So You Want To Be A Scientist

For parents of curious 10–12 year-olds, So You Want To Be a Scientist is the rare science book that feels inspiring and rigorously grounded. It doesn’t talk down to kids; it trains their “why?” into a habit of noticing, testing, and thinking clearly.

Soules begins where kids actually live: questions about the sky, seeds, and dreams. From there, she eases them into the real work—make a guess, test it, write it down, and try again—without turning it into a lecture. The real-world examples (penicillin, the microwave, Kevlar, the “Wood Wide Web”) are the kind that stick and make kids want to tell you about them later. What I liked most is that it pushes the curiosity off the page: start a notebook, try small experiments at home, and treat “that didn’t work” as part of the process.

Soules has a friendly, confident voice and she explains big ideas without making them feel “school-ish.” The pages move quickly, and it’s easy to stop after a section and talk—exactly what you want with this age group. I also appreciated how she normalizes mistakes and keeps circling back to honesty and responsibility (“can we?” vs “should we?”). The only quibble is that a couple of list-heavy stretches may slow down kids who prefer more narrative flow.

In our house, I’d hand this to a kid who loves asking “why?” and doesn’t want the conversation to end. Dip in a few pages at a time, and expect it to spill into real life—kitchen experiments, notebook scribbles, and better questions. That’s the point.