Science Books for Fun and Learning--Some Recommendations from 2007

[Zeno Swijtink]

https://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/conte.../318/5856/1552

Science 7 December 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5856, pp. 1552 - 1554

BOOKS
FOR YOUNGER READERS:

Science Books for Fun and Learning--Some Recommendations from 2007

Heather Malcomson,1 Sherman Suter, and Barbara Jasny

Are you looking for holiday gifts for children or young adults whose interest in science you are trying to encourage? We offer as suggestions the finalists for the 2008 Science Books and Films Prizes for Excellence in Science Books. The prizes honor books that promote an understanding and appreciation of science in younger readers. Sponsored by the AAAS and Subaru, they are awarded in four categories: children's science picture book (for readers in grades K-4), middle grades science book (grades 5-8), young adult science book (high school), and hands-on science/activity book (any age). This year none of the four finalists for the young adult award was specifically intended for that age group--all were written for the general public. The titles considered for the 2008 prizes were published between September 2006 and August 2007.

Here, we present our short descriptions of the 17 finalists chosen by panels of librarians, educators, and scientists. Full reviews of each book have been published or will appear in Science Books and Films, and AAAS members can read these reviews on the Web. The four winners for 2008 will be announced at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston in February.

The criteria for evaluating the books include a clear and accurate presentation of scientific concepts. But we join the judges in hoping that the finalists will entice young readers to turn to science books for enjoyment as well as for information.

Children's Science Picture Book

Babies in the Bayou. Jim Arnosky. Putnam (Penguin), New York, 2007. 32 pp. $16.99, C$21. ISBN 9780399226533.
The winner of a 2005 Science Books & Films prize for his lifetime contributions to illustration of children's science books, Arnosky highlights his gift for bringing the natural world to life in yet another outstanding book. His beautiful illustrations and simple text introduce the youngest of readers to the important predator-prey relationship. The charming and accurate representations of bayou animals will help foster an appreciation of the natural world in any child.

Gregor Mendel. The Friar Who Grew Peas. Cheryl Bardoe, illustrated by Jos. A. Smith. Abrams Books for Young Readers (Abrams), New York, in association with the Field Museum, Chicago, 2006. 34 pp. $18.95, C$26.95, £10.95. ISBN 9780810954755.
Bardoe uses pictures and words to describe the life and work of Mendel. She graphically portrays his willingness when in his youth to make sacrifices in order to study. Her particularly effective account of his research on peas should paint a clear picture of heredity for young readers.

Turtle Summer. A Journal for My Daughter. Mary Alice Monroe and Barbara J. Bergwerf. Sylvan Dell, Mt. Pleasant, SC, 2007. 32 pp. $15.95. ISBN 9780977742356. Paper, $8.95. ISBN 9780977742370.
Late each spring, female loggerhead turtles return to lay their eggs in sandy beaches along the coast of South Carolina. Monroe introduces young readers to these endangered sea turtles, other seashore fauna, and the efforts of volunteers to watch and care for the nests and thus increase the numbers of hatchlings that set off midsummer for decades of growth at sea. Her "scrapbook" is filled with Bergwerf's snapshots of nesting activity, young turtles, shells, and birds. It effectively invites children to observe and interact with nature.

Vulture View. April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Steve Jenkins. Holt, New York, 2007. 32 pp. $16.95, C$21. ISBN 9780805075571.
The eating habits of vultures are portrayed by Sayre in a way that is sure to delight young children who love gross and squishy things. Using a very appealing rhyming format, she follows the birds as they soar and scan, searching for food: "Vultures like a mess. / They land and dine. / Rotten is fine." The illustrations also bring out other parts of the vulture lifestyle, such as bathing and roosting. It is good to see elegant artwork featuring a species that is conventionally considered unattractive. A section at the back of the book provides additional information about vulture biology.

Where in the Wild? Camouflaged Creatures Concealed and Revealed. David M. Schwartz and Yael Schy, photographs by Dwight Kuhn. Tricycle (Ten Speed), Berkeley, CA, 2007. 24 pp. $15.95. ISBN 9781582462073.
One must look carefully to spot the creatures that appear in this book. Each has colors and patterns that allow it to blend into the surroundings of its natural habitat. Ten short verses by Schwartz and Schy hint at the identity or location of the species hidden in Kuhn's photographs. If one gets frustrated by an animal's skillful deception, unfolding the folio page reveals its position in a faded version of the photo. Accompanying text introduces the animal's natural history and explains how it uses color and behavior to help escape being eaten or capture food.

