Top Five: Engaging Fiction Books Rooted in STEM
Discovering Captivating Fictional Stories That Inspire and Celebrate Women and Non-Binary Individuals in STEM Fields
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Engaging fiction books constantly grace the New York Times Best Seller list but what about those that celebrate and empower women and non-binary individuals in STEM. The interest in STEM related topics has been growing every year.
STEM fiction consists of books that emphasize solving problems using tools such as science, technology, engineering, and math.
“The Calculating Stars” by Mary Robinette Kowal is a science fiction novel and is the first book in the “Lady Astronaut” series. The novel takes place in 1952 after a meteor hits the Chesapeake Bay and destroys the Eastern Seaboard. In its wake, the main character Elma York calculates how the resulting climate change will make Earth unlivable in the next 50 years.
“Chasing Helicity” by Ginger Zee, ABC News’ Chief Meteorologist is a series of novels featuring middle-schooler Helicity Dunlap. Publisher’s Weekly says Zee “deftly balances the science of storms, their fascination to storm chasers, and Helicity’s angst and family problems. Readers should easily relate to Helicity’s longing to follow her passion: “Wind, moisture, pressure, temperature―there was so much about the weather that she didn’t know, and so much she wanted to understand.”
3. “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race” by Margot Lee Shetterly is a historical novel highlighting the time between the 1930s through the 1960s. It focuses on the specific barriers for Black women in science and particularly at NASA. The book was adapted into a movie of the same name in 2016.
4. “The Power” by Naomi Alderman is “speculative” fiction. It takes the reader to a world where teenage girls have immense physical power - able to cause pain and even death.
5. “The Fifth Season” by N.K. Jemisin, aka Nora Keita Jemisin is a science fiction and fantasy writer. This award winning novel is the first in the “Broken Earth” Trilogy. The story begins in the fictitious superworld of The Stillness and follows Essun, the book's main character as they lead a racially defined class of powerful Earth-benders.
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