NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 2025

Science books selected each year by NSTA and the Children's Book Council.

2025 Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12See the original list

EditionView all years

Selections27

Published byNational Science Teaching Association

SectionsWinning Titles

Winning Titles

27 selections

Cover of Arboretum: Welcome to the Museum

Arboretum: Welcome to the MuseumTony Kirkham, illustrated by Katie ScottThis next instalment in the bestselling Welcome to the Museum collection in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, is about the incredible life of trees.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Bounce!: A Scientific History of Rubber

Bounce!: A Scientific History of RubberSarah AlbeeEver wondered what makes rubber bounce? And WHY is rubber so . . . rubbery?! Learn the facinating science and history behind this ubiquitous material!With sidebars, graphics, fun facts, and more, the history of rubber reveals plenty of fascinating secrets and surprises.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Change Is in the Air: Carbon, Climate, Earth, and Us

Change Is in the Air: Carbon, Climate, Earth, and UsDebbie LevyThe Nature Generation's Green Earth Book Award Winner 2025NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book 2025Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books of 2024New York Public Library Best Books of 2024A Bank Street College School of Education Best Book of the Year 2025A nonfiction picture book about amazing ways that the Earth removes…Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Clever Crow

Clever CrowChris ButterworthDiscover the surprising intelligence of crows in this eye-opening tale.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of The Den That Octopus Built

The Den That Octopus BuiltRandi Sonenshine, illustrated by Anne HunterAn octopus faces the ultimate challenge: motherhood in a perilous ocean world.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Discovering Life’s Story: The Evolution of an Idea

Discovering Life’s Story: The Evolution of an IdeaJoy HakimIn the second volume of the Discovering Life’s Story series by best-selling author Joy Hakim, the theory of evolution takes hold—transforming ideas about survival, extinction, and life itself.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Extinctopedia: Discover What We Have Lost, What Is at Risk, and How We Can Preserve the Diversity of Our Fragile Planet

Extinctopedia: Discover What We Have Lost, What Is at Risk, and How We Can Preserve the Diversity of Our Fragile PlanetSerenella Quarello, illustrated by Alessio AlciniA Smithsonian collaboration–this journey of discovery through the animal kingdom, past and present, calls on us to educate ourselves and take action to save the amazing diversity of our planet.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires

Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive WildfiresJessica Stremer, illustrated by Michael GarlandA timely middle grade nonfiction overview of the incredible ways animals detect, respond, and adapt to wildfires, as well as how climate change is affecting the frequency and severity of these devastating events in nature.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of A Flicker of Hope: A Story of Migration

A Flicker of Hope: A Story of MigrationCynthia HarmonyA heartwarming tale of a girl waiting for her beloved Papá to return when the monarchs fly south to their home in Mexico.Lucía loves to watch the monarchs' migration from her home in Mexico with Papá.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Golden Gate: Building the Mighty Bridge

Golden Gate: Building the Mighty BridgeElizabeth PartridgeThe Golden Gate Bridge, beloved landmark and symbol of San Francisco, finally gets a gorgeous picture book that tells the thrilling story of how it was built!Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of How Do You See the World?

How Do You See the World?Noureddine Melikechi, illustrated by Michelle SimpsonWhat is it like to see the world through someone else's eyes?If you've ever been curious about how your eyes work, why some people need glasses, or what it's like to be color blind, How Do You See the World? has the answers!Eyes are complicated, and each little part has to work…Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Look

LookGabi Snyder, illustrated by Samantha CotterillA lyrical picture book that encourages children to look closely at the natural world and notice the patterns and details around them.Winning TitlesFountas & Pinnell KView book details

Cover of The Next Scientist: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Futures of the World's Greatest Scientist

The Next Scientist: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Futures of the World's Greatest ScientistKate Messner, illustrated by Julia KuoThe Next Scientist introduces notable scientists through the interests and experiments they pursued as children, encouraging young readers to see how everyday curiosity can grow into scientific work.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Of Words and Water: The Story of Wilma Dykeman--Writer, Historian, Environmentalist

Of Words and Water: The Story of Wilma Dykeman--Writer, Historian, EnvironmentalistShannon Hitchcock, illustrated by Sophie PageThis lyrical picture book biography of writer and environmentalist Wilma Dykeman traces how her love for a local river led to her efforts to protect it and the livelihood of those who depended on it.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of One Day This Tree Will Fall

One Day This Tree Will FallLeslie Barnard BoothWhen a tree falls, does its story end or begin anew?Winning TitlesWord count 357View book details

Cover of Over and Under the Wetland

Over and Under the WetlandKate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas NealUncover the hidden world of the Everglades, where secrets of nature await beneath the swamp's surface.Winning TitlesLexile 720LATOS 4.6View book details

Cover of Owls: Who Gives a Hoot?

