STEM topics infuse children’s titles after recent popularity surge

As a new children’s publisher launches with a focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, existing presses and writers within the space report a growing interest in this strand of publishing across both non-fiction and fiction. 

QuestFriendz was founded by husband-and-wife team computer scientist Dr Thomas Bernard and children’s author Lisa Moss after they struggled to find books for their young children that would help them develop foundational STEM skills. According to Moss, most titles they came across “depicted stereotypical lead characters such as young boys in white lab coats”, though The Questioneers series (written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts) and the Izzy Gizmo books (written by Pip Jones and illustrated by Sara Ogilvie) were notable exceptions. 

The pair’s first title, SuperQuesters: The Case of the Stolen Sun, illustrated by Amy Willcox (to be published on 3rd May), marks the start of a young fiction adventure series. Moss believes this genre is “a great way to immerse children, especially younger children and reluctant readers, fully in the book and spark their interest in STEM learning… with the child engaging in learning without necessarily realising they are doing so”. Another ambition is to “help change children’s perceptions about science and engineering”. The titles feature ethnically diverse characters, with both male and female characters taking leading roles. QuestFriendz plans to include disabled and neurodivergent characters in future and to expand into non-fiction. 

Children’s indie b small has a well-established series of STEM Starters for Kids activity books. Publisher Sam Hutchinson says of its origins: “STEM was a term that adults were using a lot and given that that’s our audience, we thought we would brand some science activity books as STEM.” After doing so, these titles “found their audience really quickly”, with the series now having sold in 24 languages. Hutchinson says: “Some countries instantly ‘get’ STEM and then other countries just don’t get it at all. It’s mostly Asia, Eastern Europe, America and Australia where STEM seems to be an acronym that’s used. But the markets where we would traditionally sell—like France and Spain and Scandinavia—have been the last ones to pick up on it. Some of them don’t actually include the STEM acronym on the books.” 

A vital cog

STEM is a “really important strand” of fellow small press Magic Cat’s output, according to publisher Jenny Broom. It tries to differentiate its STEM offering from the rest of the market by showing how it “plugs into the real world and everyday family life, from a more nuanced perspective”. Broom cites Magic Cat’s latest title, Grow, as a good example of this as it presents key STEM ideas such as pollination and evolution through the lens of gardening. She explains: “Many parents buy books on these topics because they aren’t confident navigating these subject areas themselves, but their children are learning about them at school. There are fantastic publishers already doing an amazing job of unpacking the curriculum; for us the opportunity lies in reaching out to families who may not consider themselves science-savvy.” 

Jenny Jacoby, a freelance editor and writer who specialises in covering STEM topics for children, also tries to relate these subjects to everyday life to engage young readers, and tries to include activities in her books that children can do themselves, as this is “empowering and a tangible way of showing that science is for everyone”. Jacoby has noticed more interest in STEM children’s publishing recently, with seven of her own titles being released this year. She says: “One of the things that this new era of science publishing is doing so well is the illustrations. Everything that I’ve been writing has been made to look so beautiful.” Interestingly, in her role as a part-time editor at Hot Key Books and Piccadilly Press, she has also seen more fiction that covers STEM topics, including Konnie Huq’s Cookie series. 

Maybe STEM branding has worked well for publishers because it doesn’t necessarily put too much pressure on the child. It’s still all the stuff that kids like about science for their age range, but it just adds a little signifier to the parents that this is valuable

Katie Weeks, public engagement manager at independent scientific academy The Royal Society, agrees there has been a rise in children’s fiction with “a very heavy science component”. The academy administers The Young People’s Book Prize, which aims to promote literacy in young people and to inspire them to read about science. In recent years, the shortlist has included more fiction, such as Agent Asha: Mission Shark Bytes, written by Sophie Deen and illustrated by Anjan Sarkar, and Aimee Lucido’s In the Key of Code (both published by Walker), both with coding themes. Other notable trends in science-themed fiction include female inventors, as seen in Vashti Hardy’s Harley Hitch series (Scholastic), and Artificial Intelligence, with the likes of Kirsty Applebaum’s TrooFriend (Nosy Crow), Sophie Cameron’s Our Sister, Again (Little Tiger) and Elle McNicoll’s Show Us Who You Are (Knights Of). 

Weeks feels that STEM publishing “gives children another route into science”, adding: “A lot of these books make it really accessible, and they are so different that there’s usually something for everyone.” While Hutchinson believes that “a child would get the same out of a book that didn’t have the STEM logo on it”, he admits that “contextualising science within the framework of an acronym that they and their family and teachers recognise” can be helpful. He expands: “Maybe STEM branding has worked well for publishers because it doesn’t necessarily put too much pressure on the child. It’s still all the stuff that kids like about science for their age range, but it just adds a little signifier to the parents that this is valuable.”