Book Nook: Beauty and the Beak - How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle

My kids enjoy science. One daughter loves art. This made it fun to review a new book, Beauty and the Beak. The book recently received the highest honor in children's books given by a scientific organization, the AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books. It also won the Eureka! Gold Award for Nonfiction from the California Reading Association and is a Junior Library Guild selection.

The book is great for younger and older kids. The beginning of the book is a story suitable for younger kids about a bald eagle with a damaged beak and the process towards engineering a new one. After the story, there is more detailed scientific information, presented in a way that's appropriate for older kids. Even my husband and I learned something from the book.

Right now you can get 20% off this book and all other books, calendars, and products from the Cornell Lab Publishing Group with code AAAS20 through the end of March.

Deborah Lee Rose is an internationally published, award-winning author of children’s books including the alphabet and counting classics Into the A,B,Sea and The Twelve Days of Kindergarten. Jimmy the Joey, about a koala rescue, is a RIF/Macy’s Multicultural Collection title and Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Students K-12. Deborah helped create and directed communications for the ALA/AASL honored STEM website Howtosmile.org. She was also Director of Communications for Lindsay Wildlife Experience, which includes the first wildlife hospital in the U.S. Visit deborahleerose.com.

Janie Veltkamp is a raptor biologist and rehabilitator, wildlife educator, trained nurse, and master falconer. She has lifetime care of Beauty the Bald Eagle and led the engineering team who made Beauty’s prosthetic beak. Jane is founding director of Birds of Prey Northwest, in Idaho, which educates the public about raptor conservation, including through live raptor programs, and has provided medical treatment and rehabilitation to thousands of injured birds of prey. She is the eagle expert for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Native American Aviaries. Visit birdsofpreynorthwest.org.