Critical Reflections on Biographical Representations of Scientists in Award-Winning Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Books

Children’s early encounters with narrative nonfiction shape their developing understandings of who belongs in scientific spaces. While representation of women and racially minoritized people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields remains uneven, less attention has been paid to the representational landscape of the books educators rely upon to introduce young learners to scientists. Drawing on a critical content analysis of 234 biographies and field profiles included on the National Science Teachers Association’s Outstanding Science Trade Books lists (1996–2024), we examined patterns of gender and racial representation and the ways structural barriers are narrated. Findings revealed persistent racial underrepresentation, uneven progress in gender representation, and a patterned tendency for injustice to be narrated primarily in the lives of those excluded from power. We argue that award-sanctioned STEM biographies both expand and constrain possibilities for children’s STEM identity development. We conclude with implications for early childhood educators seeking to engage children in critical literacy practices that interrogate representation, belonging, and the social histories of science.