Who Is a Scientist? by Laura Gehl

Happy Monday! I'm grateful Dr. Laura Gehl stopped by to share the WONDERFUL book trailer for Who is a Scientist? I wrote the words in purple, and Laura wrote the words in black. Thank you, Laura!

The book trailer for Who is a Scientist? made me cry the first time I watched it.

Isha Renta López, Jagmeet Kanwal, Marina Gillett, Jonathan Fisk, Munazza Alam, Mark Lewis, Joyce Parker, Sandeep (Bob) Datta, Nizar Ibrahim, Michelle Skoorka, Tishina Okegbe, Richard Mankin, and Tara Astigarraga are all scientists who are passionate about their work. But they are also people who are passionate about other things, from sports to playing with their pets to eating ice cream. (I share the passion for eating ice cream, and I’m guessing a lot of young readers do too!)

Science is a type of exploration. Whether working in a lab like Jagmeet or in the Sahara Desert like Nizar, scientists get to add new information to the total amount of knowledge the world possesses, and that never ceases to amaze me.

Did you know my mom literally ate my science fair project? In high school, I was studying whether the “good” bacteria in yogurt can survive the digestion process. My mom ate one of my precious samples! (Twenty-five years later, I actually ate my own daughter’s science fair project…but unlike my mom, I had permission!)  

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me what I hope kids take away from reading this book. I hope readers come away from the book with an awareness that scientists are not ONLY excited about science. Scientists have other interests too—interests that many kids share, like karate and movies and art and tacos. Also, I want readers to realize that that not all scientists work in labs with chemicals while wearing white coats. Scientists work in many different places and study many different topics. And just as I hope readers see that scientists don’t fit into any one box, I hope they realize that science is not any one thing. Science is dinosaurs, and planets, and fish, and rockets, and bugs, and so much more! No matter where a reader’s interests lie, there is a scientific field waiting to welcome them. Most of all, I want young readers to come away from the book thinking, “I could be a scientist!” or “I want to be a scientist!”

Thank you, Laura!

Laura Gehl is the author of nearly a dozen picture books, board books, and early readers including And Then Another Sheep Turned Up and I Got a Chicken for My Birthday. A former science editor and reading teacher, Laura lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with her husband and four children.

Look for Who is a Scientist? on October 5, 2021. 

Scientists work hard in the lab and in the field to make important discoveries. But who are they really?

It turns out they are just like us! Scientists can be any race. And any gender. They can wear lab coats, jeans, or even tutus. And they are people who love to fly drones, make art, and even eat French fries!

Meet fourteen phenomenal scientists who might just change the way you think about who a scientist is. They share their scientific work in fields like entomology, meteorology, paleontology, and engineering as well as other interesting facts about themselves and their hobbies. An “if you like this, you’ll like that” flowchart in the back of the book helps students identify science careers they might be interested in. Scan a QR code at the end of the book for a video of the scientists introducing themselves!

Click here to download the Who is a Scientist? teaching guide.