourth drafts are often chaos. Havoc on the page. We recover through revision. We revise through community. Writing groups, critique partners, beta readers, etc. all help our writing spring anew from the rubble of an early draft. Just as one would rely on the kindness of a community to recover from a natural disaster, rely on the kindness of the writing community to lift your words.
Tree ridge in flames during the 2018 Woolsey Fire, California, US. Photo courtesy of Peter Buschmann, United States Forest Service. https://www.flickr.com/photos/usforestservice/45923164272 We’re All In This Together
There you have it. A few ways to learn from natural disasters ways to improve your writing. Never forget, however, no matter how much havoc and chaos exist internally and externally, there’s a great community of writers there for support and encouragement.
Just write.
Start with one word and then follow with the next word. Repeat.
Just write.
This is perhaps the best of the whole list of STEM Tuesday Writing Tips & Resources.
Just write.
The world needs your story.
Typhoon Molave on October 27, 2020. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal opportunity sports enthusiasts, that is. If they keep a score, he’ll either watch it, play it, or coach it. A molecular microbiologist by day, middle-grade author, sports coach, and general good citizen by night, he blogs about sports/training-related topics at www.coachhays.comand writer stuff atwww.mikehaysbooks.com. Two of his science essays, The Science of Jurassic Park and Zombie Microbiology 101, are included in the Putting the Science in Fiction collection from Writer’s Digest Books. He can be found roaming around the Twitter-sphere under the guise of @coachhays64.
The O.O.L.F Files
Natural disasters are serious business to which a serious amount of STEM both contributes and is advanced. The drive to learn more about natural disasters continues with the ultimate goal of protecting life and limb. This month’s O.O.L.F. Files explores some of these entities and how they work to advance the knowledge base to keep us all as safe as possible.
“NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of the changing environment around them.
From daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings, and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce, NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it.”
That first line just about says it all! Enriching life through science!
Due to the increase in the sheer number and severity of disasters and emergencies, FEMA has catapulted to one of the most important federal agencies in coordinating disaster response.
This month brings the ten-year anniversary of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The tragedy is an example of the multi-layered effects of a natural disaster at its worst.
Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Amie and Shannon. We’re thrilled to have you here. Congrats on the launch of Dancing in the Storm. It’s so inspiring and powerful. I had...
From the Mixed-Up Files is the group blog of middle-grade authors celebrating books for middle-grade readers. For anyone with a passion for children’s literature—teachers, librarians, parents, kids, writers, industry professionals— we offer regularly updated book lists organized by unique categories, author interviews, market news, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a children's book from writing to publishing to promoting.
This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, please see here: Read MoreClose
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
