Announcing the 2017 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize Finalists
15 November 2016
by: Maria Sosa
Finalists 2017
AAAS and Subaru are proud to announce the finalists for the 2017 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prizes for Excellence in Science Books. The Prizes celebrate outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults and are meant to encourage the writing and publishing of high-quality science books for all ages. The 2017 winners will be selected from among the following finalists in four categories. Winners will be announced in January and awarded at the 2017 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston.
To read more about the books, click on the book titles, which will take you to the SB&F Amazon Online Store.
Children’s Science Picture Book
Because of an Acorn, by Lola M. Schaefer (Author), Adam Schaefer (Author), Frann Preston-Gannon (Illustrator). Chronicle Books.
A lovely early childhood introduction to the complexities of ecological relationships, centered around an acorn.
A Beetle is Shy, by Dianna Hutts Aston (Author) and Sylvia Long (Illustrator). Chronicle Books.
A well-illustrated picture book that utilizes colorful and lifelike artwork to highlight the diversity of form seen in beetles.
Grow! Raise! Catch!: How We Get Our Food, by Shelly Rotner (Author & Illustrator). Holiday House.
A breakdown of the farm-to-table process with bright, enticing photographs and accessible text for preschoolers and kindergarten students.
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor, by Robert Burleigh (Author), Raúl Colón (Illustrator). Simon & Schuster, Paula Wiseman Books.
The story of female scientist, Marie Tharp, a pioneering woman scientist and the first person to ever successfully map the ocean floor, accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by acclaimed artist Raúl Colón.
Tooth By Tooth: Comparing Fangs, Tusks, and Chompers, by Sarah C. Levine (Author) and T. S. Spookytooth (Illustrator). Millbrook Press.
A picture book that will keep children guessing as they read about how human teeth are like—and unlike—those of other animals.
Middle Grades Science Book
Crow Smart: Inside the Brain of the World’s Brightest Bird, by Pamela Turner. Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt.
An introduction to New Caledonian crows, avians that deserve a spot alongside dolphins, monkeys, and chimpanzees in the ranks of super-smart animals and to the scientists and researchers that study them.
Faster, Higher, Smarter: Bright Ideas That Transformed Sports, by Simon Shapiro. Annick Press.
A description of innovations that changed sports in many exciting ways, with well-executed illustrations that help make the scientific concepts easy for middle school readers to follow.
Fish Tricks: The Wild and Wacky World of Fish, by Haude Levesque. Moon Dance Press.
A fascinating exploration of how fish use sound, color, and chemicals to talk to each other and camouflage and toxins to discourage predators.
Great Monkey Rescue: Saving the Golden Lion Tamarins, by Sandra Markle. Millbrook Press.
A visually appealing look at the efforts to save the golden lion tamarins of Brazil in a story that demonstrates how observational research methods can solve a mystery and how new knowledge can spur positive action in the political and social arenas.
Hopping Ahead of Climate Change, by Sneed Collard III. Bucking Horse Press.
This book combines beautiful pictures and captivating graphics with engaging writing to bring to life the story of how researchers are using the scientific method to help understand how climate change may impact snowshoe hares and the ecosystems that rely on them.
Outside: A Guide to Discovering Nature, by Maria Ana Peixe Dias and Ines Teixeira do Rosario. Frances Lincoln Children's Books.
Created in collaboration with a team of Portuguese experts, a book that aims to arouse your curiosity about fauna, flora, and other aspects of the natural world.
Recycled Science: Bring Out Your Science Genius with Soda Bottles, Potato Chip Bags, and More Unexpected Stuff, by Tammy Enz and Jodi Lyn Wheeler-Toppen. Capstone.
A collection of over 30 projects that use common household items to demonstrate scientific principles, with content ranging from physics, earth science, chemistry, and biology. Projects range in complexity from a simple wooden chain to a flashlight, and many are quite clever in their design.
Ricky's Atlas: Mapping a Land on Fire, by Judith L. Li, M. L. Herring. Oregon State University Press.
Engaging narrative, enhanced by hand‑drawn maps, illustrations, and diagrams introduces kids to making maps and atlases that cover a variety of features, including timelines, scales, and rainfall with types of vegetation.
Treecology: 30 Activities and Observations for Exploring the World of Trees and Forests, by Monica Russo and Kevin Byron, Chicago Review Press.
An engaging and accessible hands-on science book for young readers filled with activities ranging from the ordinary (counting tree rings to determine age) to the unique (creating “paint” bark to attract moths).
Young Adult Science Book
The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life, by Jack Challoner. University of Chicago Press.
A lavishly illustrated narrative that traces the beginning of cells to their death, giving attention to their incredible specialization and functions.
Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren. Knopf.
An intriguing memoir by a three-time Fulbright-winning geobiologist, is also a fascinating tutorial on botany, paleontology, and soil studies.
Seven Brief Lessons in Physics, by Carlo Rovelli. Penguin Press.
Deceptively simple, often elegant writing pulls readers into the mysteries of and explanations about our world and how we look at the structure of reality and what it shows us about the world in which we live.
The AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books is sponsored by Subaru.
