children's science books

March 30, 2005 7:24 AM

ten-year-old girl, reading at the twelfth grade level, with an abundant interest in the natural sciences. i'm trying to pick good books which blend science, history and cultural perspectives (along the lines of The Great Influenza, Krakatoa and Guns Germs and Steel) that won't be too grown-up for her. despite her reading comprehension and general intelligence, she is just a little girl (with the short attention span of most kids) and one who spends most of her time in rural appalachia. i have asked my children's librarian, but i hope y'all have some suggestions, too.
posted by crush-onastick to Education (43 answers total)

I don't have any specific book recommendations, but I'm curious about what you mean by "too grown up." I was reading at that level when I was about 11 or 12. Looking back at the books that I read in late elementary school, I've been surprised by some of the adult themes -- including fairly explicit violence and sex -- in those books. I don't think it particularly warped me. In fact, the stuff that I was not mature enough to handle mostly went over my head.

I do remember a number of embarassing conversations with my prents when I came across unfamiliar words. Over dinner: "Mom, what's a hermaphrodite?" And so on. Eventually I learned to use the dictionary before asking my parents.

My point is, I wouldn't try too hard to censor the "too grown up" books, if the 10-year-old is interested in them.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 7:41 AM on March 30, 2005

The Good Rain by New York Times reporter Timothy Egan is a great blend that might fit. It covers the of history and ecology of the Pacific Northwest, with a chapter about the cultural perspectives of native peoples.
posted by jeffmshaw at 7:41 AM on March 30, 2005

Nature's Metropolis by Willam Cronon is outstanding, and blends history, geography, and science into an extremely interesting work on the formation of Chicago.
posted by brheavy at 7:43 AM on March 30, 2005

The Cartoon History of the Universe (Vols I through whatever he's on now) by Larry Gonick. He has a couple of other books, including a cartoon physics book.

The Way Things Work by David Macaulay.

When I was around the same age, I had a couple of books, soft cover and written on really cheap paper, that had a slew of short two page articles on history, science, and fun factoids (in fact, one of them may have been called "Factoids") that I read constantly. Man, wish I could remember what happened to them.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:44 AM on March 30, 2005

The People's History of the United States comes to mind. And Neal Stephensons recent trilogy is excellent and swashbuckling and bill-fitting but only recommended for those who will jump into gigantic books without blinking.

on preview - The Cartoon History is terrific, and reminds me to mention the Big Book series. Specifically, the Big Book of Conspiracies is no joke!
posted by 31d1 at 7:48 AM on March 30, 2005

John McPhee writes fabulous books about natural history, geography, alaska, etc. Well worth looking for his books. No adult themes.

One River by Wade Davis has exactly the blend you are talking about, but since it's about ethnobotany in the Amazon basin, there is a lot of talk about psychedlics. That might not be something you're interested in providing.
posted by OmieWise at 7:49 AM on March 30, 2005

James Burke's Connections might be a good choice.

Also David Quammen--his essays, collected in several books, would certainly suit the short-attention-span requirement (and typically contain a profile of a working scientist of one kind or another), and his book-length examinations of things like man-eating animals and population biology are wonderful.
posted by box at 7:52 AM on March 30, 2005

Are you going to talk about them with her? Is fiction okay?

If the answer to both is yes, you might try the various Mad Scientists' Club books, which have science in them and are set in (IIRC) early-60s rural California, offering a bit of history/culture to talk about.

Or just get her subscriptions to National Geographic and Smithsonian.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:58 AM on March 30, 2005

Response by poster: it's not the adult themes i'm worried about as much as the adult tone. i don't want something intimidating or that expects the reader to bring too much world experience with her. it's the not the language or content as much as the level of sophistication. she's bright, but she's a ten-year-old with a very limited world.

you know that experience most of us have had of being forced to read something in school that we hated and then went back, read as an adult and realized we simply weren't mature enough to get it when it was given to us to read? i'm trying to avoid that.
posted by crush-onastick at 8:00 AM on March 30, 2005

+1 for John McPhee.

One of the rare writers who can (and does) write about the most random and boring sounding things (geology, canoes, oranges, atomic energy, silver, tennis, pencils) in the most exciting and interesting ways possible. Even the titles ("In Suspect Terrain", "The Curve of Binding Energy", "Levels of the Game") get you hype.
posted by 31d1 at 8:10 AM on March 30, 2005

How about Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything?
posted by scratch at 8:11 AM on March 30, 2005

Cosmos, by Carl Sagan, was written as a companion to the television series of the same name. I read it when I was in sixth grade and was totally captivated. It pried open my world view and introduced me in an entertaining, understandable way to the history of western scientific thought.
posted by nyterrant at 8:11 AM on March 30, 2005

Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman might fit the bill - it's a pop-history of the beginnings of the Oxford English Dictionary. Although the self-castration chapter might be a little much for the girl...
posted by UKnowForKids at 8:25 AM on March 30, 2005

The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins

Longitude, Dana Sobel

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman

The End of Science, John Horgan

Billions and Billions, Carl Sagan

Full House, Stephen J Gould

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, Oliver Sacks
posted by maya at 8:35 AM on March 30, 2005

Another vote for McPhee and the Mad Scientists Club books, both of which I loved when I was a 10-year-old geek myself.

