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Educational kid book ideas?
15 years ago
If I were to write/illustrate an educational science book for kids (age 6-12, ish), knowing that I have a B.Sc. in animal biology, what should I do?
I was recently revisiting the idea that I should put my degree and artistic ability together into an educational book for children. I remember having a few when I was little (I used to be a reading fiend, and I loved encyclopedias and educational kid books) and I always appreciated having some kind of understanding for the world around me. I remember "growing up" and going to highschool, and when people were learning about human physiology for the first time, I thought, "Wow, this really is just like that kid's book I had when I was little, I already know this!"
I thought that was really cool, that something could be approachable by young kids but have useful, fun knowledge that actually sticks with you and makes your world make more sense.
So, I was thinking of doing similar books - the first two that came to mind were a "How your body works!" book, or a book showcasing animals of North America and teaching kids about local wildlife. My mother also thought that I should write little stories about animals, and make them educational and about what life for the animals is really like, and that kids would really like that, too. I do have an animal story already that I wrote when I was younger that I could probably adapt, but it'd be, ironically, perhaps more work to write an educational creative story than it would be to explain to kids how cells or stomachs or keystone species work for me.
I personally would maybe find it easier to write a straight-up informational-style book than a tell-it-through-a-story book. For instance, I can't just write a story about a wolf pup - I want it to be educational, about what wolf pack life is like, and how their social structure works and what their hunting is like. Sometimes the best way to do that is through story, but at the same time, I was the sort of learner that just liked things laid out straight for me, and explained. So I'm a bit torn on what style I should go for...
I was recently revisiting the idea that I should put my degree and artistic ability together into an educational book for children. I remember having a few when I was little (I used to be a reading fiend, and I loved encyclopedias and educational kid books) and I always appreciated having some kind of understanding for the world around me. I remember "growing up" and going to highschool, and when people were learning about human physiology for the first time, I thought, "Wow, this really is just like that kid's book I had when I was little, I already know this!"
I thought that was really cool, that something could be approachable by young kids but have useful, fun knowledge that actually sticks with you and makes your world make more sense.
So, I was thinking of doing similar books - the first two that came to mind were a "How your body works!" book, or a book showcasing animals of North America and teaching kids about local wildlife. My mother also thought that I should write little stories about animals, and make them educational and about what life for the animals is really like, and that kids would really like that, too. I do have an animal story already that I wrote when I was younger that I could probably adapt, but it'd be, ironically, perhaps more work to write an educational creative story than it would be to explain to kids how cells or stomachs or keystone species work for me.
I personally would maybe find it easier to write a straight-up informational-style book than a tell-it-through-a-story book. For instance, I can't just write a story about a wolf pup - I want it to be educational, about what wolf pack life is like, and how their social structure works and what their hunting is like. Sometimes the best way to do that is through story, but at the same time, I was the sort of learner that just liked things laid out straight for me, and explained. So I'm a bit torn on what style I should go for...
Or a book on animal defenses. Like how a skunk can spray or a porcupines has quills.
How about the lead character getting shrunk down at the edge of a pond and learning about the various microscopic life forms in the pond.
Since a lot of the things that go on in the body and with biology are at the microscopic scale, there's ostensibly a lot of "get shrunk down somehow and have a wild journey" sorts of stories you can do.
At the more macroscopic scale, there's teaching kids about how all the biological systems get along, but that tends more towards ecology and ecological systems than it does specifically about biology. However, you would be in a great position to learn enough about them to tell such a story. LIke, a racoon finds out his favorite stream for dipping his food into before eating it has suddenly dried up, and so needs to go upstream, finds a beaver dam, learns about beavers, and how they build dams and how they need it so strikes up a deal to wash his food up there instead.
The book I had when I was a kid wasn't so much about people being shrunk down and learning about the inside of the body, but rather it kinda related cells to different people doing different jobs. Red blood cells were workers carrying "fuel" to everyone, white blood cells were policemen fighting off germs, and all the organs were shown as kinda neat machines or contraptions being operated by different people. They were really apt analogies, but really approachable, too.
Like, I probably WOULD introduce the idea of DNA and enzymes and stuff, because the nice thing about biology is it's so easy to describe through analogy - it's practically still how it's taught at highschool level, just with a bit more explanation and with proper terminology.
At the very least, I could self publish and I could simply start local, sell to local bookstores and schools if possible, our town likes to pride itself in being community-minded or whatever and support its local artists/writers/etc. If it "took off" I could then maybe find a proper publisher.
You could also do one explaining how evolution works. More people need to be educated on the subject.
I'm not sure if I should do evolution. I mean, I really like the subject, and I like explaining it to people, AND I know how to present it reasonably (y'know, without being controversial or overbearingly arrogant), but it might be easier to avoid potentially controversial subject matter for ease of publishing/marketting.
