Reasons to use STEM-themed books to engage children in reading
Published on: 07 March 2025
Authors and scientists Paul Ian Cross and Thomas Bernard discuss the benefits of sharing STEM-themed books with children.
We all know that the attention competition between screen time with digital devices and books is fierce for children.
BookTrust research has found that children’s enjoyment of reading decreases throughout primary school. The decline begins from Key Stage 1 and continues through Key Stage 2. Screen time focuses on instant gratification and interactivity, making it paramount that we find ways to make reading a fun, rewarding, and engaging experience. How can STEM-based books help achieve this?
Making reading exciting
Whilst books of all genres have much to offer readers, STEM-themed books are especially useful for boosting reader engagement. These stories improve children's reading skills, spark curiosity, encourage problem-solving, and boost creativity. These are all important skills for the inventors and innovators of the future. The key is to make science and technology fun and simple so kids see them as part of everyday life.
Through the stimulating and often interactive nature of STEM-based books, children’s relationship with reading as a fun, exciting activity can be reignited. Sharing books with a reading buddy or as part of a small group can also enhance the reading experience, creating shared moments and supporting peer-to-peer learning.
Interactivity engages readers
STEM-themed books are particularly well placed to bring books to life and extend the reading experience into real world activities. Many STEM-themed books, such as our SuperQuesters adventure series, contain interactive puzzles, activities, experiments, and further reading recommendations, which readers can engage with once they’ve read the book.
What we know from the Cone of Experience is that going beyond the conventional text-only reading approach and finding new ways to engage the audience can help to develop a direct and closer relationship with the book itself. STEM books become a great learning vehicle to develop children’s eagerness to go from one page to the next and as an outcome, they read more. The reader is now immersed and part of the story, participating actively.
Bringing storytelling to life
Aside from the suggested activities and experiments included in the books themselves, the themes explored in these texts can be extended into other meaningful practical experiences, which help promote learning through reading. Books with interesting characters, diverse role models, and fun hands-on activities can also get children excited and curious about learning. The best STEM books are the ones that blend STEM concepts with storytelling.
The Little Raindrop by Joanna Gray and Dubravka Kolanovic is an example of a fiction text that teaches children about the water cycle in an informal way. This can be extended into a learning opportunity, where children can explore ways to make their own water cycle models.
In books such as Martha Maps It Out by Leigh Hodgkinson, we find opportunities for children to create their own maps and to learn more about their local environment. Meanwhile, Tadpole’s Promise by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross presents readers with the opportunity to think about what other animals might live in a pond and to explore their own local park or school grounds to look for minibeasts. Children can create their own bug hotel or bird feeders to attract more animals, or plant flowers to attract bees.
Non-fiction texts, such as the classic The Way Things Work by David Macaulay or his newer book How Machines Work: Zoo Break! also make hands-on engineering concepts easy to understand. The latter text, for example, can be extended into a real-world experience by inviting children to think about how they would escape the zoo if they were locked in without a phone.
Engaging readers of all ages and abilities
The wide variety of topics covered by STEM-themed books, ranging from picture books through to chapter books and even young adult, means that they can engage readers of all ages and abilities.
For slightly older readers, fiction can be a fantastic way to bring STEM to life. Books like The Wild Robot by Peter Brown introduce technology and nature in a way that feels deeply human. The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day by Christopher Edge is another favourite as it cleverly weaves science and storytelling together.
Non-fiction texts can be especially appealing to reluctant readers, who may find reading an entire book daunting or intimidating. STEM-themed information books allow readers to read small sections at a time, dipping in and out of books based on what information they want to learn about, all whilst building confidence and enjoyment in reading.
Developing positive attitudes
STEM-focused books also help readers develop dispositions and attitudes which will become highly valuable to them throughout their lives. Books such as Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Put Astronauts on the Moon by Helaine Becker promote perseverance, whilst Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford encourages curiosity and critical thinking skills.
For younger children, Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts is brilliant at showing young readers that failure is just part of the creative process. And our SuperQuesters series promotes teamwork, problem-solving and flexibility and emphasises the fact that everyone has a skill and something to contribute.
The importance of supporting reading engagement
Reading is an important life skill that we need to support children to develop. By making reading enjoyable, fun and meaningful, we can help foster a lifelong love of reading and learning.
STEM-themed books are a brilliant resource to help us achieve this, whilst also offering children the opportunity to increase their knowledge, learn new skills and, most importantly, fuel their curiosity and imagination.
The chapter book SuperQuesters Mission: River Crest River by Paul Ian Cross, illustrated by Katie Kear and Cherie Zamazing, is out on 1 May.
Find out more about QuestFriendz, including the SuperQuesters picture book series, written by Thomas Bernard and Lisa Moss and illustrated by Amy Willcox, at www.questfriendz.com.
