4 inspiring STEM fictions that tweens will love
With the advancement of technology and digitisation, there has been a growing focus on STEM learning. Books can play a great role in generating interest in STEM among students. They have the power to transform and impact impressionable young minds very effectively. Here are some popular kid-friendly fictions that talk about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics while helping kids imbibe values such as perseverance, diligence, growth mindset, creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and so much more. These will help in the holistic development of youngsters.
Ada Twist, Scientist
Published by: Abram Books for Young Readers
Written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts, Ada Twist, Scientist is a children’s picture book written and published in 2016 to encourage youngsters, especially girls to develop an interest in STEM. The story is about a teenage girl named Ada Twist and her day-to-day experiments with science. Ada is inquisitive, wants to explore the world and is not afraid of failures or challenges, almost like a grown-up real-life scientist. The book was adapted in 2021 into a television series called ‘The Questioneers.’
Six Dots
Published by: Penguin Random House
Six Dots, sub-titled A Story of Young Louis Braille is a book by Jen Bryant. It is an inspiring STEM based picture biography for kids that narrates the real-life story of a blind boy named Louis Braille and how he overcame his physical disability with sheer determination to invent his own alphabet. This book had won the Schneider Family Book Award in 2016, the year of its publication. This book is an inspiration for millions of youngsters who dream of inventive innovating devices to make their own lives easier. The book conveys the moral ‘mind over body’ and encourages young minds to conquer their greatest fears and inhibitions.
Math Curse
Published by: Viking Press
Written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith, Math Curse is a children’s picture book that was way ahead of its time. Published in 1995, way before STEM learning gained its immense worldwide popularity, this is the comical tale of a little girl who is cursed by math. She has a hard time dealing with the problems in her life, all of which somehow appears to be math problems. The story is about how she manages to break her curse and find a perfect solution to her everyday problems, just by championing maths through determination and hard-work.
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind
Published by: Harper Collins
Written by Brian Mealer and William Kamkwamba, this 2009 STEM fiction reaffirms the proverb that ‘necessity is the mother of all invention.’ It is inspired by the real-life hardships of one of the authors, Kamkwamba, and how he, as a teenage boy, saved his poverty-stricken village in the African country of Malawi and invented a windmill. He also figured out ways to harness electricity to solve their day-to-day problems. This book now has been adapted into a popular Netflix Original Film of the same name.