Middle Grades Science Book

Being Caribou. Five Months on Foot with a Caribou Herd. Karsten Heuer. Walker, New York, 2007. 50 pp. $17.95. ISBN 9780802795656.
Full of real-life adventures, this book recounts the experiences of wildlife biologist Heuer and his wife after they joined more than 100,000 caribou on a 1000-mile trek to Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The couple endures brutal weather and physical hardships to study and document the herd's amazing journey across the northernmost reaches of North America. Heuer describes caribou movements, feeding, birthing, playing, and predator avoidance. At the end of the book, readers will feel exhausted by the expedition and concerned about the plight of caribou.

Circulating Life. Blood Transfusion from Ancient Superstition to Modern Medicine. Cherie Winner. Twenty-First Century (Lerner), Minneapolis, MN, 2007. 112 pp. $30.60. ISBN 9780822566069. Discovery!
Providing a thorough history of blood transfusion, Winner starts with the earliest ideas about blood, progresses through the first unsafe and unenlightened attempts, and ends with current practices and a look at the prospects for synthetic blood. Along the way, readers will learn a great deal about blood itself and about issues of blood safety. The glossary, bibliography, and list of Internet resources will aid those seeking more information.

Dinosaur Eggs Discovered! Unscrambling the Clues. Lowell Dingus, Luis M. Chiappe, and Rodolfo Coria. Twenty-First Century (Lerner), Minneapolis, MN, 2008. 112 pp. $30.60. ISBN 9780822567912. Discovery!
This excellent book by three vertebrate paleontologists starts with an amazing find--a field of fossilized dinosaur eggs in Argentina. The authors proceed to explain how they were able to answer fundamental questions about their discovery, including: "Who laid the eggs?" "When were the eggs laid?" "Were the eggs laid in nests?" "What catastrophe killed the embryos?" Although filled with facts, the book also presents the entertaining story of a scientific expedition.

Frog Heaven. Ecology of a Vernal Pool. Doug Wechsler. Boyds Mills Press, Honesdale, PA, 2006. 48 pp. $17.95. ISBN 9781590782538.
Vernal pools are shallow, seasonal ponds that are not linked to permanent streams and disappear for a while during most years. Thus, they usually lack fish, which makes them an ideal habitat for frogs, salamanders, and insect larvae. Wechsler describes the action at one such pool in a Delaware woods from its filling by autumnal rains, to the spring cacophony of male frogs seeking mates, and on through the inhabitants' race against time as the summer sun dries up the pond. He weaves intriguing details about the biota and his own photos into this informative story of an underappreciated ecosystem.

Tracking Trash. Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion. Loree Griffin Burns. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2007. 64 pp. $18, C$24.50. ISBN 9780618581313. Scientists in the Field.
In 1990, thousands of sneakers were washed off a container ship at a spot in the North Pacific. Two years later, thousands of plastic tub toys were similarly spilled at another location south of the Aleutians. Burns explains how Curt Ebbesmeyer and other oceanographers (aided by beachcombers) have used the dispersal of these and other drifting objects to illuminate ocean currents. She also highlights the problems that long-lived plastic trash poses across vast expanses of ocean and on beaches (even very isolated ones) around the world. And she warns of the deadly effects that abandoned ghost nets have on pelagic biota and reefs.

Young Adult Science Book

The Canon. A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science. Natalie Angier. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2007. 303 pp. $27, C$35.95. ISBN 9780618242955. Forthcoming from Faber and Faber, London. £16.99. ISBN 9780571239719.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning science columnist for The New York Times, Angier here explores the basic principles of the scientific method and the disciplines of astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, and physics. Using both anecdotes about and discoveries by scientists, she weaves easy-to-understand explanations of contemporary science. She also gives personal accounts of how various aspects of abstract scientific findings play into everyday life. Seemingly dull concepts such as hydrogen bonding and exothermic reactions are described in an interesting, metaphor-rich way. Although written for a general audience, the book will appeal to young adults wanting a broader knowledge of important scientific concepts.

An Ocean of Air. Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere. Gabrielle Walker. Harcourt, New York, 2007. 288 pp. $25. ISBN 9780151011247. Bloomsbury, London. 321 pp. £15.99. ISBN 9780747581901.
Walker's clear and witty writing makes this popular science book appealing and accessible to high school students. The author is passionate about her subject, referring to the atmosphere as "the single greatest gift our planet possesses." The book is full of interesting profiles of scientists who have spent their careers uncovering the secrets of the atmosphere. Readers will encounter familiar names and stories (e.g., the discoveries of Joseph Priestley and Robert Boyle) but also the work of lesser-known scientists such as William Ferrel and Kristian Birkeland. Walker even includes some nonscientists, like pilot Wiley Post, who first discovered the high, fast-moving winds that flow through Earth's stratosphere.

Is Pluto a Planet? A Historical Journey Through the Solar System. David A. Weintraub. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2007. 266 pp. $27.95, £16.95. ISBN 9780691123486.
In ancient times, the Sun and the Moon were among the seven wandering stars, the planets. Weintraub discusses how the concept of planet has changed from then to the present, when astronomers are identifying objects orbiting distant stars. He describes the rises and falls in the number of planets recognized in our solar system--changes that lead him to term Pluto "the fourth ninth planet." (He also notes that Pluto was not the object its discoverer was looking for and that object does not exist.) Although readers may not accept Weintraub's answer to the titular question, they will find his thought-provoking account provides ample information for supporting a variety of positions in the continuing debate.

The Wild Trees. A Story of Passion and Daring. Richard Preston. Random House, New York, 2007. 315 pp. $25.95, C$32. ISBN 9781400064892. Allen Lane, London. £20. ISBN 9780241141847.
Novelist Preston, the author of The Hot Zone, has turned his attention to California's coastal redwoods, the ecosystems that are maintained in them, and people who were passionately committed to finding and studying the tallest of these trees. The book is meant for a sophisticated young adult (or adult) reader--the protagonists are real, and somewhat eccentric, people who find huckleberries to eat in the canopies of these enormous trees, sleep (and make love) in special hammocks, and sometimes do crazy things that get themselves injured or killed. It will reward anyone who enjoys adventurers, loves climbing, or loves trees.

Hands-On Science/Activity Book

Exploratopia. Pat Murphy, Ellen Macaulay, and the Staff of the Exploratorium. Little, Brown, New York, 2006. 383 pp. $29.99, C$36.99. ISBN 9780316612814.
In this natural extension of the San Francisco-based Exploratorium: The Museum of Science, Art, and Human Perception, Murphy, Macaulay, and colleagues of theirs at the museum offer more than 400 kid-friendly experiments and explorations for curious minds. The result is like a tour through the Exploratorium itself. The book consists entirely of hands-on activities, most of which require only easily obtainable everyday materials. It meets all the requirements for a great science activity book: interesting investigations, clear instructions, vivid illustrations, and a bit of humor to hold the attention of kids of all ages.

Stellar Science Projects About Earth's Sky. Robert Gardner, illustrations by Tom LaBaff. Enslow Elementary (Enslow), Berkeley Heights, NJ, 2007. 48 pp. $23.93, £11.51. ISBN 9780766027329. Rockin' Earth Science Experiments.
With this basic hands-on book, Gardner aims to help children learn about air pressure, sunlight, and clouds as well as build science fair projects. The book's main strength lies in his clear explanations of the science underlying the observations. I was surprised to find, after guiding two children through innumerable home experiments, a revealing procedure for demonstrating why sunsets are red that I had never encountered before. Some of the experiments will require parental supervision, but the materials are easy to obtain and the further reading includes Internet sites.

Temperature. Navin Sullivan. Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, New York, 2007. 48 pp. $29.93, £14.59. ISBN 9780761423225. Measure Up!
Sullivan begins by describing heat energy and the ways in which it can travel. After providing a lucid explanation of the difference between the amount of heat in an object and its temperature, he discusses temperature scales, devices for measuring temperature, and temperature effects on people. The book is one in a series for middle-grade readers that explores measurements and their histories. It includes instructions for experimenting with freezing points and for constructing a simple thermo-scope.

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