Science in Middle Grade Fiction

By Yolanda Ridge

As a kid, most of what I learned about history came from reading historical fiction. Although non-fiction has come a long way since I was growing up, for me there is still something magical about learning a topic through a character that is experiencing it.

But unlike historical fiction, a genre that gives a realistic depiction of history, science fiction refers to titles set in the future dealing with imaginative concepts - things that are often based on scientific fact or possibility, but not necessarily true. If I had relied on A Wrinkle in Time to learn about space, I probably wouldn’t have graduated high school.

Fortunately, there is a subsection of fiction that has become increasingly popular in recent years, which Jacqueline Houtman has creatively labeled “sciency fiction”. She keeps a list of middle grade titles that fit into this category on her blog called Sciency Fiction.

Houtman’s novel, The Reinvention of Edison Thomas, is a perfect example of “sciency fiction”. It weaves accurate information about physics and mechanics into the story of Eddy, a middle grader who invents a traffic calming device using parts from discarded machines, while redefining success and navigating social challenges.

The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm also uses references to famous scientists – Galileo, Newton, Salk, Oppenheimer – in telling the story of 11-year-old Ellie as she mourns the loss of her best friend and her goldfish while exploring immortality and the ethics of scientific discovery related to her grandfather’s research.

Combining my love of both historical fiction and “sciency fiction” is the 2010 Newbery Honor Winner, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, about 11-year-old Callie who is endlessly curious about the natural world. Each chapter begins with an epigraph from Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species. The book has been followed up with a sequel and two graphic novels that continue to showcase Jacqueline Kelly’s ability to combine information with engaging story telling.

On the Canadian front, Kenneth Oppel's Half Brother introduces readers to behavioural science through the fascinating relationship between 13-year-old Ben and Zan, a chimpanzee. Oppel’s latest title, Every Hidden Thing, explores archaeology with another engaging story aimed at young adult readers.

Also for a slightly more mature audience, Susan Nielsen’s We Are All Made of Molecules joins the long list of current books featuring super smart protagonists who love to share scientific facts with readers. In this case, we meet 13-year-old Stewart who defines relationships geologically, has a cat named Schrödinger, and remembers his mother by breathing in her molecules.

Gordon Korman’s Ungifted takes the opposite approach by throwing an “ordinary” student into a special program for gifted and talented students where a lot of learning happens for all the characters (and the reader). The Hypnotist and Masterminds series also weave scientific elements into action-packed stories that border on science fiction.

Many other great titles combine science fiction and “sciency fiction”. The anthology Polaris: A Celebration of Polar Science employed science content reviewers to ensure the science fiction collection could be used to enrich and supplement science teaching. Fantasy can also deliver “sciency fiction” as it does in Paula Johnson’s Tower in the Crooked Wood, where Jenia uses her knowledge of trees to learn by trial and error about the magic used to kidnap her.

In celebrating the release of my recent Inside Hudson Pickle, I prepared a list of children’s fiction books depicting medical conditions caused by a single gene or chromosomal change for the Nerdy Book Club. Among the titles I researched, there was a wide variation in how much scientific detail was provided. In my book, where 13-year-old Hudson’s uncle is diagnosed with a genetic condition called Alpha-1, I drew on my experience as a genetic counsellor to explain autosomal recessive inheritance within the context of the narrativke.
middle grade novel,

Like many authors, I’ve tried to write the book I would’ve liked to read when I was that age – so I could learn about genetics without staring at one of Mendel’s pea diagrams. Today, there are many great choices for young people who want non-fiction, “sciency fiction” or a combination of both.

This week's guest blogger, Yolanda Ridge, is a Vancouver-based writer with an interest in both fiction and science.

Enchantium Gas is Real (Tell Me Something I Didn’t Know)

By guest blogger Robert Paul Weston

[This post originally appeared in May 2014 on Robert Paul Weston's blog. We liked it, and he kindly offered to share it. - The Sci/Why Gang.]

The Lagoon Nebula.
Photo credit: "ESO/VPHAS+ team" (http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1403a/)

This morning I read an article about a “quiet revolution” in theoretical physics. According to Max Tegmark, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, consciousness may in fact be an undiscovered form of matter, as in a solid, liquid or gas. He even gave the new element a fancy name. “Perceptronium.”

Now, far be it from me to accuse a highly decorated theoretical physicist of scientific plagiarism, but I had to wonder…has this guy read my book?

Enchantium Gas, the square root of -1
on the periodic table of elements.
A discovery I made way back in 2008.
Photo credit: Robert Paul Weston/Penguin USA

In Zorgamazoo, I very clearly laid out the principles not only of human thought as an element (ahem, Enchantium Gas anyone?), but I also went one step further, postulating how an entire civilisation, power system and energy cycle could be derived from something as intangible as psychological boredom.

This was way back in 2008. This guy Tegmark—if that’s his real name—is waaay behind the times. Seriously, physicists, chemists, people of science: Do try to keep up.

(Sigh.)

Robert Paul Weston grew up in Ontario but now lives in England. He writes fiction that sometimes veers toward fact.

Solve the Forensic Puzzle, Win a Copy of Trouble in the Hills

Posted by Helaine Becker

Research is naturally a big part of my life as a science writer. For my nonfiction books, I regularly get on-line, into the library stacks or on the phone to dig out interesting science-y information, and find out from experts how things really work. But what about when I write fiction? How much scientific research is required to produce a frothy adventure story?
Quite a lot, it turns out.

For example, I had to call in the experts when writing my most recent book, Trouble in the Hills, an action-packed YA adventure that pits an injured teen against the elements. As Cam slowly makes his way back to town over cold, mountain terrain, he encounters a trio of kidnappers, the girl who escaped them, his former best friend, and a gang of drug runners. The book is less concerned with scientific theory than with, “Will he escape the baddies, and wind up happily ever after with the girl?”

Nevertheless, I did want to make my plot, my scenery and my action as believable as possible. And I can tell you without embarrassment I have never mountain-biked in the Kootenays, or stumbled across a mad mama bear, human traffickers, or a corpse in a cave.

But my gutsy and attractive teen protagonists, Samira and Cam, do.

When I was writing the scene in which they find the corpse, I had a problem. In order to write it, I needed to know: ‘in what state was the body?’ Being a science writer, I could not just rely on conjecture and hope nobody noticed. I needed facts.

To learn them, I turned to an expert in forensics, Dr. Shari L. Forbes. She’s the Director of Forensic Science and Associate Professor of Forensic Science and Chemistry at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

I posed this question to her:

“A corpse has been lying in a cave complex in British Columbia for close to a year. Here is a description of the (real) caves I’m using as a model for my fictional ones:

                    The Crystal caves are the remains of an old mining prospect,
                    crystal quartz cover part of the rock wall on the exterior of the
                    caves. Make sure to bring a flashlight along, as the caves can be
                    pretty dark, but safe to check out. The cave is laid out in a ‘L’ shape
                    extending to about 25m into the mountain side to a dead end.

The cave would be at about 750 m altitude.

What would my characters be likely to find when they come across the body in the cave L? Would the boy’s body be skeletonized? Mummified? Frozen? (I think the avg. temperature in the cave must be quite cool). What condition might his clothes be in? Would they be able to be removed from the body, or is that just too gross and unlikely to happen?”

Dr. Forbes was able to give me the scientific information I needed to write the scene as accurately as possible. It appears about mid-way through Trouble in the Hills, and is well, troubling. :)


So what does the body look like? Can you guess – or do you think you know – the answer to this gruesome forensic puzzle?

If you do, please post your anwer in the comments section below. The most accurate answerer will win a signed copy of Trouble in the Hills!