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The 2017 INSTAR selections are books that teachers can use across grade levels to teach science standards and to integrate science with other content areas. Below are some of this year’s highlighted titles.
From Andrea Beaty and David Roberts, the creators of Iggy Peck, Architect and Rosie Revere, Engineer, comes Ada Twist, Scientist. Ada, a second grader and a child of color, is filled with curiosity about the world around her. In rhyming text supported by cartoon illustrations, she wonders why the grandfather clock goes tick tock and why it is not called a “granddaughter” clock. Her parents and teacher try to harness her creative questions and help her use the scientific process to suggest hypotheses and conduct experiments. Young nature lovers will be delighted by Tree: A Peek-Through Picture Book, written and illustrated by Britta Teckentrup. The book opens up with a silhouette of a tree with a “peek through” cutout showing an owl perched in the tree. Text written in rhyming couplets describe the tree’s activities in winter, as well as what the owl sees. As the book progresses and the seasons change, more cutouts are added revealing other animals that make their home in the tree. This is a book that begs to be read more than once.
Another book featuring poetic text is Best in Snow, by April Pulley Sayre. Short, gentle phrases describe how snow blankets everything it touches. Breathtaking nature photographs by the author capture readers’ attention and bring the text to life. Back matter provides the scientific facts behind each line of text, and a list of suggested resources will guide additional explorations.
Biographies are always useful for sharing the human aspect of scientific endeavors. Two standouts are included in this year’s list. The first is Whoosh: Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton and illustrated by Don Tate. The end notes describe Barton’s inspiration for writing the book: the lack of diversity in scientist biographies. Lonnie Johnson’s life story as a NASA engineer and extraordinary inventor will inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers through his perseverance and exceptional determination to see his idea for the super-soaking water toy come to fruition.
A second biography on the list is Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Raúl Colón. Although we take our knowledge of what the bottom of the ocean looks like, many of us don’t know how that information was first collected. Marie Tharp’s quest to solve the mystery of the seafloor surface is presented through easily-read text and beautiful illustrations.
A book which guides the reader into recognizing the interconnectedness of plant and animal species is Once Upon an Elephant, written by Linda Stanek and illustrated by Shennen Bersani. The impact of elephants on the environment presented in this book could be extended into a discussion of the interdependence of local plant and animal species. Nominations for the 2018 INSTAR list are welcomed. The authors hope that teachers and students will read and learn about science from these outstanding titles.