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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!
Katie: My children were two and four years old when I wrote the book. For months, I was baking and testing recipes and my kids and I developed a love of baking together. They also became accustomed to having cakes for dessert because it was important to taste test the cakes that had recipes in the book. When I finished writing, my kids were disappointed that the daily desserts stopped. They were delighted when I wrote the companion book Geometry is as Easy as Pie, which teaches math concepts through pie and pie recipes.
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