May, June, July and August 2023 -- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

A Year Around the Great Oak


Lots of interesting information about European flora and fauna (and I do think it should be mentioned that this is a European themed book, and yes, there should definitely be secondary sources included). Love the illustrations, like the story (although there is in my opinion a bit of casual sexism, as the girl in the story often seems to get left out).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

There’s No Such Thing as Vegetables


With There's No Such Thing as Vegetables (2024), Lyle Lukoff's words and Andrea Tsurumi's accompanying artwork present in a delightful marriage of engaging text and brightly descriptive images how Chester, when he is asked to gather vegetables for a salad from the community garden, encounters a hilariously cocksure and opinionated cast of anthropomorphic garden produce who categorically reject the “vegetable” label (since for example broccoli florets are flowers, potatoes are roots and tomatoes are indeed fruit). And yes indeed, Lukoff has all the anthropomorphic plants in There's No Such Thing as Vegetables call themselves and each other by their preferred terms (and not vegetables) and also live in complete and perfect harmony (which is a bit pie-in-the sky perhaps but makes me smile). But yeah, a list of books and websites on botany and on social constructs would be nice.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

I Ate Sunshine for Breakfast: A Celebration of Plants Around the World


The botanical information Michael Holland presents is extensive (and sometimes unfortunately even a bit overly so for a book geared towards young readers) and interesting (and although there is a section on plant evolution, this can if necessary be skipped over). But yes, the font is way too small, I also would prefer a combination of illustrations and photographs (even though the artwork is lovely) and the absence of a bibliography and suggestions for further reading is a bit frustrating (still, a high three stars, but I would definitely recommend not reading I Ate Sunshine for Breakfast: A Celebration of Plants Around the World in one sitting).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Candy Experiments


Candy Experiments 2


Excellent and fun resources (only reviewed the first book since the second book is basically exactly the same except that it features different candy themed experiments). Fun, educational (and I do wish that something akin to Candy Experiments had been available when I was a child). And my partner and I actually tried a few of the candy experiments and we both really enjoyed doing them (so yes, both volumes of Candy Experiments, while conceptualised for children and STEM are also something that parents, teachers etc. would and should enjoy as well).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Children of the Stones


Not a bad story is Children of the Stones and to an extent decently fun and pleasantly creepy (even today, even in 2025), but well, the rather hokum science (combined with magical paganism etc.) truly does grate quite a bit, makes much of Children of the Stones rather tedious and annoying for me personally and as such only a low three star rating (and which I also think is pretty hugely generous for Children of the Stones).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Manybooks wrote: "Children of the Stones


Not a bad story is Children of the Stones and to an extent decently fun and pleasantly creepy (even today, even i..."

Hm. The blurb says "astrophysics" in the first sentence, implying it's suitable for STEM. Too bad it really isn't. :(

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Cheryl wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Children of the Stones


Not a bad story is Children of the Stones and to an extent decently fun and pleasantly creepy (..."

It was fun but not really all that scientific and tries too hard to tie astrophysics, mythology and magic together.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

I found the information presented in LOL Canadian Nature (by Sahara Kagune) and in Gross & Disgusting Nature (by Wendy Weinstein) decent and readable (although the riddles in LOL Canadian Nature are rather cheesy but can easily be ignored). But both books do not have any sources, the organisation of Gross & Disgusting Nature is haphazard and LOL Canadian Nature leaves out some iconic Canadian animals (like beavers and loons) and also does not bother with conservation statuses.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

The Fartionary


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Andy Jones (text) and David Puckeridge (black and white cartoon images), their 2011 The Fartionary (geared in my humble opinion thematics and contents wise towards young readers from about the age of six to twelve but is also more than suitable for interested teenagers and adults as well) is absolutely delightful (that The Fartionary is equally considerably more humorous, is often much more laugh-out-loud hilarious than I in any way even remotely would and could have expected).

[QNPoohBear]

I just wrote a long review for The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science and my browser ate it. I'll do it again over the weekend but I HIGHLY recommend this book for adults and older kids.

In the meantime check out this exhibit from the British Library
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collect...

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

QNPoohBear wrote: "I just wrote a long review for [book:The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science|..."

Oh my gosh, I totally hate hate hate that!!

[QNPoohBear]

Manybooks wrote: "QNPoohBear wrote: "I just wrote a long review for The Girl Who Drew Butterflies How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman[book:The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science|..."

Oh my gosh, I totally hate hate hate that!!"

I do wish GoodReads had a save draft feature on posts as well as reviews. Anyway I see you loved the book as much as I did. I learned a lot and I especially loved how the book incorporated faux journal pages. I wish books like that had been around when I was a kid and maybe I would have become an archivist a lot sooner. I do not feel so kindly towards insects. My house is inundated by clothing moths and outside my part of the state is besieged by Spotted Lantern Flies. Maria would have liked to have drawn them. They're so pretty but invasive and very destructive to native trees.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Yes, I really loved The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science and Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer even more so.