Do be sure to look beyond McPhee's geology books, which I found boring as hell at that age. (Some people love them, but I hated them when I first read them, and they've never seemed like his best work.) The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed was my favorite as a kid — it chronicles the rise and fall of an experimental zeppelin company, and it's got a good balance between story and science writing.

You might try out Douglas Hofsteader's The Mind's I, too. It's about psychology and language, not "nature" per se, so I'm not sure it's what you're looking for, but it's nicely brain-stretching and weird. A little intellectual surrealism at a young age is good for the soul.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:35 AM on March 30, 2005

Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas might fit the bill. It's more of a general interest work on cellular biology, much in line with what you've described above. It's divided into short essays which, while scientifically minded, focus more on the wonder and complexity of cellular biology than dry as dust scientific descriptions of the mechanisms involved.
posted by Verdant at 8:42 AM on March 30, 2005

Two mathematical suggestions:

At that age I found Flatland utterly facinating. It's a very short, very readable book. Not simple for a ten-year-old at all, but written in language she can easily grasp. It will help a great deal if she has an adult to talk about this one with.

The Man Who Counted is a lot of fun too.

I would think any Hofsteader would be quite a bit out of her reach at the moment---that's for a five or ten years from now. Even The Mind's I.

Sagan might be ok, but on the hard side, the Bryson book also. Both great for when she's 13 though. Also perhaps Broca's Brain---that's arguably Sagan's best.
posted by bonehead at 9:06 AM on March 30, 2005

Oh yeah: Science Made Stupid while not exactly science, but rather Science! if you get my drift, is a big hit with that age-group. Make your own reactor in your backyard! Heat your hot tub! You can tell her that it's recommended by Licenced Quantum Mechanics (I have my union card and everything).
posted by bonehead at 9:11 AM on March 30, 2005

A Theory of Power
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:23 AM on March 30, 2005

I recommend Coal: a Human History by Barbara Freese.

More interesting than it sounds, believe me- and perfect for someone in Appalachia.
posted by elisabeth r at 9:26 AM on March 30, 2005

You might try her on The Pinball Effect by James Burke. It has the novelty of being structured to be read linearly and non-linearly since the text contains the paper equivalent of hyperlinks.
posted by plinth at 10:17 AM on March 30, 2005

Cod: The Biography of a Fish, by Mark Kurlansky.
posted by stbalbach at 10:24 AM on March 30, 2005

Another vote for McPhee, and Maya's recs, and also:

Into the Wild

The Botany of Desire

and anything by Richard Feynman.

Have fun. She has exactly the same taste as I do.
posted by Miko at 10:32 AM on March 30, 2005

Second Bill Bryson's History of Everything. It's written for adults, but she'll probably love that, and there's nothing in it a twelve year old shouldn't be able to handle. Also, the book is really enjoyable. Makes me wish I could go back to college and study physics or something.
posted by xammerboy at 10:59 AM on March 30, 2005

I'm currently reading Kon Tiki, which is (I think) more about his experiences than about science, but science is in there and it is definitely a fun and engaging read. If she likes it, he's written more, including a couple about Easter Island and giant heads and whatnot.

Also, I've heard the Introducing series is good; they have a bunch about science that you might want to look at.

(Has she read Jules Verne? Fiction, I know, but oh, so good.)
posted by librarina at 11:00 AM on March 30, 2005

Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses is quite fun. Each topic lasts only a few pages, and it's full of curious facts about how we perceive smells, tastes, &c.
posted by hsoltz at 11:08 AM on March 30, 2005

Seconding Verdant's recommendation of Lives of a Cell. If it's too heavy for her to get into right now, leave it on the bookshelf. She'll get to it eventually.

Re: Kon Tiki: I wanted to pitch that one across the room by the time I'd finished it. The implied cultural superiority really annoyed me, especially the parts where he kept buying holy stones with cartons of cigarettes and spoke so mockingly of their traditions.
posted by cmyk at 11:08 AM on March 30, 2005

Maybe too obvious, but why not Thoreau's Walden?
posted by ori at 11:10 AM on March 30, 2005

I second Stephen Jay Gould. Very readable. And how about Tracy Kidder's The Soul Of A New Machine?
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 11:30 AM on March 30, 2005

This is also a little outside of what you're specifically looking for, but Watership Down was a very important book to me at that age.
posted by papercake at 11:34 AM on March 30, 2005

What about some of Isaac Asimov's non-fiction? Some of it might be a bit dated but it should be readable. I think also that Richard Feynman's autobiographical books are great reading.
posted by gnat at 11:39 AM on March 30, 2005

Again with Carl Sagan - Demon Haunted World, which stresses the importance of scientific and logical thinking and it makes an ideal companion to Cosmos.