Owls: Who Gives a Hoot?Frances BackhouseThey can see in the dimmest light, hear the faintest of sounds, fly silently and rotate their heads to look straight backward.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Pau: The Last Song of the Kaua’i ‘o’o

Pau: The Last Song of the Kaua’i ‘o’oTony Piedra, Mackenzie JoyA moving ecological fable and a lyrical love song to a lost species from the cocreators of One Tiny Treefrog: A Countdown to Survival Millions of years ago, the island of Kaua‘i began to bloom with life, color, and sound.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Planting Hope: A Portrait of Photographer Sebastião Salgado

Planting Hope: A Portrait of Photographer Sebastião SalgadoPhilip HoelzelA 2024 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book A gorgeously illustrated picture book biography about Brazilian photojournalist, humanitarian, and environmental advocate Sebastião Salgado.As a young boy, Sebastião Salgado loved exploring his parents’ farm in the forests of Brazil, always dreaming of what might lie beyond his view.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Remembering Rosalind Franklin: Rosalind Franklin & the Discovery of the Double Helix Structure of DNA

Remembering Rosalind Franklin: Rosalind Franklin & the Discovery of the Double Helix Structure of DNATanya Lee StoneAlthough there were few women working in this field in the 1950s, Franklin, using crystallography, captured an image that held the secret to unlocking the structure of DNA: the double helix.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Saturdays at Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood

Saturdays at Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a NeighborhoodTony Hillery, illustrated by Jessie HartlandIn this companion to the bestselling nonfiction picture book Harlem Grown about the real-life urban community farm featured on Humans of New York , it’s harvest time for the employees and volunteers that tend the lush garden.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Sleepy: Surprising Ways Animals Snooze

Sleepy: Surprising Ways Animals SnoozeJennifer WardWhen dolphins sleep, half their brain stays awake. Snakes sleep with their eyes open. Giraffes sleep in five-minute intervals, while koalas sleep for twenty-two hours a day!Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Super Swifts: Small Birds with Amazing Powers

Super Swifts: Small Birds with Amazing PowersJustin Anderson, illustrated by Clover RobinSuper Swifts follows a female swift on her migration from central Africa to northern Europe while explaining how swifts fly, feed, sleep, avoid predators, and raise their young.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Up Periscope!: How Engineer Raye Montague Revolutionized Shipbuilding

Up Periscope!: How Engineer Raye Montague Revolutionized ShipbuildingJennifer Swanson, illustrated by Veronica Miller JamisonUp Periscope! is a picture-book biography of engineer Raye Montague, whose computer program transformed the way the United States Navy designed ships and submarines.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Wildlife Crossings of Hope: Connecting Creatures Around the Globe

Wildlife Crossings of Hope: Connecting Creatures Around the GlobeTeddi Lynn Chichester, illustrated by Jamie GreenWildlife Crossings of Hope examines projects around the world that reconnect habitats and give animals safer routes across roads, waterways, and other barriers.Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of Wildlife Crossings: Protecting Animal Pathways Around the World

Wildlife Crossings: Protecting Animal Pathways Around the WorldCatherine BarrHow have we prevented wild animals from accessing the pathways they need to survive?Winning TitlesView book details

Cover of A Window into the Ocean Twilight Zone: Twenty-Four Days of Science at Sea

A Window into the Ocean Twilight Zone: Twenty-Four Days of Science at SeaMichelle CusolitoWant a front-row seat to cutting-edge ocean twilight zone technology? Climb aboard for twenty-four days of photo-illustrated science at sea! A fascinating middle-grade STEM book.Winning TitlesView book details