Life Science and Biology Booklist

Please preview suitability on Amazon.com or at your library. The majority of these books are suitable for elementary and middle school level children with a few exceptions for high school.

 

Terminology/ Definitions

Biology: Life as We Know It! by Dan Green and Simon Basher (elementary)

The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Biology (Illustrated Dictionaries) (middle/ high school) 

 

 

 

 

General Experiments and Activities

 

  

 

Janice VanCleave's Biology For Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments That Really Work (Science for Every Kid Series) by Janice VanCleave (elementary/ middle) 

Biology Experiments for Children (Dover science books) by Ethel Hanauer (elementary)

The Science of Life: Projects and Principles for Beginning Biologists by Frank G. Bottone Jr (middle/ high school)

 

Evolution/ Prehistory

 

                

Born With a Bang: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story by Jennifer Morgan (elementary)
From Lava to Life: The Universe Tells Our Earth's Story by Jennifer Morgan (elementary)
Mammals Who Morph: The Universe Tells Our Evolution Story by Jennifer Morgan (elementary)
Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution by Steve Jenkins (elementary)
Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story by Lisa Westberg Peters (elementary)
The Tree Of Life: The Wonders Of Evolution by Ellen Jackson (elementary)
When Fish Got Feet, Sharks Got Teeth, and Bugs Began to Swarm: A Cartoon Prehistory of Life Long Before Dinosaurs by Hannah Bonner (elementary/ middle)
When Bugs Were Big, Plants Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth: A Cartoon Prehistory of Life before Dinosaurs by Hannah Bonner (elementary/ middle)
Darwin and Evolution for Kids: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities by Kristan Lawson (elementary/ middle)
Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be by Daniel Loxton (middle)
Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth by Jay Hosler (middle)
The Sandwalk Adventures: An Adventure in Evolution Told in Five Chapters by Jay Hosler (middle)
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation by Michael Keller (middle/ high school)
On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition by Charles Darwin (middle/high school)
Also see this booklist at Pharyngula.

 

Classification

  

 

Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth by Rochelle Strauss (elementary)
Amphibians: Water-to-Land Animals (Amazing Science) and other Amazing Science books by Laura Purdie Salas (elementary)

Birds, Insects and other Animals, and their Habitats

   

 

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin (preschool)

Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin (preschool)

Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin (preschool)

Jack’s Insects by Edmund Selous (elementary/ middle)

The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degan (elementary)

The Field Guide to Rain Forest Animals (Field Guides) by Nancy Honovish and other Field Guides books

 

Books by Jim Arnosky (elementary)

 

   

 

A Walk in the…Biomes of North America series by Rebecca L. Johnson (elementary/ middle school)

   

A Walk in the Desert
A Walk in the Tundra
A Walk in the Prairie
A Walk in the Deciduous Forest
A Walk in the Boreal Forest
A Journey into an Estuary
A Walk in the Rain Forest

 

One Small Square series by Donald M. Silver (elementary/ middle)

     

Woods
Cactus Desert
Tropical Rain Forest
Seashore
Backyard
The Night Sky
Pond
Arctic Tundra
Coral Reef
African Savanna
Swamp
Cave

Microscopic Life, Germs and Diseases

Germ Stories by Arthur Kornberg (elementary) 

Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes (Science Stories) by Beverly Birch (elementary)

A World in a Drop of Water: Exploring with a Microscope by Alvin Silverstein (elementary/ middle) 

Invisible Enemies, Revised Edition: Stories of Infectious Disease by Jeanette Farrell (middle/ high school) 

Invisible Allies: Microbes That Shape Our Lives by Jeanette Farrell (middle/ high school)

How Did We Find Out About Germs by Isaac Asimov (middle/ high school)

Disease: The Extraordinary Stories Behind History's Deadliest Killers 

by Mary Dobson (middle/ high school)

Cells, Genetics, DNA

Microquests series by Rebecca L. Johnson (elementary)

   

Ultra-organized Cell Systems
Amazing DNA
Powerful Plant Cells
Mighty Animal Cells
Daring Cell Defenders

 

Enjoy Your Cells series by Frances R. Balkwill (elementary)

   

Enjoy Your Cells (Enjoy Your Cells, 1)
Germ Zappers (Enjoy Your Cells, 2)
Have a Nice DNA (Enjoy Your Cells, 3)

Gene Machines (Enjoy Your Cells, 4)

Genes and DNA (Kingfisher Knowledge) by Richard Walker and Steve Jones (middle)

DNA (Science Concepts. Second Series) by Alvin Silverstein, Virginia B. Silverstein, and Laura Silverstein Nunn (middle)

The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA by Mark Schultz, Zander Cannon, and Kevin Cannon (middle/ high school)

How Did We Find Out About DNA? (How Did We Find Out About Series) by Isaac Asimov and David Wool (middle/ high school)
  

Human Body

 

by Donald M. Silver (easy to make "body" manipulatives) (elementary/ middle)The Body Book

Brown Paper School book: Blood and Guts by Linda Allison (elementary/ middle)
Medicine News (The History News) by Philip Gates (elementary/ middle)
The Way We Work by David Macaulay (middle)
How Did We Find Out About Blood? by Isaac Asimov (middle/ high school)
How Did We Find Out About the Brain? by Isaac Asimov (middle/ high school)
(The How Did We Find Out About series is likely to be out of print. Check at your library.)

 

Magic School Bus series for a variety of science topics

   

 

The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow
The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses
The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body
The Magic School Bus: Human Body (DVD)
The Magic School Bus: Space Adventures (DVD)
The Magic School Bus: Bugs, Bugs, Bugs! (DVD)
The Magic School Bus: Creepy, Crawly Fun! (DVD)
The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor
The Magic School Bus: Catches a Wave (DVD)
The Magic School Bus Kicks Up A Storm: A Book About Weather
The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth (Magic School Bus)
There's tons of them...Google or search Amazon for a more detailed list!

 

Go back to Living Science Booklists.