3 Weeks in the Rainforest: A Rapid Inventory in the AmazonJennifer SwansonThis nonfiction account follows a women-led Field Museum team on a three-week rapid inventory in Colombia’s Amazon rainforest. Scientists, local experts, government officials, NGO representatives, farmers, and Indigenous community members work at mapped field sites to gather information that can aid conservation. Teams study plants, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fish, birds, and social connections, while chapters cover camp life, field searches, and visits with villagers. Photographs, captions, text boxes, and section breaks document the work.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 920LView book detailsNSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 2026
The 2026 edition contains 35 selections published by the National Science Teaching Association. The source organizes the selections into Winning Titles. It is one annual edition of the NSTA science trade-book bibliography for students and educators. The selected trade books connect literacy with science subjects and were published during the preceding year.
Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 2026See the original list
Selections35
Published byNational Science Teaching Association
SectionsWinning Titles
Winning Titles
35 selections
3 Weeks in the Rainforest: A Rapid Inventory in the AmazonJennifer SwansonThis nonfiction account follows a women-led Field Museum team on a three-week rapid inventory in Colombia’s Amazon rainforest. Scientists, local experts, government officials, NGO representatives, farmers, and Indigenous community members work at mapped field sites to gather information that can aid conservation. Teams study plants, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fish, birds, and social connections, while chapters cover camp life, field searches, and visits with villagers. Photographs, captions, text boxes, and section breaks document the work.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 920LView book details
Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la PapaSara Andrea Fajardo, illustrated by Juana Martinez-NealThis picture-book biography introduces Peruvian agricultural scientist Alberto Salas as he travels through Peru’s Andes searching for wild potato varieties. He collects potatoes before climate change and urban development can endanger them. Scientists study the potatoes’ useful traits to develop new varieties suited to places such as salty swamps and icy mountains. The book includes material about Alberto Salas, potatoes, and the importance of preserving plant diversity.Winning TitlesATOS Book Level 3.6AR Interest Level LG K-3View book details
The Big Empty: A Sagebrush Survival StoryKirbi FaganTold from the perspective of a big sagebrush, this picture book travels through the western North American landscape it calls home. The plant can live for as long as one hundred years and supplies food, shelter, and hiding places for predators and prey. After wildfire passes through the landscape, the sagebrush grows again. The story presents the plant's role in a western ecosystem and its return after fire.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 630LFountas & Pinnell Text Level RView book details
The Black Mambas: The World's First All-Woman Anti-Poaching UnitKelly CrullThis true story introduces the Black Mambas, twenty women in camouflage uniforms who became South Africa’s first female park rangers and the world’s first women-led anti-poaching unit. Many grew up in villages near the Olifants West Nature Reserve but had not seen the animals protected there. The rangers patrol the reserve unarmed, look for evidence of poachers, and help safeguard rhinos, pangolins, and other wildlife. Their positions offer a way to support their families, despite objections to women doing work seen as dangerous. Training and patrols also build a sisterhood among the rangers.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 720LATOS Book Level 4.6View book details
The Blue Jays that Grew a ForestLynn Street, illustrated by Anne HunterThis nonfiction account follows blue jays through a full year and examines their connection with oak forests. As autumn approaches, the birds gather acorns and bury them in open, sunny places for winter food. They recover some of these stored acorns during cold months, while others remain underground. Those forgotten acorns can sprout in spring and eventually grow into trees, helping forests extend over time.Winning TitlesView book details
Detective Dogs: How Working Dogs Sniff Out Invasive SpeciesAlison Pearce StevensWorking dogs and their handlers search for invasive species that can be difficult to find. The book follows several canine teams involved in three conservation projects in the United States and Canada. It explains how scientists use dogs’ powerful sense of smell while responding to environmental and economic harm caused by invasive species. The dogs’ fieldwork is presented alongside the wider effort to protect ecosystems.Winning TitlesView book details
The Doomsday Detectives: How Walter and Luis Alvarez Solved the Mystery of Dinosaur ExtinctionCindy Jenson-Elliott, illustrated by Theo Nicole LorenzWritten by Cindy Jenson-Elliott, The Doomsday Detectives is a 224-page book published by Lee & Low Books in 2025. It examines Walter and Luis Alvarez’s investigation into the asteroid strike that brought the dinosaur era to an end. They draw on findings from geology, chemistry, and paleontology as they assemble their case. The book presents science as the evidence base for this inquiry.Winning TitlesATOS Book Level 8.8AR Interest Level MG+View book details
