Award Winning and Notable Children's Books PreK - 8

In the frost-covered forest of early spring, fox is on a mission to find food for her three cubs. As they grow, she teaches them how to survive in the wild. Until one day, fox dies. Her body goes back to earth and grass and air, nourishing the world around her and bringing the forest to life.

Young readers will be captivated by the contemporary inventors and inventions featured, and inspired to incorporate biomimicry into their own designs.

Mexican American Mario Molina is a modern-day hero who helped solve the ozone crisis of the 1980s. Growing up in Mexico City, Mario was a curious boy who studied hidden worlds through a microscope. As a young man in California, he discovered that CFCs, used in millions of refrigerators and spray cans, were tearing a hole in the earth's protective ozone layer. Mario knew the world had to be warned--and quickly. Today Mario is a Nobel laureate and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His inspiring story gives hope in the fight against global warming.

Powerful and visually spectacular, Moth is the remarkable evolution story that captures the struggle of animal survival against the background of an evolving human world in a unique and atmospheric introduction to Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. "This is a story of light and dark..." Against a lush backdrop of lichen-covered trees, the peppered moth lies hidden. Until the world begins to change... Along come people with their magnificent machines which stain the land with soot. In a beautiful landscape changed by humans how will one little moth survive? A clever picture book text about the extraordinary way in which animals have evolved, intertwined with the complication of human intervention. This remarkable retelling of the story of the peppered moth is the perfect introduction to natural selection and evolution for children.

An illustrated book about the digestive system and microbiome for young readers, from famous (and funny) scientist Dr. Jennifer Gardy. Everybody eats, and everybody poops.

Award-winning author Don Brown explores a very timely subject: the history of vaccines A Shot in the Arm!, book 3 in the Big Ideas that Changed the World series, is the history of vaccinations and the struggle to protect people from infectious disease.

This interactive and illustrated book for kids aged 8-10 introduces the wonderful science of the forest through outdoor activities, quizzes, fun facts, photographs, and more! Discover the secret life of trees with this nature and science book for kids: Can You Hear the Trees Talking? shares the mysteries and magic of the forest with young readers, revealing what trees feel, how they communicate, and the ways trees take care of their families.

They live in the coldest corner of Antarctica and on hot, sandy desert dunes. They're in the air you breathe and the food you eat. But fungi are more than pizza toppings. They form partnerships with plants and help us clean up our planet through bioremediation. Some fungi eat our crops; others protect them.

The sun, moon, stars, and planets have been a source of wonder for as long as humans have lived on earth. In this highly visual guide to observing the sky with the naked eye, kids aged 9-14 will delve into the science behind what they see.

If you can find a worm, then you can be a biologist! Foster a love of animals and science with this charming activity guide for finding and observing earthworms. Hands-on experiments help young biologists answer questions like "Which end is which?" and "Do worms make noise?" Insider tips encourage readers to think like a scientist and handle living things with care. Equally entertaining with or without a worm friend.

Codes can carry big secrets! Throughout history, lots of good guys and lots of bad guys have used codes to keep their messages under wraps. This fun and flippable nonfiction features stories of hidden treasures, war-time maneuverings, and contemporary hacking as well as explaining the mechanics behind the codes in accessible and kid friendly forms. Sidebars call out activities that invite the reader to try their own hand at cracking and crafting their own secret messages. This is the launch of an exciting new series that invites readers into a STEM topic through compelling historical anecdotes, scientific backup, and DIY projects.

Beauty and the Beak is the incredible true story about an injured wild bald eagle who received a pioneering, 3D-printed beak--and made world news! Follow Beauty close up and in photographs, from the moment she uses her baby beak to emerge from her egg, through her hunt when she uses her powerful adult beak to feed herself, to the day her beak is illegally shot off, leaving her helpless. This brave and uplifting story continues through her rescue, into the months of engineering her 3D-printed prosthetic beak and intense hours of her beak surgery, to the moment she takes the first drink of water by herself with her new beak. Beauty and the Beak captures the spirit and courage of this amazing bird and America's national symbol--whose species was nearly wiped out by human activity, only to be restored and thriving because of environmental conservation and human compassion.

What animal would you be if a few of your teeth grew so long that they stuck out of your mouth even when it was closed? What would you be if your top canine teeth grew almost all the way down to your feet? This picture book will keep you guessing as you read about how human teeth are like--and unlike--those of other animals.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To follow you home! Learn all about a not-so-basic bird in this delightful nonfiction picture book. What's that? A chicken followed you home? Now what do you do? Celebrated author-illustrator Robin Page leads a step-by-step, question-and-answer-style journey through the world of chickens. Along the way you'll explore different breeds, discover different types of coops, and learn everything there is to know about chicken reproduction and hatching.

