I’ve mentioned before how I like to incorporate different subjects into our reading time and this living book list for science makes it easy. It has never been hard to find history related books to read, but science has been a little harder.
I recently found this wonderful list of living books for science! The original list was found posted on an old forum owned by Donna Young, but it is no longer online.
Living Book-list for Science
PHYSICS/TECHNOLOGY/INVENTION/ENGINEERING
- The Lever and The Pulley by Hal Hellman
- Mickey’s Magnet by Franklyn M. Branley and Eleanor K. Vaughan
- How Do you Lift a Lion? by Robert E. Wells
- Wheels At Work by Bernie Zubrowski
- Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloane
- Science and the Bible by Donald B. DeYoung
- Robots, What They Are, What They Do by Fredericka Berger
- The Phone Book by MacLeod
- The Way Things Work by David Macauley (His other books, too.) City, Castle, Cathedral, Pyramid, Underground, Ship, Mill
- Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
- Amazing Impossible Erie Canal by Harness
- Eureka! It’s an Automobile by Bendick
- Archimedes and the Door of Science by Bendick
- Rocket: How a Toy Launched the Space Age by Maurer
- Story of Inventions by McHugh/Bachman
- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
GEOLOGY/EARTH SCIENCE/ORIGIN OF EARTH
- Exploring Planet Earth, The Journey of Discovery: from Early Civilization to Future Exploration by John Tiner
- Mystery of the Ark
- Mountain of Fire by Paul Thomsen
- Volcanos by Seymour Simon
- Banner in the Sky by Ramsey Ullman
- The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (topics include geology, physics, and chemistry)
- Precious Gems: Their History and Mystery
- Birth of an Island by Millicent Selsam (also can be used for biological sciences)
- Volcano by Patricia Lauber
- Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation by Dennis Peterson
- Yellow and Pink by William Steig
- Dry Bones and Other Fossils by Parker
- Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe (for high school, also for biology)
ASTRONOMY/SPACE EXPLORATION
- The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons
- To Space and Back by Sally Ride
- Destination: Moon by Astronaut James Irwin
- For Signs and For Seasons by Robert Messina
- The Glow in the Dark Night Sky Book by Clint Hatchett
- I’ll See You When the Moon is Full by Susi Fowler
- Wait Til the Moon is Full by Margaret Wise Brown
- Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey
- Our Solar System by Seymour Simon (secular)
- Moonwalk (A “Step into Reading” book)
- For All Mankind (about Apollo missions)
- Astronomy and the Bible by Donald B. DeYoung
METEOROLOGY
- The Weather Book by Michael Oard
- Lightning by Seymour Simon
- Hurry Spring by Sterling North
- Scholastic’s “Wind and Weather” (interactive book)
- The Sun, Wind, and the Rain by Lisa Peters
- Weather and the Bible by Donald B. DeYoung
- Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll (a “Let’s Read and Find Out” science book, Children’s Reading Institute-Harper & Row)
- Exploring Nature in Winter by Alan Cvancara
BOTANY
- Of Skies and Seas by Joanne DeJonge
- The Rustling Grass by Joanne DeJonge
- All Nature Sings all by Joanne DeJonge
- Dancers in the Garden, etc by Joanne Ryder
- This Year’s Garden by Cynthia Rylant
- A Tree is Nice
- Linnea’s Windowsill Garden by Christina Bjork and Lena Anderson
- Rosy’s Garden by Laird
- Shakespeare’s Flowers by Jessica Kerr
- Wild Green Things in the City: a Book of Weeds by Anne Ophelia Dowden
- The Blossom on the Bough: A Book of Trees by Anne Ophelia Dowden
- Consider the Lilies: Plants of the Bible by John Patterson
- The Rose in My Garden by Arnold Lobel
- The Oak by Andrienne Sutter-Perrot
- Heidi by Joanna Spyri
- The Apple Tree by Lynley Dodd
- What Tree Is It? by Anna Pistorius
- What Wildflower Is It? and similar titles by Anna Pistorius
MARINE/ZOOLOGY/BIOLOGY
- The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson
- Tim Tadpole and the Great Bullfrog by Marjorie Flack
- Steven and the Green Turtle by William Cromie (I Can Read Book)
- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
- The Sea Brings Forth by Jack Rudloe
- Time of the Turtle, and other titles by Jack Rudloe (marine biologist, for older children, there are some curse words)
- Pond Water Zoo
- Fish Do the Strangest Things
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
- Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
- Pagoo by Holling C Holling
- Jacques Costeau’s Ocean World
- Picta the Painted Turtle by Virginia Frances Voight
EARTH ZOOLOGY/BIOLOGY
- Lucky Ladybugs, etc by Gladys Conklin
- Secrets of a Wildlife Watcher by Jim Arnosky
- A Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock
- The View from the Oak by Judith and Herbert Kohl
- The Snail’s Spell, and other titles by Joanne Ryder
- The Very Busy Spider
- The Very Hungry Catepillar and other titles by Eric Carle
- Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
- Stella Luna
- James Herriot’s Treasury for Children
- Wolves by Seymour Simon
- Song of the Swallows by Leo Polloti
- Big Red, and other titles about dogs by James Kjeldahl
- Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
- Wild Animals I have Known by Ernest Seton Thompson
- Julie of the Wolves
- My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
- Misty of Chincoteague, and other titles about horses by Marguerite Henry
- Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
- Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
- The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- Insects Do the Strangest Things
- Animals Do the Strangest Things (“Step Up” readers 3rd gr level)
- Lad: A Dog by Alberts Payson Terhune
- Linnea’s Almanac by Christina Bjork and Lena Anderson
- If Animals Could Talk by Coleman
- Wonderful Worms by Glaser
- Freckles
- Girl of the Limberlost, and other titles by Gene Stratton Porter
- Slim Green
- Books by Jim Arnosky: Nearer Nature, Watching Foxes, Come out Muskrats, Rabbits and Raindrops, Otters Under Water, All Night Near the Water
- Books by Millicent Selsam (some evolutionary content)
- “I Can Read” titles, Tony’s Birds, Benny’s Animals, Let’s Get Turtles, Egg to Chick, Seeds and More Seeds, Hidden Animals, Greg’s Microscope, Terry and the Caterpillars
- How to Be a Nature Detective, How Animals Talk, etc.
- The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader
- The Year at Maple Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen
- Ants are Fun by Mildren Myrick
- How’s Inky? by Sam Campbell
- Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (and other titles by same author)
- “Step into Reading” books, Dolphins!, Hungry Hungry Sharks, Monster Bugs, S-S-Snakes, Whales the Gentle Giants, Wild Wild Wolves
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
- Little Rascal by Sterling North
- Methuselah’s Gift by Mary Elizabeth Edgren
- Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
- The Trumpet of the Swan
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
- Animals and Their Young by Anita Ganeri
- Animalia by Graeme Base
- Grasshopper on the Road by Arnold Lobel
- The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible by Paul Taylor
HUMAN BODY/BIOLOGY
- Learning About Sex series for the Christian Family
- Rabies by Elaine Landau
- Focus on Medicine by Susan Destefano
- The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks (for teens with discernment, stories of mental illness, neurology, psychology)
- My Body Inside and Out by Dr. Anne Townsend
- The Disease Fighters by Aaseng
- The Reader’s Digest ABC of the Human Body (read aloud with suitable editing for teens)
- Germs Make Me Sick by Melvin Berger
- Double Helix by James D. Watson (high school)
- Dr. Beaumont and the Man with a Hole in His Stomach
- Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Philip Yancey
- Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki
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