Firefly Song: Lynn Frierson Faust and the Great Smoky Mountain DiscoveryColleen Paeff, illustrated by Ji-Hyuk KimLynn Frierson Faust spends summers in the Great Smoky Mountains watching fireflies flash in rhythm together. Scientists initially believe synchronous fireflies exist only outside the Western Hemisphere, but Lynn carefully observes what she sees. As an adult, she works with biologist Jonathan Copeland to observe, collect, and study the species later known as Photinus carolinus. Their work documents synchronous fireflies in the Western Hemisphere and brings the Smoky Mountains display to scientific attention.Winning TitlesView book details
ForestsNell Cross Beckerman, illustrated by Kalen ChockA visual and poetic tour visits forest habitats around the world, from kelp forests beneath the ocean to the Amazon. The book introduces the plants, animals, and layers found in these ecosystems. It also examines natural processes and the forces that shape forested landscapes. Sensory details invite readers to notice what a forest can offer to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch.Winning TitlesATOS Book Level 4.8AR Interest Level LG K-3View book details
The Girl Who Tested the Waters: Ellen Swallow, Environmental ScientistPatricia Daniele, illustrated by Junyi WuThis biography follows Ellen Swallow’s childhood interest in nature and chemistry as she pursues science in the nineteenth century, when women were discouraged from studying it at universities. At MIT, she applies scientific study to problems in everyday life. Her work on Boston’s water systems reveals pollution, while her investigations also identify contaminated food and water. The account includes her efforts to expand science education for women and her role in the developing field of ecology.Winning TitlesView book details
If You Like ButterfliesLola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Gabi SwiatkowskaThis picture book traces a butterfly’s life cycle from egg to adult. Beneath a leaf, an egg becomes a caterpillar that grows and molts before forming a chrysalis. The chrysalis shelters the insect as it changes, and the adult butterfly later dries its wings before its first flight. The book also shows butterflies visiting flowers for nectar and spreading pollen, with additional material about making a butterfly garden.Winning TitlesView book details
Jellyfish Scientist: Maude Delap and Her Mesmerizing MedusasMichelle Cusolito, illustrated by Ellen RooneyThis biography recounts scientist Maude Delap’s research on jellyfish. After taking a jellyfish from the water, she observed it for more than a year and traced its life cycle from larva to adult. Her work with a compass jellyfish in 1899 and 1900 achieved something other scientists had not managed and helped establish a basis for research that continues today. The book follows her patient observations and experiment.Winning TitlesView book details
Jeremy, the English Garden Snail: Heredity, Citizen Science, and #snailloveDarcy Pattison, illustrated by Olga GoninaJeremy is an English garden snail whose shell coils to the left instead of the usual right. When geneticist Dr. Angus Davison learns about him, scientists and snail enthusiasts seek a left-coiled mate for Jeremy. His unusual shell brings questions about genetics and body symmetry, while the search draws public participation into the investigation. The story follows Jeremy from a compost heap to wider attention as people try to help solve the problem.Winning TitlesView book details
Just in Case: Saving Seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed VaultMegan Clendenan, illustrated by Brittany CiccheseDeep inside a mountain on a Norwegian island near the North Pole, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores more than 580 million seeds in three temperature-controlled vaults. Seeds from around the world are kept there as a backup that can be withdrawn and planted, even long after they were deposited. This account explains the vault’s planning, construction, and daily work, as well as climate change, declining crop diversity, and war as reasons for safeguarding seeds.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 850LATOS Book Level 4.8View book details
The Little Lobster: A Lobster TaleW. Thomas Hotz, illustrated by Estelle CorkeSet off Maine’s coast, this nonfiction account follows a mother lobster as she carries thousands of eggs beneath her tail. It traces her care for the eggs and the release of newborn lobsters, then turns to the young animals’ development. The book covers four growth stages, molting, and the ways baby lobsters live in the ocean. It also introduces the coastal habitat, predators, and a changing marine ecosystem.Winning TitlesView book details
Magic in a Drop of Water: How Ruth Patrick Taught the World about Water PollutionJulie WinterbottomThis picture-book biography follows ecologist Ruth Patrick, whose early view of pond scum leads to a lifelong interest in waterways and the organisms within them. Working when few women were in her field, she studies river ecosystems and biodiversity long before water pollution becomes a widespread public concern. Her discoveries change how ecologists investigate pollution and provide other scientists with ways to study the health of rivers and their many life forms.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 770LView book details
