2024 OSTB

Book recommendations for educators, librarians, parents, and guardians of the best children’s books with science content published in 2023.

 
Animals in Surprising Shades: Poems About Earth’s Colorful Creatures

Animals in Surprising Shades

By: Susan Johnston Taylor
Illustrated by:
Annie Bakst
ISBN: 9781957655048
Nonfiction, 7-12, Science / Nature
 
At Home with the Prairie Dog: The Story of a Keystone Species

At Home with the Prairie Dog

By: Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Illustrated by:
William Muñoz (photographer)
ISBN: 9781970039061
Nonfiction, 7-12, Animals
 
Becoming Bionic and Other Ways Science Is Making Us Super

Becoming Bionic and Other Ways Science Is Making Us Super

By: Heather Camlot
Illustrated by:
Victor Wong
ISBN: 9781771474610
Nonfiction, 7-12, Technology / Computers
 
Before Colors: Where Pigments and Dyes Come From

Before Colors

By: Annette Bay Pimentel
Illustrated by:
Madison Safer
ISBN: 9781419757068
Nonfiction, 7-12, Science / Nature
 
Ben Rothery’s Deadly and Dangerous Animals

Ben Rothery’s Deadly and Dangerous Animals

By: Ben Rothery
ISBN: 9781958394250
Nonfiction, 7-12, Animals
 
Bone Wars: the True Story of an Epic Battle to Find Dinosaur Fossils

Bone Wars

By: Jane Kurtz
Illustrated by:
Alexander Vidal
ISBN: 9781534493643
Nonfiction, 4-6, Biography / Memoir
 
The Clues Are in the Poo: The Story of Dinosaur Scientisct Karen Chin

The Clues Are in the Poo

By: Karen Chin, Jane Kurtz
Illustrated by:
Francisco Riolobos
ISBN: 9781478876175
Nonfiction, 7-12, Science / Nature
 
Creep, Leap, Crunch! A Food Chain Story

Creep, Leap, Crunch! A Food Chain Story

By: Jody Jensen Shaffer
Illustrated by:
Christopher Silas Neal
ISBN: 9780593565520
Nonfiction, 4-6, Animals
 
Evolution

Evolution

By: Sarah Darwin, Eva Maria Sadowski
Illustrated by:
Olga Baumert
ISBN: 9781912920549
Nonfiction, 7-12, Animals
 
Extra Life (Young Readers Adaptation): The Astonishing Story of How We Doubled Our Lifespan

Extra Life (Young Readers Adaptation)

By: Steven Johnson
ISBN: 9780593351499
Nonfiction, 7-12, Teen, Mental / Physical Health
 
Find Out About Animal Camouflage

Find Out About Animal Camouflage

By: Martin Jenkins
Illustrated by:
Jane McGuinness
ISBN: 9781536228366
Nonfiction, 4-6, Series
 
Grizzly Bears: Guardians of the Wilderness

Grizzly Bears

By: Frances Backhouse
ISBN: 9781459828544
Nonfiction, 7-12, Science / Nature
 
Her Eyes on the Stars: Maria Mitchell, Astronomer

Her Eyes on the Stars

By: Laurie Wallmark
Illustrated by:
Liz Wong
ISBN: 9781954354135
Nonfiction, 7-12, Social Activism / Equality / Feminism
 
Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day (A Graphic Novel)

Hidden Systems

By: Dan Nott
ISBN: 9780593125366
Nonfiction, 7-12, Teen, History
 
How Birds Sleep

How Birds Sleep

By: David Obuchowski
Illustrated by:
Sarah Pedry
ISBN: 9781662650970
Nonfiction, 4-6, Animals
 
How to Spacewalk: Step-by-Step with Shuttle Astronauts

How to Spacewalk

By: Michael J. Rosen, Kathryn D. Sullivan
Illustrated by:
Michael J. Rosen
ISBN: 9781536226218
Nonfiction, 7-12, Science / Nature
 
If the Rivers Run Free

If the Rivers Run Free

By: Andrea Debbink
Illustrated by:
Nicole Wong
ISBN: 9781534112780
Nonfiction, 4-6, Science / Nature
 
Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider

Jumper

By: Jessica Lanan
ISBN: 9781250810366
Nonfiction, 4-6, Animals
 
Masked Hero: How Wu Lien-teh Invented the Mask That Ended an Epidemic

Masked Hero

By: Shan Woo Liu
Illustrated by:
Lisa Wee
ISBN: 9781536228984
Nonfiction, 4-6, Technology / Computers
 
Mission: Arctic: A Scientific Adventure to a Changing North Pole

Mission

By: Katharina Weiss-Tuider
Illustrated by:
Christian Schneider
ISBN: 9781771649568
Nonfiction, 7-12, Action / Adventure
 