But yeah, evolution is sort of two different things, as an issue. There's evolution as a fact, which we KNOW is happening and can observe and document and explain through genetics and population ecology and whatnot - I can do that, it's just explaining stuff as changing over time, like why we need a new flu vaccine every year.
But then there's evolution as a theory explaining phylogeny and ancient history/origin of species, which is what all the debate is REALLY over because science can't directly observe it happening, as it's too far in the past and our observational abilities are limited or flawed, and some people interpret it as being against their religion.
I want to be educational, but not controversial.
Would most likely get rabbled down by religious people...
I would include very, very basic sex ed in a "how your body works" book, but purely from a physiological standpoint without commenting at all, if possible, on the ethics of it. So I probably wouldn't even touch on "safe sex" or anything like that - I'd just describe it as, say, like... a mom and dad machine, each with an important part of a "baby blueprint" (DNA), and they work together and combine their blueprints to make a baby. Even that, though, I'm sure would make SOME people upset :P
But yeah, as the book's for pre-pubescent kids, I think I should leave the "safe sex" talks for later educators/parents.
Since from what I've noticed, way to many children and teens barely know shit about their own body (which causes teen pregnancy, and sometimes suicide if they came from a religious family, since all they ever knew was that that area is sinful, and now stuff happens to it, such as coming out blood.)
And I mean seriously, I meet a 31 year old man that didn't know where babies came from, or well, more like he didn't know how they were made, he just said that his wife was making another child, despite him telling her not to.
So the "leave for parents" parts is really uncertain. Since there's a chance it's against their beliefs to know things.
Yeah, really kind of appalling to me, I was always well-educated about it (partly because of educational kid books, and partly also because I just knew about stuff like that, being interested in science and biology and stuff as a kid).
"I meet a 31 year old man that didn't know where babies came from, or well, more like he didn't know how they were made, he just said that his wife was making another child, despite him telling her not to."
I sometimes wonder how people like this exist. I mean, it's not their fault, really, if you don't KNOW you're ignorant you can't help it, but sometimes I wonder how you can get through life not understanding so much, AND not realising it!. I mean, there's a lot I don't understand, but I KNOW it :b I don't quite get exactly how computer circuitry and programming works, but I don't just assume it's magic and then wonder why my computer doesn't know what I want when I do something wrong, y'know?
"there's a chance it's against their beliefs to know things."
I DO think it's perfectly acceptable to teach kids the "scientific" aspect of sex education - kids have a right to be informed about the technical aspects of their own body. I'm not teaching them what they should or shouldn't do, I'm just saying how it happens and explaining it. Despite my mother being a fundamentalist Christian, even she gave me a Christian sex ed book when I hit puberty - it was surprisingly fair and informative, explaining feelings of lust and masturbation and what sex is and how pregnancy works. I mean, it did include, "God doesn't want you to have sex until you're married" and things like that, but it still covered a lot of important stuff that some books (and parents) are unwilling to talk about.
But yeah, I'm willing to try to be fair to people's desire to teach their own kids morals and attitudes, but "I believe my kid should be ignorant" is not really one of them. I'm not going to say too much, as it IS for a certain age group, but that doesn't mean I should just ignore it.
Like, with other books, say, the story of a life of an animal (say, a cheetah). Female cheetahs, on occasion, are "kidnapped" and forcibly and repeatedly bullied into mating with males (ie. gangrape) - that's not something I'd want to explicitly get into in a kids book. But I would explain that, y'know, this animal has to eat other animals to survive, rather than just pretend she goes to the store or something :b I mean, if Disney can have killing and murder and animals eating other animals in their movies, I'm sure I can :b
So was I :P
Also one of the reasons I know so many weird things haha xD
I know it's not their fault they were brainwashed and tortured as children, but it still makes me sad to know these cults work so hard into doing it, I mean, if we'd be able to just intercept for one, just ONE generation, the world would be a so much better place.
I actually suggested/submitted a similar thing to a "school" I'm near, that they open a "sex ed for religious", that would have some fairy tales, the random crap and the kinda ok "no sex before marriage" things, but the difference would be that if parents say no to sex ed, their children have to take this class as mandatory (that's when they're forced to right?)
Imo, there should be a law against doing that to children.
Raising them with hate, ignorance and etc without their children really knowing why they think like they do is just cruelty tbh.
Yeah, I think you could, as long as it's "explained" in a "child friendly" manor.
"Raising them with hate, ignorance and etc without their children really knowing why they think like they do is just cruelty tbh."
Yeah, it's kinda stuff like this that makes me wish we needed parenting licenses.
I Sweden we had a kinda similar thing quite a while ago, much more cruels thou ^=^'
If you were to stupid, retarded, poor, single female or religious (in anything else then Christianity) the state would have you castrated "for the greater good".
I actually think a re-vamped system of that would do wonders with todays 12+ children families, or those that use them as paper weight.
It sounds kind of like a nature documentary, except it'd be a book for kids. ^^
Hm I don't think I'd be much help, there. xD I'd make it too much like a story. >>;