Marjory's River of Grass: Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Fierce Protector of the EvergladesJosie JamesThis picture-book biography tells of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, a journalist, author, and conservationist who spent her life protecting Florida’s Everglades. Although many people once dismissed the wetlands as a swamp, Douglas recognized them as a river-like habitat filled with distinctive species. The book follows her writing and campaigning to safeguard those connected wetlands, and includes material about water and ways to preserve it.Winning TitlesView book details
Mud to the Rescue! How Animals Use Mud to Thrive and SurviveTanya Konerman and Melanie CataldoAfter rain turns soil to mud, animals in many places use it in different ways. Elephants, alligators, beavers, birds, pigs, and other creatures use mud for protection from sun and parasites, to build homes, to soothe upset stomachs, and for play. The book explores how these uses vary across seasons and stages of life, focusing on mud as a resource for animals’ survival.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure AD780LView book details
Nature Explained: A Family Guide to 20 Nature CyclesHelen Brown, illustrated by Claire ScullyNature Explained presents more than twenty recurring processes in the natural world. Its six sections consider trees, leaves, flowers, seeds, mushrooms, and seasons, showing changes such as leaf loss, flowering, seed movement, pollination, photosynthesis, germination, and decomposition. Opening profiles provide an overview of each subject, while diagrams and dissections examine parts in detail. Illustrations accompany explanations of how living things and seasonal patterns change over time.Winning TitlesView book details
Next Time You See a SnowflakeEmily MorganAn introduction to snowflakes that examines their formation, their six-sided shapes, and the atmospheric conditions required for them to develop. The book invites readers to observe this natural phenomenon closely and to explore it together with a child. Its focus stays on the science behind snowflakes while encouraging shared attention to the patterns found in winter weather and nature.Winning TitlesView book details
Our Plastic Problem: A Call for Global SolutionsMegan DurnfordThis book examines plastic’s history and its many uses, alongside the pollution associated with it. It considers how plastic affects land, water, air, human health, animals, communities, and ecosystems. The discussion also includes bioplastic and recycling innovations, as well as ways people can reduce or replace plastic in daily life. It presents plastic as a material whose benefits and environmental consequences are closely connected.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 1070LView book details
Pearls in the Sand: Protecting Sea Turtles in OaxacaBeatriz Gutiérrez HernándezIn Oaxaca, Mexico, Papá Grande cares for endangered sea turtles after having once poached them. His work includes greeting turtles as they reach the beach and protecting their eggs in a hatchery. The story follows the ongoing tasks involved in helping the turtles as they face extinction. It introduces sea turtle conservation, ocean habitats, and the animals’ life cycles through this family-centered account.Winning TitlesView book details
Rachel Carson's Wonder-Filled World: How the Scientist, Writer, and Nature Lover Changed the Environmental MovementKate Hannigan, illustrated by Kate HickeyThis picture-book biography follows Rachel Carson’s early interest in nature, her writing about animals and outdoor experiences, and her wish to study the ocean. Although financial limits prevented her from completing a PhD, she found work in science and became a nature writer. After learning about environmental damage caused by pesticides and chemicals, Carson wrote Silent Spring to address their threat to nature.Winning TitlesView book details
Rewriting the Rules: How Dr. Kathleen Friel Created New Possibilities for Brain Research and DisabilityDanna Zeiger, illustrated by Josée BisaillonThis biography follows Kathleen Friel, who is born with cerebral palsy when doctors recommend institutionalization, while her parents insist she will grow up at home. As a child, she finds her own ways to manage everyday tasks. She later becomes a neuroscientist and investigates whether repeated movements can help monkeys with brain injuries make new neural connections. Her research finds that this approach can also be used with people who have cerebral palsy.Winning TitlesFountas & Pinnell Text Level QView book details
Safe CrossingKari Percival, illustrated by Kari PercivalDuring spring rains and seasonal migrations, people help frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians get across roads on their way to summer habitat. The book follows citizen scientists who assist the animals and work with local government on a wildlife tunnel. It connects small acts of care with protecting migrating wildlife.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 620LView book details
