I’ve had several requests for Maker books for older kids, so here goes! This list, while not exhaustive, includes fiction, nonfiction, and biographies that might be of interest to kids under 12 who are young crafters, builders, designers, and creators. Also check out the picture books for young makers post.
As always, let me know what I missed!
Nonfiction
Bomb by Steve Sheinkin (Roaring Brook Press, 2012) Audiobook is excellent also
Fairy World Crafts by Kathy Ross (Millbrook Press, 2008)
Minecraft: Combat Handbook by Stephanie Milton (Scholastic, 2014)
Minecraft: Construction Handbook by Matthew Needler (Scholastic, 2014)
Minecraft: Essential Handbook by Stephanie Milton (Scholastic, 2013)
Minecraft: Redstone Handbook by Nick Farwell (Scholastic, 2014)
Minecraft: The Official Annual 2014 (Egmont Books Ltd, 2013)
Pranklopedia: The Funniest, Grossest, Craziest, Not-Mean Pranks on the Planet! by Julie Winterbottom (Workman Publishing, 2013)
Python for kids : a playful introduction to programming by Jason R Briggs (No Starch Press, 2013)
Robotics: Discover the Science and Technology of the Future by Kathy Ceceri (Gazelle, 2012)
Sewing school : 21 Sewing Projects Kids Will Love to Make by Amie Petronis Plumley and Andria Lisle (Storey Pub., 2010)
Starting From Scratch: What You Should Know about Food and Cooking by Sarah Elton (Owlkids Books, Inc, 2014)
The LEGO Adventure Book: Cars, Castles, Dinosaurs, and More! by Megan Rothrock (No Starch Press) series
The LEGO Ideas Book : You Can Build Anything! by Daniel Lipkowitz (DK Publishing, 2011)
The LEGO Ideas Book Credit: timblerdoodle.com
The Technology of Baseball by Thomas K Adamson (Capstone Press, 2013) part of High Tech Sports series by various authors
T-Minus: The Race to the Moon by Jim Ottaviani (Aladdin, 2009)
The Ultimate Player’s Guide to Minecraft by Stephen O’Brien (Que Publishing, 2013)
Unbored by Elizabeth Foy Larsen (Bloomsbury USA, 2012)
Fiction
Alien in my Pocket series by Nate Ball (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2014)
All Four Stars by Tara Dairman (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Group, 2014)
A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeleine L’Engle (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2012)
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein (Random House, 2013)
Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor by Jon Scieszka (Amulet Books, 2014)
George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy & Stephen Hawking (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2007) series
Ivy + Bean: What’s the Big Idea by Annie Barrows (Chronicle Books, 2010) series
Just Grace Gets Crafty by Charise Mericle Harper (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014) series
Just Grace Gets Crafty Credit: hmhbooks.com
Missile Mouse by Jake Parker (Graphix, 2011) series
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Big, Bad Ironclad by Nathan Hale (Amulet Books, 2012) series
Nick and Tesla’s high-voltage danger lab : a mystery with electromagnets, burglar alarms, and other gadgets you can build yourself by Bob Pflugfelder (Quirk Books, 2013) series
Secret Coders series by Gene Luen Yang
Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown (Scholastic, 2013) series
The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm (Random House, 2014)
The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza by James Kochalka (First Second, 2014)
The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook by Eleanor Davis (Bloomsbury, 2009)
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger (Amulet, 2010) series
Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald (Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Group, 2014)
What we Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World by Henry Clark (little, Brown and Company, 2013)
Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke (First Second, 2010) series
Biographies
Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee (Charlesbridge, 2005)
A Wizard from the Start: The Incredible Boyhood and Amazing Inventions of Thomas Edison by Don Brown (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010)
When the Beat was Born : DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill (Roaring Brook Press, 2013)
When the Beat Was Born Credit: juniorlibraryguild.com
Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women by Catherine Thimmesh (Houghton Mifflin, 2000)
Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars by Mark Weston (Lee & Low Books, 2008)
The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull (Alfred A Knopf, 2009)
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman (Roaring Brook Press, 2013)
The Day-Glo brothers : the True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton (Charlesbridge, 2009)
More to come! Additional posts will feature titles for teens and parents and apps.