A little bit of the science in Cosmos has been proven incorrect since it was written, but it's still a superb book and I recommend it highly.
posted by tomcosgrave at 11:46 AM on March 30, 2005

Most popular science books ought to be within her reach, I'd think. I was a pretty precocious reader, and certainly by late middle school and the beginning of high school I was a big fan of authors like Oliver Sacks, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, and very definitely Jared Diamond. I've had the experience of reading _fiction_ that I at first found inordinately tedious [Anna Karennina, for example, or The Idiot] but now love. However, I've never had that experience with the kind of science/history/anthropology books you're talking about. I rather suspect it's because those kind of books are written in order to be comprehensible to adults who have very little in the way of scientific background, meaning that neither the tone nore the expected level of background knowledge is inordinately challenging. Adult fiction, on the other hand, tends to require an understanding of adult emotions and experiences that a 10-year-old just doesn't have. Furthermore, adult fiction is more likely to experiment with different [and atypical] writing styles, which can deter younger readers, while the best non-fiction tends to be written in a clean, elegant, straightfoward fashion. Personally, I was always much happier making my way through great books like the ones I mentioned above than I was reading "science books for kids", since I despised the way the latter often seemed to be talking down to their readers. Better to give her something a little challenging - at worst, she'll wait a year or few until she gets into it, while at best she'll be as happy as a cat in cream.

So give her a copy of Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, or Sacks' An Anthropologist on Mars [which has a cool bit on Temple Grandin, who was mentioned somewhere on MeFi recently], or Dawkins' The Selfish Gene. I really do think she's likely to enjoy them.
posted by ubersturm at 12:33 PM on March 30, 2005

Five Equations That Changed The World is perhaps overly simplistic and contains several errors in detail, but it does a great job with the historical and biographical context. It's also broken into small sections that describe the background, development, and consequences of each equation, so a short attention span wouldn't be a problem.

Third, fourth, whatever on Feynman - I started Surely You're Joking when I was that age.
posted by casarkos at 12:43 PM on March 30, 2005

I'll second the recommendation for Flatland- it's really charming. Larry Gonick's Cartoon Histories are wonderful, and they have extensive bibliographies with (often entertaining) notes on his sources. I'd also recommend The Cartoon Guide To Sex, if you want a very straightforward, responsible and witty introduction to that topic.

Cecil Adams' Straight Dope collections and Charles Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things are fun for short attention spans. (Although The Straight Dope might be a little spicy for a 10 yr old; I loved it at that age.)
posted by maryh at 2:12 PM on March 30, 2005

Extraordinary Origins needs to be taken with some salt grains. It's not very well researched. It is entertaining, though.
posted by Miko at 2:36 PM on March 30, 2005

The Swiss Family Robinson, un-cut edition. Lots of natural sciences mentioned (plants, animals, etc.), lots of episodic-like adventures/chapters, rated G, and what kid doesn't dream of living on a private island?
posted by Asparagirl at 3:34 PM on March 30, 2005

I loved reading Thor Heyerdahl, Aku Aku especially (it's about his research on Easter Island). Also, I read Peter Freuchen's Book of the Eskimos repeatedly as a child. Recently I have been recomending "The Pathological Protein:Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting, and Other Deadly Prion Diseases" by Philip Yam to anyone I meet.
posted by 445supermag at 3:43 PM on March 30, 2005

The DK Eyewitness Books are written for the 9-12 age range and cover many topics. They seem like the closest thing available now to the wonderful Time-Life Science Library that I grew up with - I've started collecting them in advance for my 3-year-old nephew...
posted by nicwolff at 3:47 PM on March 30, 2005

Matt Ridley's Genome is quite excellent.

Watch out on giving her books about mad cow disease and whatnot. I read Silent Spring, The Hot Zone, and Deadly Feasts when I was a bit older than her age, and became terrified that I was going to be poisoned from my neighbor's lawns and die in a decade from hamburgers. Make sure she's old enough to not freak herself out.
posted by Anonymous at 4:45 PM on March 30, 2005

The secret lives of plants

Another vote for Lewis Thomas

Anything by Gerald Durrell

Gifts of unknown things, Lyall Watson
posted by dhruva at 8:13 PM on March 30, 2005

Iceman by Brenda Fowler

Song of the Dodo by David Quammen

Tyrannosaurus Sue by Steve Fiffer

A Fish Caught in Time by Samantha Weinberg
posted by vega5960 at 8:54 AM on April 13, 2005

Anything by Jean Craighead-George. "A Tarantula in My Purse" comes to mind. Tarantula is non-fiction, about her family's experiences with odd pets through the years (a lovely book) she also writes fiction. Also look for books by Gerald (not Lawrence) Durrell. Both authors have a great sense of the ridiculous.
posted by BoscosMom at 2:04 PM on April 21, 2005