STEM Friday – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Books

April 24, 2026April 28, 2026

Christina Hammock Koch: Artemis Astronaut

Christina Hammock Koch: Artemis Astronaut
by Carla Mooney (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Discover the life story of NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and raised in North Carolina, Christina Hammock Koch dreamed about traveling to space since childhood. She visited NASA’s space camp throughout her high school years, which furthered her conviction. In college she studied electrical engineering and physics and then made her way to NASA as an engineer. But she wanted a more varied experience. She joined the Antarctic Research program, a challenge that expanded her horizons.

She went back to NASA as an engineer and spent time in Maryland, Greenland, and Alaska before applying to the space program in 2012. She was admitted, and in 2019 she achieved her dream of traveling to space. She made history by being part of the first all-women spacewalk. Her next goal: Going to the moon . . . and we just saw it happen!

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The author, Carla Mooney, is one of my former students.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

March 27, 2026March 23, 2026

Extreme Birdwatching

Extreme Birdwatching: Measuring Change on a Galápagos Island
by Loree Griffin Burns (Author) and Jamie Green (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Daphne is an island. Not one you’d choose for a vacation. There are no sandy beaches, resorts, hotels, or houses. No tall trees to make shade. The steep, rocky sides of a volcanic Galápagos island are not inviting, and most who visit this part of the world sail right past. But Peter and Rosemary Grant are not most people. A husband-and-wife team, the Grants came to this singular place with a singular goal: to study two species of wild finch. For decades, the scientists and their students counted, cataloged, and observed finches on a remote mile-wide island. Through teamwork, painstaking observation—extreme bird-watching, extreme plant study, extreme seed counting—and careful beak measurements, the group of committed scientists proved step-by-step, over forty years, how finch beaks change in response to their environment.

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The author, Loree Griffin Burns, is one of my former students.
Copyright © 2026 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)

March 6, 2026

Color in Nature: Secrets of Animal Survival

Color in Nature: Secrets of Animal Survival
by Stephen Aitken (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Animals like rainbow-colored parrots, red-nosed mandrills and brilliant blue peacocks use their vibrant colors to survive. Golden finches, bright blue mandarin fish and orange poison dart frogs use their colors to get noticed. Arctic foxes and octopuses change their colors to blend into their habitats. Birds, mammals, frogs, fish, reptiles and insects use a full palette of color to defend themselves, hunt for food, attract mates, hide from predators and often to stand out from their rivals. But even with the power of color on their side, many of these species, their habitats and food sources are under threat. We need to conserve the entire spectrum of the animal world to maintain a healthy and colorful planet for all life on Earth.

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The author, Stephen Aitken, is one of my former students.
Copyright © 2026 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)

February 20, 2026February 19, 2026

Apollo 11 and Artemis II Activities for Classrooms and Libraries

Printable Man on the Moon activities are in a Beacon Library app in the cloud.

Click here and a new screen will open the Beacon Library app.
Enter your contact info and the Beacon Library app will email you a download link.
Print the activities on 8.5×11″ paper in full-color or gray-scale (black ink only).
Clicking each underlined NASA on “Then and Now” PDF will take you to each multimedia site.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

May 16, 2025May 15, 2025

New Wildfire Books

My new Focus on STEM column, Wildfires, is in the May Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries newsletter from Booklist.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

May 9, 2025May 8, 2025

How Do You Eat Color?

How Do You Eat Color?
by Mabi David (Author), Yas Doctor (Illustrator), Karen Llagas (Translator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Do you know how red tastes? What about blue, orange, purple, or even white? As a boy, a girl, and their chameleon go through their day, they meet a bounty of colorful fruits and vegetables. They wake up with bright tomatoes and hibiscus, taste sunshine in yellow pineapples and mangoes, yawn with purple yams, and drift off to sleep as the colors darken to black. (Translated from Filipino)

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

May 2, 2025May 1, 2025

Zero! The Number That Almost Wasn’t

Zero! The Number That Almost Wasn’t
by Sarah Albee (Author) and Chris Hsu (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: How did math work before zero existed? This nonfiction book unpacks a fascinating history of a number we can’t imagine our current world without.

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

April 25, 2025April 24, 2025

Moon Matching Game

Moon Matching Game
by NASA

Booktalk: The first Friday in May is Space Day. Use this matching game with NASA photos of moon phases and famous spacecraft with the books about space already in your collection.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

April 11, 2025April 10, 2025

Nature’s Tiny Champions

Nature’s Tiny Champions: The Big Book of Little Creatures Doing Mighty Things
by Ben Lerwill (Author) and Nic Jones (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Featuring 20 little animals, from the nocturnal dung beetle, cape dwarf chameleon, and golden poison frog to the bumblebee bat, reef starfish, and bee hummingbird, this oversized nonfiction guide reveals how even the tiniest insects, invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds can play key roles in natural phenomena such as migration, food chains, and pollination.

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

April 4, 2025April 3, 2025

My First Town

My First Town: A Building Block Book
by Merrill Rainey (Author / Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Watch as young minds come alive as they pop out pieces, then fold and glue together a town filled with buildings, vehicles, and friendly faces.

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)