Nowhere to Browse

I spent about an hour in a bookstore looking for reading recommendations for my students. I wanted some titles that were written with young readers in mind, but the science section is hopeless - it is filled with books that are written, in principle, for the lay-reader, but they are mostly pretty heavy reading even for me, and certainly beyond the reading level of most of my students. Even the advanced readers would have a hard time with the science content of almost all of the books, including the Cartoon Guide to Genetics that I finally purchased.

So off I trudged to the children/young adult section. Waste of time. Their nonfiction selection is an abomination, and especially so for science. Most of the offerings are those Eyewitness or similar type books, which are almost mini-encyclopedias more than anything else - not exactly what I have in mind. Hardly any scientist biographies (Einstein, not much else), and no titles comparable to any of the selections in the adult section. I've been to a couple of the major bookstores in the city and they all look the same in this regard. I haven't tried Bank Street yet, maybe they will have a better variety. Then there's the Museum of Natural History gift shop that has a rather large book section as well. I'll check them out after the holiday.

I came home from my book hunt and remembered that the NSTA publishes an annual list of recommended trade books (non-textbooks with science content). I selected a few examples and searched Barnes & Noble online. Turns out they do in fact carry most of the books online. But online browsing just isn't the same. I want to see the book and flip through the pages and read a little to get a feel for it. Looks like that's a luxury I won't have.