Find out how the smallest things on the planet do some of the biggest jobs in this intriguing introduction to the world of microbes. All around the world -- in the sea, in the soil, in the air, and in your body -- there are living things so tiny that millions could fit on an ant's antenna. They're busy doing all sorts of things, from giving you a cold and making yogurt to eroding mountains and helping to make the air we breathe. If you could see them with your eye, you'd find that they all look different, and that they're really good at changing things into something else and at making many more microbes like themselves!

Want to grow what you eat and eat what you grow? Visit this lively, flourishing school-and-community garden and be inspired to cultivate your own. Part celebration, part simple how-to, this close-up look at a vibrant garden and its enthusiastic gardeners is blooming with photos that will have readers ready to roll up their sleeves and dig in.

In this timely book, acclaimed Caldecott artist Molly Bang and award-winning M.I.T. professor Penny Chisholm use poetic language and dazzling illustrations to introduce the oceanic world. From tiny aquatic plants to the biggest whale or fish, Bang and Chisholm present a moving, living picture of the miraculous balance sustaining each life cycle and food chain deep within our wondrous oceans. On land or in the deep blue sea, we are all connected--and we are all a part of a grand living landscape.

Joan Dunning presents the amazing story of the marbled murrelet based on dramatic facts uncovered in the last few decades. Focusing on one pair of murrelets and their newborn chick, the author reveals the hidden nest in the canopy of the old-growth forests and the secret life of these birds before their fledgling sets off for the sea.

Trust the bestselling science series of all time to get down to the facts on global warming, so kids can understand the crisis - and how they can help solve it. Like it or not, global warming is a hot topic, and it will affect the younger generation the most. So why not turn to the teacher kids like the most, Ms. Frizzle! Only the Friz can boil all the hoopla down to the scientific facts in a fun and informative way.

Living Sunlight shows children, teachers, and parents the remarkable magic of what makes us human. This informative yet dramatic book will mesmerize readers and help further a child's understanding of the energy we share with all living things in nature. We are all dancing sunlight. The book is co-authored by award-winning M.I.T. professor Penny Chisholm, a leading expert on ocean science. A perfect addition to any library!

How many species are there across the globe? How much do all of the insects in the world collectively weigh? How far can animals travel? Steve Jenkins answers these questions and many more with numbers, images, innovation, and authoritative science in his latest work of illustrated nonfiction.

One of the biggest differences between humans and animals is the ability to understand the idea of "If I do X, Y might happen." New Caledonian crows seem to possess the intelligence to understand this "causal" concept. Why do crows have this ability? What does the crow know and what does it tell us about brain size, the evolution of intelligence, and just who is the smartest creature on the planet?

With three hearts and blue blood, its gelatinous body unconstrained by jointed limbs or gravity, the octopus seems to be an alien, an inhabitant of another world. It's baggy, boneless body sprouts eight arms covered with thousands of suckers--suckers that can taste as well as feel. The octopus also has the powers of a superhero: it can shape-shift, change color, squirt ink, pour itself through the tiniest of openings, or jet away through the sea faster than a swimmer can follow. But most intriguing of all, octopuses--classed as mollusks, like clams--are remarkably intelligent with quirky personalities.

Learn about what it takes to send humans to Mars--from spacesuits and rovers to surviving subzero temperatures and raging dust storms. The United States plans to send astronauts to Mars around 2035, and MISSION: MARS shows kids how they could start training to join the first crew to the Red Planet! The author, a leading Mars expert, shows the "Future Mars Explorers" the latest designs for spacesuits and exploration rovers. Readers will also learn how to navigate a spaceship, search for alien life, and get an up-close look at some of the world's leading space scientists at work.

