Finalists for 2024 Young Adult Science Book Award

AAAS and Subaru are proud to announce the finalists for the 2024 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the Young Adult 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:

• The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy, by Moiya McTier. Grand Central Publishing, 2022.

  Astrophysicist and folklorist Dr. Moiya McTier channels The Milky Way in this approachable and utterly fascinating autobiography of the titular galaxy, detailing what humans have discovered about everything from its formation to its eventual death, and what more there is to learn about this galaxy we call home. 

  After a few billion years of bearing witness to life on Earth, of watching one hundred billion humans go about their day-to-day lives, of feeling unbelievably lonely, and of hearing its own story told by others, The Milky Way would like a chance to speak for itself.

• The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants, by Karen Bakker. Princeton University Press, 2022.

  The natural world teems with remarkable conversations, many beyond human hearing range. Scientists are using groundbreaking digital technologies to uncover these astonishing sounds, revealing vibrant communication among our fellow creatures across the Tree of Life. At once meditative and scientific, The Sounds of Life shares fascinating and surprising stories of nonhuman sound, interweaving insights from technological innovation and traditional knowledge. We meet scientists using sound to protect and regenerate endangered species from the Great Barrier Reef to the Arctic and the Amazon. We discover the shocking impacts of noise pollution on both animals and plants. We learn how artificial intelligence can decode nonhuman sounds, and meet the researchers building dictionaries in East African Elephant and Sperm Whalish. At the frontiers of innovation, we explore digitally mediated dialogues with bats and honeybees. Technology often distracts us from nature, but what if it could reconnect us instead? The Sounds of Life offers hope for environmental conservation and affirms humanity’s relationship with nature in the digital age. After learning about the unsuspected wonders of nature’s sounds, we will never see walks outdoors in the same way again. 

• Wilder: How Rewilding is Transforming Conservation and Changing the World, by Millie Kerr. Bloomsbury Sigma, 2022.

  Wilder takes readers on a global rewilding journey, exploring innovative and eye-opening projects led by a diverse group of conservationists. 
  Rewilding is a radical new approach to wildlife conservation that offers remarkable potential. If conservation preserves what remains, rewilding goes further, seeking to restore entire ecosystems. In this timely and exciting read, wildlife journalist Millie Kerr takes readers on a global journey of discovery. She considers the practicalities and possibilities of ecological restoration around the world, while exploring first-hand some of the most ambitious undertakings occurring today.  At an urgent moment in the international fight against biodiversity loss, Wilder's message is one of innovation and optimism. By focusing on conservation success stories and showing that there are bands of determined conservationists fighting for a better future, Wilder inspires us all to become part of the solution.

• Wildscape: Trilling Chipmunks, Beckoning Blooms, Salty Butterflies, and other Sensory Wonders of Nature, by Nancy Lawson. Chronicle Books, 2023.

  Master naturalist Nancy Lawson takes readers on a fascinating tour of the vibrant web of nature outside our back door—where animals and plants perceive and communicate using marvelous sensory abilities we are only beginning to understand. Organized into chapters investigating each of their five senses, Lawson's exploration reveals a remarkable world of interdependent creatures with amazing capabilities.
  You'll learn of ultrasound clicks humans can't hear, and ultraviolet colors humans can't see. You'll cross paths with foraging American bumblebees drawn to the scent of wild bergamot, urban sparrows who adapt their mating song in response to human clamor, trees that amp up their growth in response to deer and moose saliva, and a chipmunk behaving like the world's smallest pole vaulter to nab juicy red berries hanging from the lowest parts of a coral honeysuckle vine.
  Synthesizing cutting-edge scientific research, original interviews with animal and plant researchers, and poetic observations made in her own garden, Lawson shows us how to appreciate the natural environment from the sensory perspective of our wild neighbors right outside our door and beyond, and how to respect and nurture the habitats they need to survive.

Winners will be announced in February 2024.

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