Last week Mac took Mable to the local library to exchange our stale, 2-week-old library books for a stack of fresh, new books.
[Can I take a moment to express just how awesome libraries are? We buy some books for Mabel, but most of the books we read are from the library. I get sick of reading the same stories over and over again. The library, with its unlimited supply of FREE books, means I don’t have to!]
I'm guessing "Nancy, the Budding Lepidopterist" wouldn't have sold as many books.
Anyway, last night I picked up the book on the top of the stack and it was Nancy, the Little Gosling by Eve Tharlet.
The book started out well enough, about a gosling who is easily distracted by butterflies, not that into school, and not good at goose-y things like swimming, waddling, and flying.
What really made me laugh about this book was the point at which Nancy reveals that she doesn’t want to practice swimming and flying, she just wants to be a butterfly researcher.
Yes, Nancy wants to be a scientist, a Lepidopterist, a biologist. I was kind of (lamely, nerdily) tickled that this character wanted to be a scientist.
Her passion for butterflies was central to the book, but the scientist/biologist/Lepidopterist angle was not- it was just sprinkled here and there- like when Nancy reveals that she’s already thought up a scientific name for the first new butterfly species she discovers: Lepidoptera Nancy. (This choice shows that author must know some scientists! See: Naming a New Species)
It was nice to find a kid’s book that easily weaved a story about science/scientists without being all about science. As I’ve said before, science is everywhere, even if people don’t recognize it. I know that the science portion is probably lost on Mabel right now (since she spent most of the book honking like a goose), but I’m thinking about purchasing this book for her since little kid books involving science aren’t exactly a dime a dozen!
Anyone else know of any books about science/scientists that are little kid friendly?
mommacommaphd 
Hi! My Mom is a PhD too (chemistry) 🙂
How about -Maisy’s Nature Walk: A Maisy First Science Book ,it’s a cute book for little kids. Or the Sid the Science Kid books. There’s also a series of books called “Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science” for young kids -my sister likes “Ant Cities” from this series. I like science too. I want to be an inventor when I grow up. Nice post!
Erik
Thanks Erik- I’ll look for those at the library!
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