Author Spotlight on ScienceNetLinks

I’m honored to be a featured writer on the AAAS website as a winner of the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books! Receiving this prize was an amazing moment in my career, and I am so proud to share that This Book Stinks! is now prominently featured in Subaru dealerships around the country as part of their Subaru Loves Learning program. Not only that, Subaru has donated copies of all of the prizewinning books to thousands of classrooms around the country. Knowing that the message of This Book Stinks! is being spread among so many readers makes me so very happy.

Read the feature here!

THIS BOOK STINKS! Reviewed by The Horn Book

Thank you to the Horn Book, THE SOURCE for literature for children and young adults, for giving THIS BOOK STINKS! some love recently. Here's the review, find the real deal here!

 With its colorful design, clear layout, and approachable organization and presentation, this look at waste management balances dire truths with practical responses. Flynn spotlights the amount and types of trash humans create, particularly Americans, and explains where all our garbage goes and how individuals can lessen their environmental impact. Throughout, quizzes and activist profiles also encourage readers to do their part

 

THIS BOOK STINKS added to the longlist for the AAAS Excellence in Science Books!

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2018 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prizes Longlist Announced

Science Books & Films is pleased to announce the titles that have been selected for the longlist for the 2018 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prizes for Excellence in Science Books.

16 October 2017

 AAAS and Subaru of America, Inc. are proud to announce the books that were selected for the longlist of the 2018 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prizes for Excellence in Science Books. The Prizes celebrate outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults and are meant to encourage the writing and publishing of high-quality science books for all ages. AAAS believes that, through good science books, this generation, and the next, will have a better understanding and appreciation of science.

Our judges have been busy reading the many books submitted for the prize over the past six months and they have narrowed down those books to a longlist of books. The finalists will be announced in November and the winners will be announced in January 2018.

This year marks the 12th year that AAAS has partnered with Subaru to choose outstanding science books for children, middle schoolers, and young adults. Prizes are awarded in these categories:

  • Children’s Science Picture Book
  • Middle Grade Science Book
  • Young Adult Science Book
  • Hands-On Science Book

The Prizes will be bestowed at the 183rd AAAS Annual Meeting in Austin, TX, 15-19 February 2018.

YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE BOOKS

Jon Willis, All These Worlds Are Yours: The Scientific Search for Alien Life
Yale University Press

Alexandra Horowitz, Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell
Simon & Schuster

Sam Kean, Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us
Little, Brown and Company

James T. Costa, Darwin’s Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory
W.W. Norton & Co.

McKay Jenkins, Food Fight: GMOs and the Future of the American Diet
Penguin Random House

Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut, How to Tame a Fox (And Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution
University of Chicago Press

Anurag Agrawal, Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution
Princeton University Press

Joel Sartore, Photo Ark: One Man's Quest to Document the World's Animals
National Geographic Society

Kathryn Miles, Quakeland: On the Road to America's Next Devastating Earthquake
Penguin Random House

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott, Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour
Princeton University Press

 

MIDDLE GRADE SCIENCE BOOKS

Steve Jenkins, Animals by the Numbers: A Book of Animal Infographics
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Amy Cherrix, Eye of the Storm: NASA, Drones, and the Race to Crack the Hurricane Code
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Dr. Dave Williams and Loredana Cunti, Go for Lift Off! How to Train Like an Astronaut
Annick Press

Claire Eamer, Inside Your Insides: A Guide to the Microbes That Call You Home
Kids Can Press

Patricia Newman, Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
Millbrook Press

Dr. Dave Williams and Loredana Cunti, To Burp or Not to Burp: A Guide to Your Body in Space
Annick Press

Alexandra Siy, Voyager’s Greatest Hits: The Epic Trek to Interstellar Space
Charlesbridge Publishing

Claire Eamer, What a Waste!: Where Does Garbage Go?
Annick Press

 

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE PICTURE BOOKS

Deborah Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp, Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle
Persnickety Press

Doug Wechsler, The Hidden Life of a Toad
Charlesbridge Publishing

Laura Purdie Salas (author), Jaime Kim (illustrator), If You Were the Moon
Millbrook Press

Paul Meisel, My Awesome Summer by P. Mantis
Holiday House

Jonathan London (author), Meilo So (illustrator), Otters Love to Play
Candlewick Press

Kate Messner (author) Christopher Silas Neal (illustrator), Over and Under the Pond
Chronicle Books

Eileen Christelow, Robins! How They Grow Up
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Jess Keating (author) Marta Alvarez Miguens (illustrator), Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

 

HANDS-ON SCIENCE BOOKS

Melissa Stewart (author), Andre Ceolin (illustrator), Droughts
HarperCollins

David A. Adler (author) Anna Raff (illustrator), Magnets Push, Magnets Pull
Holiday House

Sarah Wassner Flynn, This Book Stinks: Gross Garbage, Rotten Rubbish, and the Science of Trash
National Geographic Children’s Books

Karen Romano Young, Try This! 50 Fun & Safe Experiments for the Mad Scientist in You
National Geographic Children’s Books

 

SLJ Review of This Book Stinks!