My Indigo World: a True Story of the Color Blue

My Indigo World

By: Rosa Chang
ISBN: 9781662650659
Nonfiction, 7-12, Science / Nature
 
Old Enough to Make a Difference: Be inspired by real-life children building a more sustainable future

Old Enough to Make a Difference

By: Hui, Rebecca
ISBN: 9781419765995
Nonfiction, 7-12, Series
 
Paper World: Human Body

Paper World

By: The Templar Company LTD
Illustrated by:
Gail Armstrong
ISBN: 9781536232639
Nonfiction, 7-12, Mental / Physical Health
 
The Pie That Molly Grew

The Pie That Molly Grew

By: Sue Heavenrich
Illustrated by:
Chamisa Kellogg
ISBN: 9781534111844
Nonfiction, 4-6, Science / Nature
 
Queen of Leaves: the Story of Botanist Ynes Mexia

Queen of Leaves

By: Stephen Briseño
Illustrated by:
Isabel Muñoz
ISBN: 9781959244011
Nonfiction, 7-12,Biography / Memoir
 
Rooting for Plants: the Unstoppable Charles S. Parker, Black Botanist and Collector

Rooting for Plants

By: Janice N. Harrington
Illustrated by:
Theadore Taylor III
ISBN: 9781662680199
Nonfiction, 7-12, Background / Culture
 
Santiago Saw Things Differently: Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Artist, Doctor, Father of Neuroscience

Santiago Saw Things Differently

By: Christine Iverson
Illustrated by:
Luciano Lozano
ISBN: 9781536224535
Nonfiction, 4-6, Biography / Memoir
 
Sew Sister: The Untold Story of Jean Wright and NASA’s Seamstresses

Sew Sister

By: Elise Matich
Illustrated by:
Elise Matich
ISBN: 9780884489825
Nonfiction, 7-12, Biography / Memoir
 
Shining Star: Vera Rubin Discovers Dark Matter

Shining Star

By: Suzanne Slade
Illustrated by:
Susan Reagan
ISBN: 9781635926019
Nonfiction, 7-12, Science / Nature
 
Sisters in Science: Marie Curie, Bronia Dluska, and the Atomic Power of Sisterhood

Sisters in Science

By: Linda Elovitz Marshall
Illustrated by:
Anna and Elena Balbusso
ISBN: 9780593377581
Nonfiction, 4-6, Technology / Computers
 
Snow Man: A True Story

Snow Man

By: Jonah Winter
Illustrated by:
Jeanette Winter
ISBN: 9781665932394
Nonfiction, 4-6, Science / Nature
 
A Star Explodes: The Story of Supernova 1054

A Star Explodes

By: James Gladstone
Illustrated by:
Yaara Eshet
ISBN: 9781771474986
Nonfiction, 4-6, History
 
A Stone Is a Story

A Stone Is a Story

By: Leslie Barnard Booth
Illustrated by:
Mac Martin
ISBN: 9781534496941
Nonfiction, 4-6, Science / Nature
 
Tell Me About Space

Tell Me About Space

By: Lisa Varchol Perron
Illustrated by:
Jennifer Falkner
ISBN: 9781665935579
Nonfiction, 4-6, Series
 
We Are Branches

We Are Branches

By: Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by:
Beth Krommes
ISBN: 9780358538189
Nonfiction, 4-6, Science / Nature
 
We Are Starlings: Inside the Mesmerizing Magic of a Murmuration

We Are Starlings

By: Robert Furrow, Donna Jo Napoli
Illustrated by:
Marc Martin
ISBN: 9780593381632
Nonfiction, 4-6, Animals
 
We Need to Talk About Vaginas: An Important Book About Vulvas, Periods, Puberty, and Sex!

We Need to Talk About Vaginas

By: Dr. Allison K. Rodgers
Illustrated by:
Annika Le Large
ISBN: 9781684492848
Nonfiction, 7-12, Teen, Mental / Physical Health
 
Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem

Whale Fall

By: Melissa Stewart
Illustrated by:
Rob Dunlavey
ISBN: 9780593380604
Nonfiction, 4-6, Science / Nature
 
Why Do Elephants Have Big Ears: Questions and Surprising Answers About Animals

Why Do Elephants Have Big Ears

By: Steven Jenkins, Robin Page
Illustrated by:
Steven Jenkins, Robin Page
ISBN: 9780316456791
Nonfiction, 7-12, Animals
 
The Woman in the Moon

The Woman in the Moon

By: Richard Maurer
ISBN: 9781626728561
Nonfiction, 7-12, Teen, Technology / Computers
 
Zero Waste: How One Community Is Leading a World Recycling Revolution

Zero Waste

By: Allan Drummond
ISBN: 9780374388409
Nonfiction, 4-6, Science / Nature
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