Researcher's Dreams – Stories for curious children

Robert Lagerström, I've heard you're involved in a children's book: "Researcher's Dreams - Stories for Curious Children".

How did you and your colleagues come up with the idea to write this book?

"I had read the book 'Good night stories for rebel girls', which my kids and I loved. It had really interesting stories and beautiful illustrations. I found a book with a researcher perspective, but it was not very fun and not so artistically appealing. So, the idea was to focus on researchers with a connection to Sweden and their childhood, combined with a really cool and diverse set of illustrations. I believe kids can find inspiration in stories about other kids, not stories about adults. Thus, the focus is to portray the childhood of each researcher."

Who is the typical reader?

"The typical reader is a kid between ages 8-12 (Swedish låg- and mellanstadiet). The plan when choosing which researchers to portray was to show diversity. I want any kid that picks up the book to find at least one researcher that they can relate to and be inspired by. We looked around for people that could represent all of Sweden in terms of where they were born, where they do research, if they liked school or not, if they had friends or not, if they liked sports, if they have ADHD or dyslexia, if they had parents that never studied at university, etc."

What's important about this book, and what do you want to achieve?

"I want more kids to realize that they can study at university and later become scientists. That their background or personality is not an obstacle but can be a strength. The plan is now to meet kids with the book as a platform to discuss technology and science, for instance in collaboration with libraries and schools."

Read an article about the book in Swedish: Forskardrömmar – en bok om hur forskare var som barn