 School Library Journal (SLJ) recently covered This Book Stinks, giving it a glowing review and calling it a "strong purchase for any middle grade nonfiction collection" which will "open the minds of young ecologists to this hot-button topic."

Full review below. Thank you, SLJ for your coverage! 

FLYNN, Sarah Wassner. This Book Stinks!: Gross Garbage, Rotten Rubbish, and the Science of Trash. 128p. charts. diag. index. photos. National Geographic. Mar. 2017. Tr $24.90.ISBN 9781426327315; pap. $14.99. ISBN 9781426327308.

Gr 4-7–Dive into one of the most pressing ecological issues facing our planet—trash! This engaging title takes readers through the facts and figures of refuse and recycling: what we throw out, where it goes, and what we can do to lighten our litter load. A focus on our global garbage habits, including trash’s impact on everything from oceans to outer space, will open the minds of young ecologists to this hot-button topic. Full-color pages text accompanied by photographs, with many informational spreads featuring eye-catching charts and diagrams. Some readers may find the vibrant neon coloration of some pages overwhelming, but overall the eclectic layout helps to bring a stinky subject to life. With a table of contents, bold headings on each page, and an index, this is a useful resource for researchers. The design, which calls to mind many a records book, also makes this a strong recommendation for recreational reading. The content is enhanced by interviews, intermittent quizzes that reinforce as well as entertain, a word scramble, and an entire section dedicated to how-tos on upcycling, composting, and more. There’s even a recipe for sour milk pancakes! VERDICT A strong purchase for any middle grade nonfiction collection.–Darla Salva Cruz, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

WTOP Features This Book Stinks

Growing up in the D.C. area with an AM-radio loving dad, WTOP has been a part of my life for years. So it was a true honor and thrill to be featured on the station a couple of weeks ago on the heels of the release of This Book Stinks. A bunch of friends and family in the area also happened to hear the clip live on the radio as it ran throughout the day on the station. I feel like I've really made it now...hah! Here's the story  WTOP featured online and the (very brief) interview clips. 

 

Going Back to School...

I had the pleasure of visiting a few elementary schools over the past month to chat about life as an author and share my books with some very inquisitive and smart students. Nothing validates my work more than interacting with my readers--they ask great questions! Here are some shot of me heading back to school. Thank you to Bear Elementary, Carderock Springs Elementary, and Beverly Farms Elementary for having me! 

Kirkus Review Gives Praise to This Book Stinks!

No trash talking here! Honored to receive a glowing write-up from Kirkus Review! 

KIRKUS REVIEW

Stinky facts about waste and what we can do about it.

With lively, colorful design and limited text, Flynn takes on the problems of the “staggering amount of trash” we humans create and offers suggestions for appropriate waste disposal, recycling, reuse, and composting roughly organized into chapters. Each double-page spread covers a different topic, introduced with an attention-getting headline (“From Filth to Fashion”; “Food Waste Facts to Chew on”) and developed with factoids and short paragraphs. These are presented on colorful, geometric backgrounds and strewn around the pages along with drawings and photographs and splotches of color. The effect is almost overwhelming, which may be the intent. Flynn explains how landfills work, describes the plastic in our oceans and debris orbiting the Earth in space, and points out how our food waste could feed the hungry. She introduces garbage collectors, dumpster divers, artists who reuse materials, and a trash activist. She shows that problems of waste management are worldwide, and she offers examples of progress from many countries. The juxtaposition of problems and possibilities makes this a more positive book than it might have been, and there are suggested activities that are well within the capacity of the middle-grade audience.

An enthusiastic invitation to become a waste warrior. (index, credits) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Upcoming School Visits!

 

I'm excited to be meeting students from around the area this spring! Upcoming visits include:

March 29: Carderock Springs Elementary School, Bethesda, Maryland

April 3: Mary B. Leasure Elementary School, Newark, Delaware

April 5: Beverly Farms Elementary School, Potomac, Maryland 

If you'd like for your school or group to be added to the list, please contact me!