From the fossil hunter who discovered the Homo naledi fossils in September 2015, this book is an amazing account of Lee Berger's 2008 hunt -- with the help of his curious 9-year-old son -- for a previously unknown species of ape-like creatures that may have been direct ancestors of modern humans. The discovery of two remarkably well preserved, two-million-year-old fossils of an adult female and young male, known as Australopiitecus sediba, has been hailed as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in history. The fossils reveal what may be one of humankind's oldest ancestors. Berger believes the skeletons they found on the Malapa site in South Africa could be the "Rosetta stone that unlocks our understanding of the genus Homo" and may just redesign the human family tree. Berger, an Eagle Scout and National Geographic Grantee, is the Reader in Human Evolution and the Public Understanding of Science in the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

When Temple Grandin was born, her parents knew she was different. Years later she was diagnosed with autism. Temple's doctor recommended institutionalizing her, but her mother believed in her. Temple went to school instead. Today, Dr. Temple Grandin, a scientist and professor of animal science at Colorado State University, is an autism advocate and her world-changing career revolutionized the livestock industry.

Panamanian golden frogs aren't just cute, little, and yellow. They're also the national symbol of Panama. But they started to disappear about fifteen years ago. What's killing them? Could it be a change in their habitat? What about pollution? Might it be a result of climate change? Follow a team of scientists working to save these frogs and protect frog populations worldwide in this real-life science mystery.

Without honey bees the world would be a very different place. There would be no sweet, delicious honey, no beeswax for creams and candles, and--worst of all--barely a fruit, nut, or vegetable to eat. So just imagine beekeeper Dave Hackenburg's horror when, in 2006, he discovered twenty million of his buzzing charges had vanished without a trace. Those missing bees became the first reported casualties of a mysterious scourge that continues to plague honey bee populations today.

A captivating and beautifully photographed Scientists in the Field title about a man trying to discover the effects pesticides have on frogs and, in turn, on us. When Tyrone Hayes was growing up in South Carolina, he didn't worry about pesticides. .He just liked to collect frogs. Tyrone's interest in science led him to Harvard University, and though he struggled at first, he found his calling in the research lab of an amphibian scientist. Meanwhile, scientists discovered that all around the globe, frogs were dying. The decline has many causes, including habitat loss and disease. Tyrone discovered that the most commonly used pesticide in the United States, atrazine, may also play a role. Tyrone tested atrazine on frogs in his lab at Berkeley. He found that the chemical caused some of the male frogs to develop into bizarre half-male, half-female frogs. What was going on? That's what Tyrone wants to find out.

Get up close and personal with a wonderful world of waste. From composting and recycling, to landfills and dumps, to how creative people are finding new ways to reuse rubbish. It's fun to talk trash when it's jam-packed with infographics, thematic spreads, wow-worthy photos, sidebars, serious stats, and fabulous facts. Also included are quizzes and activities to inspire kids to take action, be proactive, and rethink the things we throw away.

In this sequel to Ellie's Log: Exploring the Forest Where the Great Tree Fell, Ricky Zamora brings his love of map-making and his boundless curiosity to the arid landscapes east of the Cascades Mountains. He arrives during a wild thunderstorm, and watches his family and their neighbors scramble to deal with a wildfire sparked by lightning. Joined by his friend Ellie, he sees how plants, animals, and people adjust to life with wildfires. While hiking across a natural prairie, climbing up a fire tower, and studying historical photos and maps, Ricky and Ellie learn about the role of fire in shaping the landscape of the semi-arid plateau east of the mountains. They experience the scary days of wildfire in progress, explore a gritty site after a wildfire, and discover how some plants and animals depend on fire to survive.

Covering everything from feeding, housing, and collecting eggs to quirky behaviors and humane treatment, Caughey's engaging advice helps children understand the best ways to care for their chickens. Spark enthusiasm with creative activities like chicken forts and a veggie piñata for the flock, and feed more than the imagination with egg-centric dishes like Mexican egg pizza.

This gorgeously illustrated guide will inspire kids to look closely at the world around them! Created by the experts at the renowned Brooklyn Botanic Garden, it teaches children how to observe environments as a naturalist does and leads them on 24 adventures that reveal the complex ecosystems of plants and animals in the woods, at the beach, and in a city park. Detailed, scientifically based drawings help young scientists identify hundreds of North American plants and animals, while dozens of fun projects include keeping a journal, conducting field experiments, and exploring nature with all five senses.

You don't have to own binoculars and know a bunch of fancy Latin names to watch birds! No matter where you live, they're in your neighborhood -- just look up. This conversational, humorous introduction to bird-watching encourages kids to get outdoors with a sketchbook and really look around. Quirky full-color illustrations portray dozens of birds chatting about their distinctive characteristics, including color, shape, plumage, and beak and foot types, while tongue-in-cheek cartoons feature banter between birds, characters, and the reader ("Here I am, the noble spruce grouse. In a spruce grove. Eatin' some spruce. Yep.").

