Finalists for 2022 Middle Grades Science Book Award
AAAS and Subaru are proud to announce the finalists for the 2022 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the Middle Grades Science Book category. The Prize celebrates outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults and is meant to encourage the writing and publishing of high-quality science books for all ages. Longlists for all four categories were announced in October.
The 2022 winner will be selected from among the following finalists:
The Great Bear Rescue: Saving the Gobi Bears, by Sandra Markle. Millbrook Press, 2020.
Acclaimed science author Sandra Markle offers a fascinating look at Gobi bears—the rarest bears on the planet. These adorable animals face threats ranging from illegal gold miners to climate change. Find out more about these bears, which are considered a national treasure in Mongolia, and learn what scientists are doing to help this critically endangered species.
A Shot in the Arm!: Big Ideas that Changed the World, by Don Brown. Amulet Books, 2021.
A Shot in the Arm! explores the history of vaccinations and the struggle to protect people from infectious diseases, from smallpox—perhaps humankind’s greatest affliction to date—to the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlighting deadly diseases such as measles, polio, rabies, cholera, and influenza, Brown tackles the science behind how our immune systems work, the discovery of bacteria, the anti-vaccination movement, and major achievements from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who popularized inoculation in England, and from scientists like Louis Pasteur, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, and Edward Jenner, the "father of immunology." Timely and fascinating, A Shot in the Arm! is a reminder of vaccines’ contributions to public health so far, as well as the millions of lives they can still save.
There's No Ham in Hamburger: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Foods, by Kim Zachman. Illustrated by Peter Donnelly. Running Press Kids, 2021.
From hot dogs and hamburgers to ice cream and pizza, this fascinating book is full of fun facts and stories of the origins of some of America's most popular foods. Why is there no ham in hamburgers? How did we make ice cream before we could make ice? How did hot dogs get their name? From the origins of pizza (which got a big boost from Clarence Birdseye, of all people) to the Cornell professor who invented chicken fingers, There's No Ham in Hamburgers has all the ingredients for an entertaining and educational middle-grade read. Packed with informative sidebars, recipes, and experiments, along with fabulously funny illustrations by Peter Donnelly, this book is a reading recipe that kids will sink their teeth into!
Wow in the World: The How and Wow of the Human Body: From Your Tongue to Your Toes and All the Guts in Between, by Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz. Illustrated by Jack Teagle. Clarion Books, 2021.
The human body is a fascinating piece of machinery. It's full of mystery, and wonder, and WOW. And it turns out, every single human on the planet has one! Join Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz, hosts of the mega-popular Wow in the World podcast, as they take you on a fact-filled adventure from your toes and your tongues to your brain and your lungs. Featuring hilarious illustrations and filled with facts, jokes, photos, quizzes, and Wow-To experiments, The How and Wow of the Human Body has everything you need to better understand your own walking, talking, barfing, breathing, pooping body of WOW!
Winners will be announced in February 2022.
The finalists for the Children’s Science Picture Book category was announced earlier in the week.
