AAAS and Subaru are proud to announce the finalists for the 2024 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the Hands-On 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 2024 winner will be selected from among the following finalists:

Human Body Learning Lab: Take an Inside Tour of How Your Anatomy Works, by Dr. Betty Choi. Storey Publishing, 2022.
Pediatrician Dr. Betty Choi invites kids ages 8 and up to explore the marvels of the human body with lively hands-on projects and activities, including shaping bones from salt dough, creating a moving model of the eyes, crafting a 3D skin model, making a blow-up model of how a bicep muscle contracts, tracing capillary action, and even setting up a working model of the urinary system to show how pee is produced.
Packed with colorful diagrams of how each major body system works, fun facts, and easy tests that kids can use to learn about and evaluate their own body functions—from touch sensitivity to colorblindness, taste perception, lung capacity and more—The Human Body Learning Lab makes biology more exciting and engaging than ever.
The Kitchen Pantry Scientist Ecology for Kids: Science Experiments and Activities Inspired by Awesome Ecologists, Past and Present, by Liz Lee Heinecke. Illustrated by Kelly Anne Dalton. Quarry Books, 2023.
Aspiring young ecologists will discover an amazing group of role models and memorable experiments in Ecology for Kids, the fifth book in The Kitchen Pantry Scientist series. This engaging guide offers a series of snapshots of 25 scientists famous for their work with ecology. Each lab tells the story of a scientist along with some background about the importance of their work, and a description of where it is still being used or reflected in today’s world. A step-by-step illustrated experiment paired with each story offers kids a hands-on opportunity for exploring concepts the scientists pursued, or are working on today. Experiments range from very simple projects using materials you probably already have on hand, to more complicated ones that may require a few inexpensive items you can purchase online.
Sheet Pan Science: 25 Fun, Simple Science Experiments for the Kitchen Table; Super-Easy Setup and Cleanup, by Liz Lee Heinecke. Quarry Books, 2022.
With Sheet Pan Science, contain the mess and let the fun overflow with 25 safe, easy physics, biology, and chemistry projects. Each project in the book contains simple instructions, easy-to-understand science explanations, and step-by-step photographic guides. While a stovetop or freezer may occasionally be required, most steps of the experiments can be performed directly on a rimmed baking sheet. Messy play is important for young learners. Mixing colors, creating bubbly chemical reactions, and playing with goo are visual and tactile experiences that create strong memory pathways. In addition to allowing kids to explore and hone problem-solving skills, science experimentation encourages curiosity and engages a sense of wonder. A sheet pan and a few simple ingredients will instantly transform any kitchen countertop into a laboratory bench filled with fizzy fun.
Wild Child: Nature Adventures for Young Explorers—with Amazing Things to Make, Find, and Do, by Dara McAnulty. Illustrated by Barry Falls. The Experiment, 2023.
Nature is all around us to see, hear, and touch—in the leafy woods, by the sparkling water, or simply out the window. What will you discover? A chattering jay hiding an acorn, a butterfly with camouflaged wings? Perhaps a brilliant red feather you’ll carry home and tie to your journey stick, to remember.
Lavishly illustrated by Barry Falls, this oversize book invites children outdoors on every kind of adventure, from counting the species in an oak tree to searching the riverbed for aquatic dragonfly nymphs. With wonder and poetry, color and curiosity, Wild Child will stir the hearts of readers young and old alike.

Winners will be announced in February 2024.

The finalists for the Children’s Science Picture Book and Middle Grades Science Book categories were announced earlier in the week.

Finalists for 2024 Hands-On Science Book Award