The Wonder of Science: STEM Books for Children and Teens
It is widely considered that the goal of science education is to produce future scientists, but science is also a cultural activity.
As studying art and music and literature allows us to better appreciate art, music and literature, studying science should equip us all to appreciate the results of science, and encourage children to look closely at the world and ask the right kind of questions.
On the following list we offer a selection of STEAM-themed books to explore and have fun:
Engineering Non-Fiction Books
The art of LEGO design : creative ways to build amazing models / Jordan Schwartz
The LEGO mindstorms EV3 laboratory : build, program, and experiment with five wicked cool robots! / Daniele Benedettelli
The art of LEGO mindstorms EV3 programming / Terry Griffin
Girders and cranes : a skyscraper is built / Lee Balterman
The new way things work / David Macaulay with Neil Ardley
Sky boys : how they built the Empire State Building / written by Deborah Hopkinson ; illustrated by James E. Ransome
Winning design! : LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 design patterns for fun and competition / James Jeffrey Trobaugh
Engineering Fiction Books
The boy who harnessed the wind / William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer ; illustrated by Anna Hymas
The invention of Hugo Cabret : a novel in words and pictures / by Brian Selznick
Nick and Tesla's super-cyborg gadget glove : a mystery with a blinking, beeping, voice-recording gadget glove you can build yourself / "Science Bob" Pflugfelder, Steve Hockensmith ; illustrated by Scott Garrett
Planet Kindergarten / Sue Ganz-Schmitt ; illustrated by Shane Prigmore
What color is my world? : the lost history of African-American inventions / Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld ; illustrated by Ben Boos, A. G. Ford
The wild robot / word and pictures by Peter Brown
Science Nonfiction
Burn : Michael Faraday's candle / Darcy Pattison ; illustrated by Peter Willis
DK online science encyclopedia / [editor Steven Carton]
DNA fingerprinting : the ultimate identity / Ron Fridell
Dr. Jenner and the speckled monster : the search for the smallpox vaccine / Albert Marrin
Giant squid / Candace Fleming ; [illustrated by] Eric Rohmann
Earthquakes / Trudi Strain Trueit
Eureka! : great inventions and how they happened / Richard Platt ; [foreword by Sir Paul Nurse]
Exploralab : 150+ ways to investigate the amazing science all around you / Exploratorium Museum
Hidden worlds : looking through a scientist's microscope / Stephen Kramer ; photographs by Dennis Kunkel
The great brain book : an inside look at the inside of your head / H. P. Newquist ; illustrations by Keith Kasnot and Eric Brace
The librarian who measured the Earth / Kathryn Lasky ; illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Looking for life in the universe : the search for extraterrestrial intelligence / Ellen Jackson ; with photographs by Nic Bishop
Really really big questions : about life, the Universe and everything / Stephen Law ; illustrated by Nishant Choksi
Redwoods / Jason Chin
Science fair success using household products / Salvatore Tocci
Sports science : 40 goal-scoring, high-flying, medal-winning experiments for kids / Jim Wiese ; illustrations by Ed Shems
Zero / Kathryn Otoshi
Biographies
Ada Lovelace, poet of science : the first computer programmer / Diane Stanley ; illustrated by Jessie Hartland
Alexander Graham Bell : inventor and visionary / Kendall Haven
Carver : a life in poems / Marilyn Nelson
Charles and Emma : the Darwin's leap of faith / Deborah Heiligman
Copernicus : founder of modern astronomy / Catherine M. Andronik
I am Neil Armstrong / Brad Meltzer ; illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos
Jonas Salk : conquering polio / Stephanie Sammartino McPherson ; with a foreword by Darrell Salk
Lab girl / Hope Jahren
On a beam of light : a story of Albert Einstein / Jennifer Berne ; pictures by Vladimir Radunsky
The sky's the limit : stories of discovery by women and girls / Catherine Thimmesh ; illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Thomas Edison / George Sullivan
Vincent and Theo : the Van Gogh brothers / Deborah Heiligman
Women in science : 50 fearless pioneers who changed the world / written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky
Science-Themed Fiction / STEM Fiction
An abundance of Katherines / John Green
Feed / M. T. Anderson
Girl gone viral / Arvin Ahmadi
The here and now / Ann Brashares
The thing about jellyfish / Ali Benjamin
Virals / Kathy Reichs
A wrinkle in time / Madeleine L'Engle
STEM Fiction Picture Books
Goodnight iPad : a parody for the next generation / Ann Droyd
The Lorax / by Dr. Seuss
The tiny seed / Eric Carle
What do you do with a tail like this? / Steve Jenkins & Robin Page
Computer Science Books
Designing digital games / Derek Breen
Digital revolutionaries : the men and women who brought computing to life / Steve Loh
Gamelife : a memoir / Michael W. Clune
iPad for dummies / Edward C. Baig and Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus
Minecraft modding for kids / Sarah Guthals, Stephen Foster, Lindsey Handley
Scratch 2.0 programming for teens / Jerry Lee Ford, Jr.
Scratch for kids / Derek Breen
Graphic Novels
Ray Bradbury's The Martian chronicles : the authorized adaptation / Dennis Calero ; introduction by Ray Bradbury
Trinity : a graphic history on the first atomic boms / Jonathan Fetter-Vorm
All knowlegde builds on existing knowledge, but it takes the curiosity and inspiration to figure out how to use that knowledge to answer old questions and create new ones. (The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky)