I loved hearing my kids tell me “what they wanted to be when they grow up.” Usually, it was some more of the common occupations that kids dream of like a fireman or an astronaut. With all the technology today STEM careers will be extremely valuable for them when they grow up. The Illustrated Alphabet of STEM Jobs from Eve Heidi Bine-Stock is a wonderful way to bring awareness to those STEM occupations.

The Illustrated Alphabet of STEM Jobs introduces kids to twenty-six occupations. Set up as a standard ABC book your kids will start out learning occupations that start with the letters of the alphabet. There is a wide variety from drone pilot, toxicologist, video game designer, geneticist, and a hydrologist to name just a few jobs that may be unknown to them. They also have some jobs that kids already know like a meteorologist or an astronomer.

The book explains the job in a fun rhyme describing what children would be doing if they did that specific occupation. It is all explained in just a few words. Even though a geneticist might sound like a hard job to explain for younger kids the short rhyme does an excellent job explaining it concisely.

The full-colored illustrations give lots of details in the pictures for young kids to explore. The colors are bright and fun enough to grab young children’s attention.

My kids are beyond the target age of the book. They are in high school and middle school now. My middle school son looked at the book and was curious about some of the occupations mentioned. He even looked up some of the occupations online. My son is leaning toward STEM jobs that involve technology. I was incredibly pleased to see my son look this over. He was drawn to the book title.

This would be an amazing book to put together some hands-on- activity with a unit study. You could analyze soil samples, fly drones, build a robot, and even learn about the weather. If my kids were younger, I would love to create some STEM projects for them each week starting with Astronomer and ending with a Zoologist. This can be used at home or even in a homeschool co-op class if you want to add some hands-on-projects. Even if you are not the hands-on type of person, I think kids would be delighted with it just being read.

I recommend this creative and delightful alphabet book.

-Product review by Renee Knoblauch, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November 2019