Pamela S. Turner

The Frog Scientist

“Turn­er’s lucid text and Comin­s’s clear col­or pho­tos fol­low [Dr. Tyrone] Hayes’s devel­op­ing career … this new addi­tion to a stel­lar series opens an upbeat win­dow to the adult appli­ca­tion of youth­ful enthusiasm.”

“Turn­er’s lucid text and Comin­s’s pho­tos fol­low Hayes’s devel­op­ing career … this addi­tion to a stel­lar series opens an upbeat win­dow to the adult appli­ca­tion of youth­ful enthusiasm.”

“Turn­er’s lucid text and Comin­s’s pho­tos fol­low Hayes’s devel­op­ing career … this addi­tion to a stel­lar series opens an upbeat win­dow to the adult appli­ca­tion of youth­ful enthusiasm.”

School Library Jour­nal, starred review

The Frog Scientist

About the Book

When Tyrone Hayes was grow­ing up in South Car­oli­na, he didn’t wor­ry about pes­ti­cides in water. He just liked to wade in and col­lect frogs, snap­ping tur­tles, and snakes. But when Tyrone grew up and became a sci­en­tist, he dis­cov­ered some­thing fright­en­ing. When frogs devel­op in water con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed with tiny amounts of a pes­ti­cide called atrazine, some of the males are “fem­i­nized”: they grow eggs instead of sperm. Could pes­ti­cide use be respon­si­ble for some of the dras­tic decline in amphib­ian pop­u­la­tions? And what are frogs telling us about the health of our environment?

Awards and Recognition

  • AAAS/Subaru SB&F Sci­ence Writ­ing Prize
  • School Library Jour­nal Bat­tle of the Kid’s Books Contender
  • Amer­i­can Library Asso­ci­a­tion Notable Book
  • Nation­al Sci­ence Teach­ers Asso­ci­a­tion Out­stand­ing Trade Sci­ence Book
  • Cybils Young Adult Non­fic­tion Award
  • Horn Book starred review
  • Book­list starred review
  • School Library Jour­nal starred review
  • Bul­letin of the Coop­er­a­tive Cen­ter for Chil­dren’s Books starred review
  • Nation­al Green Earth Hon­or Award
  • Book­list Top Ten Sci-Tech Book for Youth
  • Book Links Last­ing Connections
  • CCBC (Coop­er­a­tive Chil­dren’s Book Cen­ter) Choices
  • Book­list Edi­tor’s Choice
  • Capi­tol Choice Selection
  • Orbis Pic­tus Hon­or Award from NCTE 
  • Junior Library Guild Selection
  • School Library Jour­nal starred review

Reviews

The Horn Book starred review:
“The lat­est vol­ume in the Sci­en­tists in the Field series intro­duces us to Dr. Tyrone Hayes, who research­es the effects of pes­ti­cides on frog devel­op­ment as one pos­si­ble cause of the rapid decline in amphib­ian pop­u­la­tions around the world, a phe­nom­e­non not yet ful­ly explained. Hayes comes across as both a ded­i­cat­ed sci­en­tist and a reg­u­lar per­son, will­ing to work hard in pur­suit of his sci­en­tif­ic work yet quick to laugh and joke with his fam­i­ly and the grad­u­ate stu­dents he men­tors. The result is one of the most com­pelling por­traits of a sci­en­tif­ic career the series has produced.”

School Library Jour­nal starred review:
“Being raised in then strict­ly seg­re­gat­ed Colum­bia, SC, couldn’t keep a smart young African-Amer­i­can man out of col­lege, even pres­ti­gious Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty … Turner’s lucid text and Comins’s clear col­or pho­tos fol­low Hayes’s devel­op­ing career to his present respect­ed place as a gift­ed mem­ber of the sci­en­tif­ic com­mu­ni­ty. Research­ing the effects of atrazine-con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed water on vul­ner­a­ble amphib­ians, he is sur­round­ed by the ‘Frog Squad,’ a group of enthu­si­as­tic stu­dents pounc­ing on frogs in ponds or col­lect­ing care­ful data in the lab. Grin­ning from pierced ear to pierced ear (and that is a sto­ry in itself), the genial sci­en­tist nur­tures his assis­tants, encour­ag­ing their enthu­si­asms while demand­ing seri­ous work … this new addi­tion to a stel­lar series opens an upbeat win­dow to the adult appli­ca­tion of youth­ful enthusiasms.”

Book­list starred review:
“Turn­er por­trays Hayes as both a col­or­ful per­son­al­i­ty and a ded­i­cat­ed sci­en­tist … A vivid, real­is­tic view of one sci­en­tist at work.”

Bul­letin of the Cen­ter for Chil­dren’s Books starred review:
“… a nifty nar­ra­tive that con­veys sci­ence in action, offers some insight into envi­ron­men­tal dam­age, and pro­vides a vivid por­trait of an ener­getic and charis­mat­ic (and hunky) young sci­en­tist who’s clear­ly inspir­ing stu­dents to take an inter­est in the field … use­ful as an intro­duc­tion to the cre­ation and exe­cu­tion of an exper­i­ment, and it will there­fore be invalu­able in sci­ence classes.”

The Frog Scientist

pho­tographs by Andy Comins
Sci­en­tists in the Field
Houghton Mif­flin Har­court, 2009
hard­cov­er ISBN 978–0618717163
paper­back ISBN 978–0547576985

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