There’s Science in Salt
by Cécile Jugla (Author), Jack Guichard (Author), Laurent Simon (Illustrator)
Booktalk: Try 10 easy activities and experiments to discover great scientific principles using . . . salt!
Snippet:
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2025 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.
Genius Ears: A Curious Animal Compendium
by Lena Anlauf (Author), Vitali Konstantinov (Illustrator), Marshall Yarbrough (Translator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop
Booktalk: Ears can do much more than just pick up sound waves. In the animal kingdom, ears are sometimes an animal’s strongest asset! For example, a fleeing black-tailed jackrabbit uses the position of its ears to help it confuse its pursuers and get away from danger. Some animals can close their ears to protect their bodies or use them to cool down or stay warm. Whether long, tuft, or goblin, ears can tell a lot about animals and their habits and habitats.
Which animal has the longest ears relative to its size? Which animal communicates through surprisingly high-pitched chirping sounds? And which animal can pinpoint the location of its prey using only its ears? Readers will find out all this and much more in this middle grade book filled with unique and unusual facts.
Snippet:
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2025 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)
Cryptocurrency (The World of Money)
by Hilary Margitich (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop
Booktalk: This middle grade book explains the basics of cryptocurrency and how it works, detailing the benefits and drawbacks of using cryptocurrency, as well as showing examples of how cryptocurrency is used today.
Snippet: But a new type of money has gained popularity. Cryptocurrency, or crypto, does not belong at any country. It is a digital currency that can be accessed through a person’s computer or smartphone. It is not provided by banks.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2025 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)
Healthy Brain (Healthy and Happy)
by Peggy Snow (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop
Booktalk: This middle grade book shares six steps kids can take to lead happy and healthy lives by maintaining healthy brains.
Snippet:
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2025 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)
My new Focus on STEM column, Beginnings, is in the January Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries newsletter from Booklist.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2025 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.
Counting Winter
by Nancy White Carlstrom (Author) and Claudia McGehee (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop
Booktalk: This lyrical counting book celebrates the rhythms of the tundra and its inhabitants during winter.
Snippet:
One red fox walks
across the white snow
quietly
stalking winter.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2025 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)
Sky Explorer: A Young Adventurer’s Guide to the Sky by Day and Night
by Elizabeth Jenner (Author) and Anja Sušanj (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop
Booktalk: From amazing cloud formations and rainbows to twinkling stars and planets, become an expert sky explorer day or night with this handy pocket guide with an elastic closer. Wherever you are, whatever the weather, there’s always something to see if you look up!
Snippet:
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2025 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)
Do You Know?: Polar Animals and Other Cold-Climate Creatures
by Pascale Hédelin (Author), Didier Balicevic (Illustrator), Maëlle Cheval (Illustrator), Yating Hung (Illustrator), and Yi-Hsuan Wu (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop
Booktalk: What type of animals live in the cold regions? How do they survive in extreme temperatures? Find out in this 96-page read-aloud book for age 5 and up. The snippet below is about caribou — a.k.a. reindeer — a popular topic at this time of year!
Snippet:
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2024 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)
Make Your Own Christmas Crafts
by Kayla Rossow (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop
Booktalk: A step-by-step guide to make five simple Christmas crafts and activities.
Snippet:
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2024 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)
Up Periscope!: How Engineer Raye Montague Revolutionized Shipbuilding
by Jennifer Swanson (Author) and Veronica Miller Jamison (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop
Booktalk: Girls like Raye Montague weren’t supposed to like math or science, or go to engineering school. But tenacious Raye had a plan, one that eventually took her all the way to the US Navy. There, she was assigned an impossible task: to come up with a single computer program that could design every part of a ship. It had never been done before—but Raye’s groundbreaking program revolutionized the way ships and submarines were built, and set her on a path to become a pioneering figure in naval engineering and the navy’s first female program manager of ships.
Snippet:
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
The author, Jennifer Swanson, is one of my former students.
Copyright © 2024 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)
