Best STEM Books, 2017-2021
Resources for the titles recognized by this list since its inception in 2017 -- honoring the best children’s books with STEM content
Sponsored by Children’s Book Council (CBC)

- 1,402 Resources including
- 123 Videos
- 47 Book Readings
- 129 Lesson Plans
- List Analysis Report
Showing 1-48 of 117 book results

Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions
by Chris Barton and Don Tate
(Selection, 2017)
33 Resources8 Awards

All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team
(Selection, 2021)
30 Resources11 Awards

Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere
by Barb Rosenstock and Katherine Roy
(Selection, 2019)
27 Resources10 Awards


Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane
by Kirsten W. Larson and Tracy Subisak
(Selection, 2021)
25 Resources2 Awards


Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
by Cheryl Bardoe and Barbara McClintock
(Selection, 2019)
24 Resources10 Awards

Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine
by Laurie Wallmark and April Chu
(Selection, 2017)
23 Resources5 Awards

The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the World's Coral Reefs
by Kate Messner and Matthew Forsythe
(Selection, 2019)
23 Resources8 Awards

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist
by Jess Keating and Marta Álvarez Miguéns
(Selection, 2018)
22 Resources4 Awards

The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons
by Natascha Biebow and Steven Salerno
(Selection, 2020)
22 Resources6 Awards


Titan and the Wild Boars: The True Cave Rescue of the Thai Soccer Team
by Susan Hood, Dow Phumiruk, and Pathana Sornhiran
(Selection, 2020)
20 Resources4 Awards

Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille
by Jen Bryant and Boris Kulikov
(Selection, 2017)
19 Resources4 Awards

Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact
(Selection, 2019)
19 Resources2 Awards

Save the Crash-Test Dummies
by Jennifer Swanson and Temika Grooms
(Selection, 2020)
19 Resources3 Awards

Smelly Kelly and His Super Senses: How James Kelly's Nose Saved the New York City Subway
by Beth Anderson and Jenn Harney
(Selection, 2021)
19 Resources2 Awards


Instructions Not Included: How a Team of Women Coded the Future
by Tami Lewis Brown, Debbie Loren Dunn, and Chelsea Beck
(Selection, 2020)
18 Resources6 Awards

The Inventor's Secret: What Thomas Edison Told Henry Ford
by Suzanne Slade and Jennifer Black Reinhardt
(Selection, 2017)
17 Resources3 Awards

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor
by Robert Burleigh and Raúl Colón
(Selection, 2017)
17 Resources6 Awards

Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines
by Jeanne Walker Harvey and Dow Phumiruk
(Selection, 2018)
17 Resources4 Awards

Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles
by Patricia Valdez and Felicita Sala
(Selection, 2019)
17 Resources3 Awards

All in a Drop: How Antony Van Leeuwenhoek Discovered an Invisible World
by Lori Alexander and Vivien Mildenberger
(Selection, 2020)
17 Resources7 Awards

A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon
by Suzanne Slade and Veronica Miller Jamison
(Selection, 2020)
17 Resources4 Awards

Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM
by Tonya Bolden
(Selection, 2021)
17 Resources4 Awards

Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics
by Laurie Wallmark and Yevgenia Nayberg
(Selection, 2021)
17 Resources3 Awards


Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer
by Diane Stanley and Jessie Hartland
(Selection, 2017)
16 Resources7 Awards

John Deere, That's Who!
by Tracy Nelson Maurer and Tim Zeltner
(Selection, 2018)
16 Resources3 Awards

Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon
by Suzanne Slade and Thomas Gonzalez
(Selection, 2019)
16 Resources3 Awards

Prairie Boy: Frank Lloyd Wright Turns the Heartland Into a Home
by Barb Rosenstock and Christopher Silas Neal
(Selection, 2020)
16 Resources3 Awards

Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees
by Franck Prévot and Aurelia Fronty
(Selection, 2017)
15 Resources7 Awards

Welcome to Mars: Making a Home on the Red Planet
by Buzz Aldrin and Marianne J. Dyson
(Selection, 2017)
15 Resources3 Awards

Fearless Flyer: Ruth Law and Her Flying Machine
by Heather Lang and Raúl Colón
(Selection, 2017)
15 Resources3 Awards


Ada's Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World's First Computer Programmer
(Selection, 2017)
15 Resources3 Awards

Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation Into Space
(Selection, 2018)
15 Resources2 Awards

Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant
by Songju Ma Daemicke and Christina Wald
(Selection, 2018)
15 Resources5 Awards

Ben Franklin's Big Splash: The Mostly True Story of His First Invention
by Barb Rosenstock and S.D. Schindler
(Selection, 2017)
14 Resources2 Awards


The Music of Life: Bartolomeo Cristofori & the Invention of the Piano
by Elizabeth Rusch and Marjorie Priceman
(Selection, 2018)
14 Resources5 Awards


Red Madness: How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat
by Gail Jarrow
(Selection, 2017)
13 Resources3 Awards

Counting Birds: The Idea That Helped Save Our Feathered Friends
by Heidi E.Y. Stemple and Clover Robin
(Selection, 2019)
13 Resources3 Awards

Who Gives a Poop?: Surprising Science from One End to the Other
by Heather L. Montgomery and Iris Gottlieb
(Selection, 2021)
13 Resources2 Awards