When a two day-old Hawaiian monk seal pup is attacked and abandoned by his mother on a beach in Kauai, environmental officials must decide if they should save the newborn animal or allow nature to take its course. But as a member of the most endangered marine mammal species in U.S. waters, Kauai Pup 2, or KP2, is too precious to lose, and he embarks on an odyssey that will take him across an ocean to the only qualified caretaker to accept the job, eminent wildlife biologist Dr. Terrie M. Williams. The local islanders see KP2 as an honored member of their community, but government agents and scientists must consider the important role he could play in gathering knowledge and data about this critically endangered and rare species. Only 1,100 Hawaiian monk seals survive in the wild; if their decline continues without intervention, they face certain extinction within fifty years. In a controversial decision, environmental officials send KP2 to Williams's marine mammal lab in Santa Cruz, California, where she and her team monitor his failing eyesight and gather crucial data that could help save KP2's species. But while this young seal is the subject of a complex environmental struggle and intense media scrutiny, KP2 is also a boisterous and affectionate animal who changes the lives of the humans who know and care for him-especially that of Williams. Even as she unravels the secret biology of monk seals by studying his behavior and training him, Williams finds a kindred spirit in his loving nature and resilient strength.

It's never been more important to engage a child's scientific curiosity, and Sean Connolly knows just how to do it--with lively, hands-on, seemingly "dangerous" experiments that pop, ooze, crash, and teach! Now, the author of The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science, takes it one step further: He leads kids through the history of science, and then creates amazing yet simple experiments that demonstrate key scientific principles.

Ten creatures await, camouflaged in artful, full-page photographs, while playful poems offer clues about each animal's identity and whereabouts. Think you've spotted one? Lift one of ten gatefolds to find out. A full page of fascinating information accompanies each animal so readers can learn how nature's camouflage serves hunter and hunted alike. Why do fawns have spots during their first year of life? How did killdeer birds get their name? What makes a crab spider so good at ambushing its prey?

This stunningly beautiful and wonderfully informative book from award-winning artist Sylvia Long and author Dianna Hutts Aston makes for a fascinating introduction to the vast and amazing world of eggs.

What is dust? More than you think. What can it do? You will be surprised. Dust may seem small, dark, dirty, and dull. But it's the secret behind one of the largest, most colorful sights on earth.

Recounts the discovery of a dinosaur nesting field containing a large number of eggs, describing the field work done to classify them, calculate the period of prehistory they came from, and identify the reasons why many of them never hatched.

Here is a rare perspective on a story we only thought we knew. For Apollo 11, the first moon landing, is a story that belongs to many, not just the few and famous. It belongs to the seamstress who put together twenty-two layers of fabric for each space suit. To the engineers who created a special heat shield to protect the capsule during its fiery reentry. It belongs to the flight directors, camera designers, software experts, suit testers, telescope crew, aerospace technicians, photo developers, engineers, and navigators.

Barely a century ago a vast tallgrass prairie covered America's heartland. Bison, elk, coyotes, and bear roamed this wilderness. Hundreds of species of prairie plants supported an explosion of birds and insects, including hundreds of kinds of butterflies. By the early part of the twentieth century, however, the tallgrass prairie was gone, its rich soils converted to farms to feed a growing world population.

From physics to forensics, from the largest clouds to the tiniest ants, from Issac Newton to elephant dung, "Exploratopia" overflows with things readers can explore using the simplest, everyday items, such as eggs, paper clips, soda bottles, vinegar, and plastic cups. Kids will love these innovative activities and will have fun learning all at the same time.

Thomas Edison, one of the world's greatest inventors, is introduced in this fascinating activity book. Children will learn how Edison ushered in an astounding age of invention with his unique way of looking at things and refusal to be satisfied with only one solution to a problem. This book helps inspire kids to be inventors and scientists, as well as persevere with their own ideas. Activities allow children to try Edison's experiments themselves, with activities such as making a puppet dance using static electricity, manufacturing a switch for electric current, constructing a telegraph machine, manipulating sound waves, building an electrical circuit to test for conductors and insulators, making a zoetrope, and testing a dandelion for latex. In addition to his inventions and experiments, the book explores Edison's life outside of science, including his relationship with inventor Nikola Tesla, his rivalry with George Westinghouse, and his friendship with Henry Ford. A time line, glossary, and lists of supply sources, places to visit, and websites for further exploration complement this activity book.