STEM | Page 4 of 6 | Daddy Mojo

The Great Stink, non-fiction, illustrated book STEM that kids want to read

Joseph Bazalgette we salute you. Actually, everyone in London salutes you in their own special way. Bazalgette had an idea in the late 1840s; and while his idea wasn’t a new one in the greater global perspective, it was one that would forever change the capital of England. His job was to map London’s sewers, but this wasn’t the job that the short employee pulled. As an engineer, this was a challenge that he lived for and was one that had life and death results. The Great Stink is the illustrated book of this story that those young readers won’t be able to resist.

The Great Stink is an illustrated book that details engineer Joseph Bazalgette and his quest to solve London’s poop pollution problem in the mid 1800s.

More illustrated books should take this STEM cue

The Natural Tolls of Digging Holes, playfully weird STEM for 4 and up

Moles Present The Natural Tolls of Digging Holes ironically reminds us of Dirt. That book was a vertical, poetic, look at something that we see every day. The art was varied and the whispy text showed how the tiny things that live in dirt can be a world unto itself. The Natural Tolls of Digging Holes takes that same spirit, has a more animated form of illustration, adds simpler text that rhymes and opens up its world to anyplace that you might see that’s been dug. This is an illustrated book that feeds curious young minds, softly teaches them and gets them to think while they’re smiling.

Moles Present The Natural Tolls of Digging Holes is silly on the surface, but makes ages 4-8 think about what’s under our feet.

STEm by any other name

A Day In The Life of A Poo, A Gnu and You is a go-to STEM reference

Everything old is new again. That phrase comes to mind when realizing some of the great books that came out during the pandemic that didn’t receive the attention that they deserve. A Day In The Life Of A Poo, A Gnu, and You, a Laugh-Out-Loud Guide to Life on Earth is one of those books. It’s as big as an illustrated book, yet has the depth and weight of a reference book, but has more colors and graphics than some comic books or graphic novels. As if the book is attempting to pile on its brownie points, it’s educational, funny, ridiculously entertaining, and wait for it….one that kids will really want to read.

A Day In The Life of A Pooh is at the intersection of comic book, reference material, large-form graphic novel, and humor mag that’s been given a STEM jacket to wear.

The intersection of comic/graphic novel/reference, funny book

Inside In, is hypnotic photo-oriented STEM for six and up

Kids are inherently curious and that’s a fact that applies to every child regardless of age. Rare is the book that makes middle school and elementary school students equally curious. Either the book is too simple for older readers, too advanced for younger readers, has content that’s in-between the two demographics or simply just is not interesting. Inside In is a book that immediately grabs the attention of kids aged six through 14 and even north of that. It’s a coffee table book for STEM-minded folks, as well as, those who simply like to take their mind on a trip. The subtitle of the book, X-Rays of Nature’s Hidden World, gives you the immediate reason as to why kids will be engrossed in it.

Inside In sounds like a typo, instead, it’s a photo-centric book on X-Rays and how they can show the art of things hidden in plain sight.

Art by another nam is just an x-Ray

Flash Facts is a big picture, STEM-based DC vignette

Which came first, the superheroes or the STEM facts? Flash Facts is an original graphic novel from DC Comics, specifically their imprint, DC Graphic Novels for Kids. It posits various STEM-minded questions and places them in the wheelhouse of DC superheroes that are more than likely to have knowledge on the subject matter. For example, The Flash probably knows a lot about forensic science and crime-solving, so let’s let him address that. As an educator and parent, I love Flash Facts. Middle school ages love DC superheroes, but will they dig them when they’re talking more about STEM than catching bad guys?

Flash Facts is STEM-minded fun for ages 9 and up

Invented by Animals, a fabulously illustrated biomimicry STEM jam for 7+

In a middle-elementary class recently I went over the fascinating story about wall crawlers. It’s an amazing and true tale about entrepreneurship, luck, and not giving up. The technology might not be directly created from animals, but its hypnotic appeal sure was inspired by them. The closest parallel to that toy in Invented By Animals are the pages on the tree frog. The presentation in the book will immediately appeal to those middle-elementary readers. The vocabulary might be a bit much for them, but those fourth, and especially those fifth-grade readers will have a field day with this book. Invented By Animals will also introduce the fabulous new word, biomimicry, a term that they’ll learn a lot more about in their STEM classes in the coming years.

Invented By Animals, a very intelligent illustrated book on biomimicry, animal adaptations and STEM that 7 and up will want to read.

The nexus of smart and simple, in a biomimicry blanket

The Stuff Between the Stars, dazzling non-fiction STEM in story and art

Grey matter and dark matter walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and asks, “what’s the matter?”. Dark says, “I’m not attracted to anybody”. It’s worth noting that I know absolutely nothing about dark matter and didn’t even know that it was an actual thing before I read The Stuff Between the Stars. The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe, is an excellent example of an intelligent, illustrated book that treats its young audience with respect and isn’t afraid to broach big-scale ideas. It does this and accomplishes what an illustrated book should do, which is to entertain young readers. As a healthy aside, those rare illustrated books will tell them something new and make them curious about the bigger picture.

The Stuff Between the Stars is the story of Vera Rubin and works on any measurement for a great illustrated book.

Vera Rubin saw dark matter and gave it a name

Nerdycorn, a fun, smart illustrated book for all, plus unicorns

If the world were a fair and just place there would be 10 copies of Nerdycorn in the book rack at our local big box store. As mentioned earlier, we were there and saw copies of a book that has a similar theme, but wasn’t nearly as great at Nerdycorn. This is an illustrated book that revels in color, has text length that makes it a great good-night book, funny characters, lessons to learn, and intelligence. It also has unicorns, which for some will be the main reason for reading. If that’s the case then that’s cool, come for the unicorns and stay for the STEM.

STEM, pictures and unicorns-What more could you love or want?