Friday

Science Biographies Reading List

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One thing that I’ve wanted for a long time is a book like All Through the Ages, but for science. Unfortunately such a thing doesn’t exist, but I did find a website that lists award winning science trade books as chosen by the National Science Teachers Association. The books are categorized by topic and grade level, but they are organized by year instead of one master list. I am slowly working my way through the website and putting the books in a topical list that is subdivided by grade level. I’ll be adding to my science reading lists here on the blog as I work through the website, hopefully adding one list a month.

Science Biographies Reading List

Part of making our homeschool more Charlotte Mason is that I am prioritizing reading science biographies along with our science studies. Basically the way it works is that for whatever science discipline we are studying I will find corresponding biographies for the kids to read on their own. Not surprisingly, the first list I completed was for science biographies, and I wanted to share it with you.

A couple of caveats: 1) This list is not Christian based; and 2) These grade guidelines are not set in stone. You know your child best; they could possibly read books from multiple age categories.

Grades K-2

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

A Picture Book of George Washington Carver  by David A. Adler

Benjamin Banneker: Pioneering Scientist (On My Own Biography) by Ginger Wadsworth

Reaching for the Moon by Buzz Aldrin

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? by Tanya Lee Stone

Grades 3-5

Ordinary Genius: The Story of Albert Einstein by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson

Taking Flight: My Story by Vicki Van Meter with Dan Gutman

Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek: First to See Microscopic Life (Great Minds of Science series) by Lisa Yount

A Picture Book of George Washington Carver  by David A. Adler

Great Black Heroes: Five Brilliant Scientists by Lynda Jones

Rocks in His Head  by Carol Otis Hurst

To Fly: The Story of the Wright Brothers by Wendie Old

Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster: The Search for the Smallpox Vaccine by Albert Marrin

First to Fly: How Wilbur and Orville Wright Invented the Airplane by Peter Busby

Into the Woods: John James Audubon Lives His Dream by Robert Burleigh

The Man Who Made Time Travel by Kathryn Lasky

Rachel: The Story of Rachel Carson by Amy Ehrlich

Tooth and Claw: Animal Adventures in the Wild  by Ted Lewin

The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin by Peter Sis

Bone Detective: The Story of Forensic Anthropologist Diane France by Lorraine Jean Hopping

Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein by Marfé Furguson Delano

Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold Self-Experimenters in Science and Medicine by Leslie Dendy and Mel Boring.

Reaching for the Moon by Buzz Aldrin

Thomas Edison: A Brilliant Inventor by Editors of Time for Kids with Lisa deMauro

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies

The Flower Hunter: William Bartram, America’s First Naturalist by Deborah Kogan

Barnum Brown: Dinosaur Hunter by David Sheldon

Farmer George Plants a Nation by Peggy Thomas

Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci by Gene Barretta

For the Birds: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson by Peggy Thomas

Electrical Wizard by Elizabeth Rusch

Lives of the Scientists by Kathleen Krull

Grades 6-8

American Environmental Heroes (Collective Biographies series) by Phyllis M. Stanley

Isaac Newton: The Greatest Scientist of All Time (Great Minds of Science series) by Margaret J. Anderson

Bird Watching With Margaret Morse Nice (Naturalist's Apprentice series) by Michael Elsohn Ross

Elephant Woman: Cynthia Moss Explores The World of Elephants by Laurence Pringle

Science in the Renaissance (Science of the Past series) by Brendan January

Exploring the Earth with John Wesley Powell  by Michael Elsohn Ross

Pond Watching with Ann Morgan by Michael Elsohn Ross

Charles Darwin: The Evolution of a Thinker by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Jonas Salk: Conquering Polio (Lerner Biographies Series) by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson

Girls Who Looked Under Rocks: The Lives of Six Pioneering Naturalists by Jeannine Atkins

Copernicus: Founder of Modern Astronomy by Catherine M. Andronik

Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster: The Search for the Smallpox Vaccine by Albert Marrin

Inventing the Future: A Photobiography of Thomas Alva Edison by Marfé Ferguson Delano

Darwin and Evolution for Kids: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities by Kristan Lawson

Rider in the Sky: How an American Cowboy Built England’s First Airplane by John Hulls

The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin by Peter Sis

Bone Detective: The Story of Forensic Anthropologist Diane France by Lorraine Jean Hopping

Galileo: The Genius Who Faced the Inquisition (National Geographic World History Biographies) by Philip Steele

Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein by Marfé Furguson Delano

Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold Self-Experimenters in Science and Medicine by Leslie Dendy and Mel Boring.

Leonardo da Vinci (Giants of Science) by Kathleen Krull

Maria Mitchell: The Soul of an Astronomer by Beatrice Gormley

Marie Curie: A Brilliant Life by Elizabeth MacLeod

Onward: A Photobiography of African American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson by Delores Johnson

Sigmund Freud (Giants of Science) by Kathleen Krull

Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium by Carla Killough McClafferty

Isaac Newton: The Scientist Who Changed Everything by Philip Steele

Giants of Science: Marie Curie by Kathleen Krull

Tycho Brahe: Pioneer of Astronomy by Don Nardo

A Life in the Wild: George Schaller’s Struggle to Save the Last Great Beasts by Pamela S. Turner

Emperors of the Ice: A True Story of Disaster and Survival in the Antarctic, 1910–13 by Richard Farr

Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci  by Gene Barretta

Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy Montgomery

Lives of the Scientists by Kathleen Krull

Jacques Cousteau (A&E Biography series) by Lesley A. DuTemple

Dr. Charles Drew: Blood Bank Innovator (African-American Biographies) by Anne Schraff

Niels Bohr: Physicist and Humanitarian (Great Minds of Science) by Naomi Pasachoff

American Women Inventors by Carole Ann Camp

Stephen Hawking: Breaking the Boundaries of Time and Space (Great Minds of Science) by John Bankston

Linus Pauling: Advancing Science, Advocating Peace by Naomi Pasachoff

Marie Curie: The Woman Who Changed the Course of Science by Philip Steel

Learning science one amazing scientist at a time in the tree house,

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5 comments:

  1. That's quite a list! Great job putting it together.

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  2. This is a wonderful list, and I appreciate your including my book GIRLS WHO LOOKED UNDER ROCKS. It made me think about how many of these scientists were home schooled. In my book, I show how supportive mothers really helped direct the lives of Jane Goodall and Rachel Carson, and I recently had a conversation with someone about Maria Mitchell, who discovered a comet and in 1867 became the first professor of astronomy at Vassar, though it was her Quaker parents who primarily taught her.

    There's a new book you might find of interest, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Science. Though it's primarily directed to teachers k-5, I think it would also be useful for homeschooling, integrating science and literature. Best wish for your good work!

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    1. My oldest, Chipette, is reading your book this year as part of our nature studies. She is LOVING it! She is my animal loving, science girl so reading an entire book about other girls who loved the same things she does is so encouraging to her! Thank you so much for the book recommendation. I'll definitely check it out!

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    2. The Student Editions for each grade level (K, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) are better for kids to use (smaller and illustrated)--while the K-5 Teacher's Edition of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR SCIENCE is best for parents, teachers, and librarians. I love Jeannine Atkins's poems in this anthology--especially "Nursing Math," about Florence Nightingale's persuasive use of statistics and charts! (Thanks for mentioning our anthology, Jeannine!)

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