July 2020 – STEM Friday

Curious About Birds
by Cathryn Sill (Author) and John Sill (Illustrator)

Booktalk: See how birds look, where they live, what they eat, and how they move around in this board book beginner’s guide.

Snippet: Birds have feathers.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

July 24, 2020July 23, 2020

Spaceman: The True Story of a Young Boy’s Journey to Becoming an Astronaut

Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Spaceman: The True Story of a Young Boy’s Journey to Becoming an Astronaut
by Mike Massimino (Author)

Booktalk: From the time he was seven-years-old and saw Apollo 11 land on the moon, Mike Massimino dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Long Island is a long way from space. Kids like him, growing up in working-class families, seldom left the neighborhood. But with the encouragement of teachers and mentors, Mike ventured down on a path that took him to Columbia University and to MIT. It wasn’t easy. There were academic setbacks and disappointments aplenty–and NASA turned him down three times. Still, Mike never gave up. He rose to each challenge and forged ahead, inching closer to realizing his boyhood dream. His love of science and space, along with his indomitable spirit and sense of teamwork eventually got him assigned to two missions to fix the Hubble Space Telescope–as a spacewalker.

Snippet: On March 1, 2020, I left Earth for the first ime. I got on board the space shuttle Columbia and blasted 350 miles into orbit. It was a big day, a day I’d been dreaming about since I was seven years old, a day I’d been training for nonstop since NASA had accepted me into the astronaut training program six years earlier. But even with all of that waiting and planning, I still wasn’t ready. Nothing you do on this planet can ever truly prepare you for what it means to leave it.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

July 17, 2020July 16, 2020

Dream Big, Little Scientists: A Bedtime Book

Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Dream Big, Little Scientists: A Bedtime Book
by Michelle Schaub (Author) and Alice Potter (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Twelve kids. A dozen bedtimes. Endless sweet ways to say goodnight with science! This bedtime story for budding scientists introduces eleven branches of science.

Snippet:

See the book trailer.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

July 10, 2020July 9, 2020

Beastly Bionics: Rad Robots, Brilliant Biomimicry, and Incredible Inventions Inspired by Nature

Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Beastly Bionics: Rad Robots, Brilliant Biomimicry, and Incredible Inventions Inspired by Nature
by Jennifer Swanson (Author)

Booktalk: Did you know that scientists have developed a bionic tool shaped like an elephant’s trunk that helps lift heavy objects? Or that the needle-like pointed beak of the kingfisher bird encouraged engineers in Japan to change the design of the Shinkansen “bullet trains” to reduce noise? Across multiple fields of study and methods of problem-solving, scientists are turning to biomimicry, or engineering inspired by biology or nature, to make all kinds of cool technological advancements. Discover more than 40 examples of technology influenced by animals, learn about some of the incredible creatures who have inspired multiple creations, and meet some of the scientists and the stories behind their inventions.

Snippet:

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)