Salmon Run: An Epic Journey to the Ocean and BackAnnie ChenA Pacific coho salmon’s life cycle begins as a small egg in freshwater rivers in Washington State. The book follows her through five stages: egg, alevin, fry, smolt, and adult. She travels from the rivers to the Pacific Ocean, grows and changes during a journey of hundreds of miles, and eventually returns to the place where she was born to spawn. Maps and back matter accompany this account of migration and reproduction.Winning TitlesView book details
The Secret Life of a Sea TurtleMaddalena BearziA green sea turtle’s life begins in a nest at Mexico’s Ría Lagartos nature reserve. After hatching, she faces predators on land and in the water before reaching the sea. The account follows her across the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, including danger from sharks and human-made nets. At age thirty, she returns to the shore where she hatched, digs a nest, and lays her own eggs.Winning TitlesView book details
The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women AstronautsLoren GrushSix scientists—Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, Rhea Seddon, Sally Ride, Judith Resnik, and Anna Lee Fisher—became the first American women astronauts. In the 1960s and 1970s, NASA excluded women from its astronaut corps by insisting on military test-pilot experience, a career women were barred from entering. When the 1980s began, the six joined NASA despite intense sexism. They trained, flew missions, and challenged barriers in a profession that had previously been restricted to men.Winning TitlesView book details
Spark: Jim West's Electrifying Adventures in Creating the MicrophoneAinissa Ramirez, illustrated by Setor FiadzigbeySpark follows inventor Jim West as he explores sound and electricity. His experiments lead toward the co-creation of the compact electret microphone, a device used in everyday technology. The book centers on West’s work with sound, electrical ideas, and the process behind developing a microphone that became part of ordinary devices.Winning TitlesView book details
The Spider Lady: Nan Songer and Her Arachnid World War II ArmyPenny Parker Klostermann, illustrated by Anne LambeletThis biography recounts how Nan Songer turned a lifelong interest in bugs into work with spider silk during World War II. In her California home, she collected and bred spiders while studying ways to harvest their silk for military precision instruments. Through repeated experiments, she learned which silk was most useful and developed methods for extracting it without harming the spiders. Her research included black widows and supplied fine silk for items such as gunsights and periscopes.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 940LView book details
Stuck! The Story of La Brea Tar PitsJoyce Uglow, illustrated by Valerya MilovanovaThis nonfiction picture book investigates the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. It explains how excavation revealed clues to the pits’ formation and to prehistoric animals fossilized after becoming trapped there. The book connects asphalt, ancient creatures, and Ice Age Los Angeles, with a timeline and glossary providing further context for the scientific and historical material.Winning TitlesView book details
Sun Bird: The Amazing Journey of the Arctic TernLindsay MooreArctic tern chicks begin life during the Arctic summer, where adults feed and protect them from predators. When summer ends, the terns head south over the ocean, avoiding skuas and seeking fish along the way. They reach Antarctica for its spring and summer, then travel north again as the sea begins to freeze. The book follows this pole-to-pole annual migration through changing weather, habitats, daylight, and other animals encountered en route.Winning TitlesView book details
The True and Lucky Life of a TurtleSy MontgomeryFor decades, a common snapping turtle called Fire Chief traveled between ponds near a fire station. Firefighters came to recognize his yearly crossing to a larger pond for winter hibernation. As development changed a dirt road into a state highway, the journey became more dangerous. After a vehicle injured him, the Turtle Rescue League patched his broken shell and rehabilitated his legs with a custom wheelchair. The account also follows risks turtles face from egg to maturity.Winning TitlesView book details
Wanda Hears the Stars: A Blind Astronomer Listens to the UniverseAmy S. Hansen, Wanda Díaz Merced, illustrated by Rocío Arreola MendozaThis picture-book biography follows astrophysicist Wanda Díaz Merced from her childhood in Puerto Rico to her study of physics. After diabetes causes her vision to deteriorate and she becomes blind, she finds a new way to continue her work: listening to sonified astronomical data. The book shows how she uses sound to analyze radio waves from space.Winning TitlesLexile Text Measure 540LFountas & Pinnell Text Level NView book details
Wonderfully Wild: Rewilding a School and CommunityJessica Stremer, illustrated by Josée MasseStudents and nearby residents work together to bring native plants and wildlife habitat back to the grounds around a school. Their shared restoration effort shows rewilding as a community activity, connecting people with the plants and animals that can live in the area. The book centers on the changes made around the school and the ways neighbors and students take part in restoring local habitat.Winning TitlesView book details