It was a great pleasure to be invited to write the middle-grade adaptation of Loren Grush’s book The Six, the story of America’s first six women astronauts, with all their struggles and victories. It’s another great pleasure to get this glowing starred review of the adaptation from Kirkus, which says, “This riveting account is an effortless and irresistible read that many young readers will find difficult to set down.” The Six: Young Readers Edition will be published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers on February 11, 2025.
The wondrousness of the natural world inheres in even the smallest things. Two articles recently reminded me of this easy-to-forget truth. One was about sand, the other about bugs.
These “gems” are microscopically enlarged pieces of sand from Point Spencer, Alaska. As this Atlas Obscura article explains, the sand of this long, narrow spit in the Bering Sea is made up of a variety of minerals, including olivine and quartz. Point Spencer was once at the heart of Beringia, the land bridge that formerly linked Asia and North America.
And the bugs, you ask? This piece in The Guardian describes a high, narrow pass in the Pyrenees Mountains, between France and Spain. Each year, more than 17 million tiny insects migrate through this cleft in the mountains, which is about 30 yards (or meters) wide. Researchers say their flight looks like a flying carpet and gives off a low, penetrating hum. They hope that studying the phenomenon will help bring attention to the plight of insects, which are suffering alarming population crashes around the world. And as the insects go, so goes the rest of life on this planet. We all need that flying carpet.
I’m very proud to say that the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has included Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: Young Readers Edition on its list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 for 2019. Science teachers are heroes, and it is an honor to have them recognize by my adaptation of this world-changing book.
Back in 2003 I wrote this book about Pluto as part of a series for kids. In the last chapter I wrote that the Bush administration had cancelled a planned Pluto mission, but that “space scientists and supporters of exploration in the outer Solar System” intended to keep trying. Today I am beyond happy that they succeeded so beautifully. Bravo, New Horizons and all who helped!
Their summary: