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So You Want To Be A Surgeon
So You Want To Be A Surgeon, by Linda Soules, is an engaging and impressively detailed nonfiction guide for young readers who are curious about medicine. Written for children ages 10 to 14, the book takes readers beyond the dramatic television version of surgery and into the real world of operating rooms, medical training, anatomy, teamwork, and patient care. Soules explains what surgeons actually do, from diagnosis and preparation to the operation itself and the follow-up care that helps patients heal. The result is a clear, fascinating look at a demanding career that requires far more than steady hands.
One of the strongest parts of this book is how honestly it presents the long road to becoming a surgeon. Readers learn about the thirteen-to-fifteen-year path through college, medical school, and residency, as well as the thousands of hours of practice needed to build true skill. Soules also highlights the atmosphere of the operating room, including the cool temperature, bright lights, sterile field, surgical tools, robotic instruments, and precise communication among the medical team. These details make the profession feel real and understandable without oversimplifying it. The book respects its young audience by giving them serious information in language they can follow.
The book also succeeds because it shows the human side of surgery. Soules emphasizes that great surgeons need focus, stamina, confidence, compassion, and the ability to stay calm when something unexpected happens. I especially liked the section titled “The People You Work With,” where Linda states, “A doctor is never working alone.” This stood out to me because it shows young readers that surgery is not just about one skilled doctor making important decisions. It’s also about teamwork, trust, and communication. I appreciated how this section helps children understand that saving lives is a shared effort, and that being a great surgeon also means knowing how to work well with others.
Colorful and bold illustrations make the material even more accessible, helping readers picture the operating room, medical tools, and complex procedures. The ‘What You Can Do To Prepare Right Now’ section gives curious children practical ways to explore the field right away. So You Want To Be A Surgeon is educational, realistic, and encouraging. It’s an excellent choice for classrooms, homeschooling families, career units, and any child interested in science, medicine, or helping others through a life-saving profession.
Pages: 38 | ISBN : 978-1972766224
The Whole Picture
So You Want To Be A Professional Athlete offers young readers insight into becoming a professional athlete, focusing on talent, discipline, and handling the inevitable pressure. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Because the dominant story kids are handed about professional athletes is almost all highlight reel — the game-winning shot, the gold medal, the 10 seconds that make the broadcast — and almost none of the 10 years behind those 10 seconds. I wanted to write the book that lives behind the camera. The 5 AM alarms. The ice baths. The thousand quiet repetitions a coach asks for to get one motion automatic. The work nobody films.
I also wanted to push back, gently, on a phrase I think hurts a lot of young athletes: “natural talent.” The book makes the argument as plainly as I could that the athletes who last aren’t necessarily the most naturally gifted. They’re the ones who take the whole job seriously — recovery, sleep, nutrition, mental preparation, the parts no one applauds. Talent gets you to the starting line. Discipline gets you to the finish. That’s a truer story, and I think it’s a kinder one, because it tells a kid that what they can control is what actually matters.
One of the book’s strengths is its honesty about injuries, routine, and the short length of many sports careers. Why was it important to show those realities?
Because a children’s book that hides those things isn’t really written for the kids; it’s written for the adults who don’t want to disappoint them. I think kids can hold the whole picture, and I think they’re better served when we trust them with it.
So the book tells them the average NFL career is about three and a third years. It tells them careers can end in a single moment of a single race — and then it tells them the Derek Redmond story, where a hamstring tears at the Olympic semifinal and the runner finishes the race anyway, on one leg, with his father’s arm around his shoulders. It tells them Simone Biles withdrew from a final she was expected to win because something inside her body was wrong, and that this was the most professional choice she could have made.
What I want the young reader to take from this is not a warning. It’s an inheritance. Sports give a person something rare: a daily relationship with honest feedback. The clock, the score, the tape from yesterday’s practice — none of them flatter you, and none of them lie. A child who grows up inside that kind of feedback learns early what most adults spend decades trying to learn: how to see themselves clearly, how to take in hard information without falling apart, how to separate effort from outcome and keep showing up to both. That self-knowledge is the real gift of the work, and it travels with the athlete long after the uniform comes off. I wanted kids to see that whole, because the trophy is the smallest part of what they would actually be earning.
The book also has a page about retirement that I’m proud of. Almost every career book ends at the peak; this one walks a few steps further, to the empty stadium and the question of what comes next. I wanted children to understand that an athletic career ending in your 30s is not life-ending. It is the beginning of a second act that the first act has been quietly preparing you for the whole time. The discipline, the resilience under pressure, the ability to be coached, the habit of showing up before dawn when nobody is watching — none of that disappears when the career does. It becomes the foundation for whatever comes next, whether that is coaching, building a business, raising a family, returning to school, or something nobody, including the athlete, can yet imagine.
How did you approach explaining sports psychology, pressure, and mental preparation in a way that younger readers could connect with?
I tried to give them the actual vocabulary. Flow state. The prefrontal cortex going quiet so trained instinct can take over. Visualization. Pre-performance routines. Body intelligence — the ability to tell the difference between productive soreness and the early signal of injury. Once a child has those words, they can describe experiences they’ve already been having on the soccer field or at the piano bench but didn’t have language for.
I also leaned hard on the idea that the mental side isn’t separate from the physical side. It is the physical side, at the level where competitors are most evenly matched. In the 100-meter dash, gold and fourth place can be one one-hundredth of a second apart. Less than a blink. Everything an athlete does — every nutrition decision, every recovery session, every breathing protocol — exists to find that one one-hundredth of a second. Once a kid sees that, they understand why the mental work matters, and why a sports psychologist isn’t a luxury or a sign something is wrong. It’s part of the job.
What is one thing you hope young readers take away from So You Want To Be A Professional Athlete?
That athlete is not a job they have to wait to be given. The book ends with this line, and I mean it as plainly as I can: professional is a destination, but athlete is an identity. A kid lacing up shoes on a front porch, about to go outside and find out what their body can do — that kid is already an athlete. Nobody has to certify it.
Most professional athletes will tell you the same thing in their own words: the love of moving, of testing yourself, of getting measurably better at one specific thing through focused work — that’s what carried them. The contract came later. If a reader closes this book and goes outside, that’s the whole thing. The rest of the work, they can begin tomorrow morning.
And the deeper takeaway, whether or not sport ever becomes their chosen profession, is that the way a serious athlete learns to live is the way any serious person learns to live. Showing up before dawn when no one is watching. Doing the boring repetitions because that’s where mastery actually resides. Losing, looking honestly at why, and trying again. Trusting a coach. Trusting a team. Being patient with a body, or a skill, or a goal that is improving on a timeline you cannot rush. Those habits not only build athletes. They build doctors, engineers, teachers, parents, and citizens. A child who learns them through sport carries them into every room they will ever enter. The trophy on the shelf is a small thing. The person formed in the pursuit of it is the whole point.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
This illustrated nonfiction guide takes young readers ages 10 to 14 inside the real world of elite sports — not the highlight reels and trophy ceremonies, but the thousands of hours of training, discipline, and sacrifice that happen long before the arena lights come on. From pre-season conditioning and sports science to in-season competition and recovery, this book shows kids what professional athletes actually do every single day to perform at the absolute edge of human capability.
You will discover how athletes build their bodies through periodized training programs, nutrition science, biomechanics, and carefully planned sleep and recovery. You will learn how they develop the mental toughness and psychological resilience to handle pressure, failure, and the relentless scrutiny that comes with competing at the highest level. And you will see why mindset and discipline matter just as much as speed, strength, or natural ability — because at the professional level, the margin between winning and losing is smaller than most people can imagine.
This is also a book about what a sports career really costs and what it gives back. It covers the full arc of an athletic life — its intensity, its brevity, and how the best athletes build confidence and prepare for what comes after the final game. It explores the team behind every athlete: the coaches, trainers, nutritionists, and sports psychologists who work in careful coordination so that one person, in one moment, can do something extraordinary.
Packed with vivid illustrations and real stories of what elite training looks like from the inside, this guide treats young athletes as equals. It does not talk down. It does not oversimplify. It brings kids all the way into a world most children only see from the stands — and gives them honest, specific answers about whether this demanding path might be their calling.
Whether your young reader dreams of competing in baseball, soccer, basketball, swimming, or any sport that demands everything they have, this book was written for the boy or girl who is never just playing. The one who is always competing, always measuring, always reaching for something just beyond their current best.
Somewhere right now, in a gym or on a field or in a pool, the next great athlete is doing the work that no one sees yet. This book is for the kid who wants to know exactly what that work looks like.
The Actual Experts
So You Want To Be A Toy Designer takes young readers inside the process of making the toys they love, from product testing to the teamwork and problem-solving required. What inspired you to write this nonfiction book for children?
Toys are the first objects in a child’s life designed entirely with them in mind, and I wanted to crack the magic open. Children deserve to see the hundred sketches behind the one toy, the prototypes that ended up in a drawer, the grown adults sitting around a table arguing about whether a teddy bear’s eyes might come loose. There is also something irresistibly humbling about a profession where one of the recurring occupational hazards is watching a child push aside the toy you spent six months on to play with the box it came in. A job that funny and that earnest deserved its own book.
A deeper reason is that kids are the actual experts on toys. They have spent every year of their lives studying the subject with total attention. They have opinions about which toys feel right in the hand and which feel cheap. They know exactly the moment a toy gets boring, and why. They have wished a hundred times that a particular toy did one specific thing differently. Those instincts are not preliminary versions of grown-up opinions — they are the real thing, and toy designers spend their careers trying to listen to children that closely. I wanted a book that handed that recognition back to the reader: you already know more about this than you think you do. The questions you ask about your own toys are exactly the questions designers ask. You are not preparing to enter the conversation. You are already in it.
I also wanted to dispense with the assumption that growing up means leaving toys (and fun) behind. The adults inside this profession are, in the most enviable sense, people who never stopped playing with toys. They build, sketch, prototype, play, and study play, and they get paid to do it. That isn’t a betrayal of adulthood; it is one of its better versions. Toy designers do work children take seriously, even when adults forget how to — and I wanted to take it seriously too.
The book is honest about the challenges of toy design, including failed ideas and redesign. Why was it important to show children that creativity involves trial and error?
Because the lie that good ideas arrive wholly formed and instantaneously quietly damages the children who can’t produce them on demand, which is all of us. The truth is, the thirtieth sketch is usually the good one. Toy designers fail in front of seven-year-olds for a living, and that isn’t a setback. That’s the job.
When a child learns that the toy they love was version fourteen, not version one, something loosens in them. They get permission to be on version three of their own thing and not feel behind. I wanted children to meet adults whose entire profession depends on being wrong, often, and in public — and to see that those adults love what they do. Iteration is not the obstacle to creativity. Iteration is creativity.
What kind of research did you do to show the day-to-day reality of toy designers?
I worked in three layers, because no single source could give me everything I needed.
The first was the historical record, which turns out to be one of the most charming bodies of biography in any industry. Ruth Handler watched her daughter give paper dolls adult roles and realized no toy let girls imagine themselves as adults. Barbie was the answer, named for her daughter Barbara. A navy engineer in 1943 knocked a tension spring off his workbench and watched it walk end-over-end across the floor; his wife named it Slinky. Eddy Goldfarb is 104, holds nearly 300 patents, and still walks out to his garage every morning to prototype on a 3D printer. These stories aren’t decoration. They are evidence of who toy designers actually are: curious, unembarrassed about play, often working at the edge of accident and intention.
The second layer was the present-day craft. I drew on industry reporting, accounts from designers at the major houses, the play-research literature, and — more interesting than it sounds — the ASTM F963 safety standard, which specifies the exact force a part must withstand before a small child can pull it loose. What struck me there was that constraint is not the enemy of creativity in this field; it is the medium designers actually work in.
The third layer was the texture of an actual working day, which neither history nor industry publication will give you. For that, I triangulated until I could build a composite that felt true: the morning safety lab report, the hour of fast sketching where forty-seven drawings get discarded, and three get pinned to the wall, the midday session behind one-way glass watching seven-year-olds pick up a prototype or — worst of all — get more interested in the box.
What I was reaching for, across all three layers, is what I reach for in every title: a portrait a working practitioner would recognize as their own.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
The list is long — and continuing to grow! I tend to work on several titles at once and only release them when they feel finished, so the order is always evolving. Most recently, I was thrilled to publish So You Want To Be A Waterslide Tester and So You Want To Be An Astronomer & Exoplanet Hunter, which brings the series to thirty-seven published titles, and I am nowhere near slowing down.
The near-term lineup is one of the most fun stretches I’ve worked on. Several of the upcoming titles have what I think of as the “is that a real job?” factor — ice cream flavor inventor, candy scientist, professional taste tester — careers that delight children before they have even opened the book. I’ve also begun work on a fashion design title for near-term release, and my son is lobbying hard for me to move cryptographer and esports athlete (pro gamer) up the queue. He may well succeed. What I love about this stretch of the series is how wide it is reaching: from the timeless callings to the ones that reflect just how strange and wonderful the working world has become.
If I had to predict the next one to land based on where things currently stand, it would be So You Want To Be A Journalist. But new titles are rolling out continuously through the rest of 2026, and the full list — along with a sign-up for upcoming releases — lives at LindaSoules.com. I would love for readers to come find the one with their name on it.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
This is not a simplified, watered-down look at a fun job. It is a real, honest guide to what toy designers actually do — the years of industrial design training, the child development study, the materials engineering, and the iterative prototyping that happen long before a single toy reaches a shelf. You will discover how designers learn to see the world through a child’s eyes while solving complex engineering problems, and why that combination of imagination and technical skill makes toy design one of the most unique professions a young person can pursue.
Inside, you will follow the full design process from first sketch to working prototype to safety testing. You will learn how designers draw on child psychology to understand how play shapes learning at every age. You will see how teams of engineers, creative designers, and manufacturing specialists work together to turn an idea into something a six-year-old picks up, plays with for hours, and refuses to put down. And you will meet the visionary inventors whose toys became the defining objects of childhood for generations.
But this book goes further than most career guides for kids. It explores the real skills toy designers build — sketching, 3D modeling, materials science, understanding how small hands interact with objects — and shows what young readers can start doing right now to develop those same abilities. Whether you love to draw, build, tinker, or simply take things apart to understand how they work, this book helps you see how those instincts connect to a real profession.
Illustrated throughout with detailed, engaging artwork, this nonfiction guide treats its readers as equals. It brings the same depth and honesty that boys and girls ages 10-14 and up deserve when they ask a serious question about their future. No talking down. No sugarcoating. Just a clear, fascinating window into the craft behind the toys you grew up loving.
The toy that will define the next generation of childhood has not been designed yet. It is waiting for someone with the curiosity, the craft, and the joy to bring it into the world — and that someone might be you.
So You Want To Be A Diplomat
So You Want To Be A Diplomat is an engaging and eye-opening children’s educational book that introduces young readers to the fascinating world of diplomacy. Written for ages 10 to 14, the book explains what diplomats do, where they work, and why their quiet efforts matter so much. Rather than presenting diplomacy as dry politics, Soules turns it into an exciting behind-the-scenes journey through embassies, foreign ministries, international meetings, and the careful conversations that help countries solve problems without conflict.
One of the book’s greatest strengths is the way it combines real history with surprising and memorable stories. Readers learn about ping-pong diplomacy, diplomatic bags, pandas on diplomatic missions, and how a single mistranslated word influenced decades of the Cold War. These details make the subject lively and easy to remember, while also showing that diplomacy is full of unexpected moments. The book also introduces inspiring figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Ralph Bunche, Dag Hammarskjöld, and Kofi Annan, whose patience, courage, and dedication helped shape the modern world.
Soules writes with warmth and intelligence, treating young readers as thoughtful people capable of understanding serious ideas. The book clearly explains the skills a diplomat needs, including patience, discretion, curiosity, strong listening skills, a good memory, and respect for other cultures. I especially appreciated that it gives an honest view of the career, including both the exciting parts and the difficult parts. I learned a lot even as an adult reading this book, like how diplomats have to have a strong stomach because they’re going to be trying food in their host country, how they have to have a sense of humor for awkward moments, and how they have to have a good memory for names and faces (which I surely don’t).
So You Want To Be A Diplomat is an illuminating, inspiring, and highly readable introduction to an important career that many children may not have considered before. It is perfect for curious middle-grade readers, social studies classrooms, school libraries, Model UN clubs, and families who want to encourage global awareness. This book not only explains international relations in a clear and engaging way, but also shows young readers that peacebuilding is a skill they can begin practicing now. Highly recommended.
Pages: 38 | ISBN : 978-1972766378
So You Want To Be A Coder (Computer Programmer)
So You Want To Be A Coder, by Linda Soules, introduces children to the world of computer programming in a thoughtful and expansive way. The book explains what coders do, where they work, the tools they use, the joys and frustrations of the job, and the qualities that make someone suited to it. Rather than treating coding as a flashy mystery, it presents programming as a patient craft built from problem-solving, curiosity, communication, and a willingness to keep trying when things break.
What I appreciated most was the book’s honesty. As a parent, I’m used to children’s career books that make every job sound shiny and effortless, but this one gives coding texture. It talks about failure without making it feel scary, and it explains that much of programming is reading, testing, fixing, asking better questions, and learning how to sit with not knowing. The writing has a calm confidence to it, and at its best, it makes coding feel less like a secret language for a certain kind of kid and more like a patient conversation between a curious mind and a machine.
The artwork gives the book a warm, almost storybook glow that softens a subject that could have felt dry. I liked the cozy desks, city windows, libraries, bedrooms, and team spaces, because they make the work feel relatable and lived-in. Some pages are more text-heavy than I’d expect for a traditional picture book, so younger children may need an adult beside them to slow the pace and talk things through. But that also gives the book substance. It doesn’t just skim the surface. It respects kids enough to explain real ideas, from debugging and version control to open-source communities and the quiet importance of writing clearly.
I found this to be a sincere, intelligent, and encouraging children’s book that treats children as capable thinkers. It’s a book to read together, especially with a child who likes puzzles, games, building things, or asking how everything works. I’d recommend it to curious elementary and early middle-grade readers, particularly those who might enjoy computers but need a clearer picture of what coding actually feels like.
Pages: 332 | ASIN : B0GX2ZQG3V
So You Want To Be A Waterslide Tester
So You Want To Be A Waterslide Tester, by Linda Soules, is an engaging and informative children’s nonfiction book that turns a dream job into a fascinating STEM lesson. At first, waterslide testing sounds like nothing more than riding slides all day, but this book quickly shows young readers that the job involves physics, engineering, careful observation, and a serious commitment to safety. Soules presents the work of waterslide testers as both exciting and important, helping kids understand that the fun they experience at a water park is made possible by people doing detailed behind-the-scenes work.
One of the book’s strongest qualities is the way it explains complex ideas in language children can understand. Readers learn about water flow, speed, surface friction, G-forces, hydroplaning, banking angles, and landing impact without feeling overwhelmed. The book also makes the science feel practical by showing how testers ride slides repeatedly, checking every curve, transition, and splashdown area to make sure the ride is safe for real kids and families. The day-in-the-life structure, from the morning briefing to the final safety report, gives the book a clear sense of purpose and helps readers see how much preparation goes into opening a waterslide to the public.
I’ve read many books in this series, and I always appreciate the inclusion of “The Hardest Parts of the Job” section because it shows that the book is honest about the challenges of each career rather than presenting only the fun parts. In this book, the line “Testing the same slide two hundred times is also as repetitive as it sounds” is a great example of how it balances excitement with reality.
The colorful illustrations add to the appeal and help keep the subject lively for younger readers. They make the technical information easier to follow while maintaining the playful energy of a book about water parks and slides. The glossary, fun facts, and hands-on activities are also valuable additions, especially for children who enjoy asking how things work or who are curious about building, design, and unusual careers.
So You Want To Be A Waterslide Tester is a wonderful choice for curious kids, especially those between the ages of 10 and 14 who enjoy science, engineering, theme parks, or learning about jobs they may never have imagined existed. It captures the fun of waterslides while emphasizing that safety and joy are connected, not separate. Parents, teachers, and librarians will appreciate how the book encourages curiosity, observation, and respect for quiet, careful work that keeps people safe. This is an entertaining and educational read that makes science feel adventurous, memorable, and fun.
Pages: 38 | ASIN : B0H29FGGFX
So You Want To Be An Astronomer & Exoplanet Hunter
So You Want To Be An Astronomer & Exoplanet Hunter is a fascinating and beautifully presented nonfiction book for young readers who are curious about space, science, and what it really means to study the universe. Written for ages 10 to 14, this book goes beyond simple stargazing facts and gives readers an honest, exciting look at the real work astronomers do, especially those who search for planets beyond our solar system.
One of the book’s greatest strengths (as it is in the entire So You Want To Be… series) is the way it explains complex science in a clear and engaging way. Readers learn how astronomers detect exoplanets by studying tiny dips in starlight, measuring the wobble of distant stars, and using spectroscopy to understand the chemical makeup of alien atmospheres. These are big scientific ideas, but Soules presents them in a way that feels approachable without talking down to kids. The book trusts young readers with real vocabulary and real science, which makes the subject even more exciting.
The career-focused sections are especially strong. The book does an excellent job of showing that astronomy is not just about looking through telescopes. It involves math, physics, coding, patience, careful observation, data analysis, and problem-solving. And above all, it takes patience, as Linda puts it, “the timescales are humbling. An exoplanet… is found only by observing its star for at least one full orbit – which means years of patiently waiting.” The day-in-the-life section gives readers a realistic look at an astronomer’s work, from opening an observatory dome at sunset to dealing with weather problems and reviewing data the next morning. This realistic approach makes the career feel both challenging and inspiring.
The illustrations are another highlight. They are colorful and detailed, adding visual interest while also helping explain the science. The book also includes fun facts, a helpful glossary, historical profiles of important astronomers, and practical suggestions for kids who want to start learning more right away. Tips such as learning constellations, visiting a planetarium, trying a small telescope, exploring real datasets, and participating in citizen-science projects make the book feel empowering.
I also appreciated the strong representation of women in science. By highlighting female astronomers who made major contributions despite facing barriers, the book shows young readers, especially girls, that they belong in science too. This adds an important and inspiring layer to an already excellent educational book.
So You Want To Be An Astronomer & Exoplanet Hunter is an informative, engaging, and visually appealing guide for children interested in space or science careers. It’s short and accessible, but still packed with meaningful information. Young readers who dream of studying stars, galaxies, telescopes, or distant planets will find this book both exciting and useful. It’s a wonderful choice for upper elementary and middle-grade readers, classrooms, libraries, and families with kids who look up at the night sky and wonder what else might be out there.
Pages: 38 | ISBN : 978-1972766408
So You Want To Be A Ballet Dancer
I found Linda Soules’s So You Want To Be A Ballet Dancer to be a thoughtful and refreshingly honest introduction to the world children step into each time they come to ballet class. This illustrated guide doesn’t present ballet as a simple dream of tutus, applause, and effortless grace. Instead, it begins where real training begins: at the barre, with repetition, discipline, alignment, and patience. For young readers ages 10 to 14, Soules explains ballet in a way that is clear and inviting without hiding how demanding the art form truly is.
What impressed me most was the book’s respect for the dancer’s body. Soules explains concepts such as turnout, pointe work, flexibility, strength, stamina, and injury prevention with enough detail to help children understand that ballet dancers are artists and athletes. I especially appreciated the attention given to tools of the trade, from pointe shoes and rosin to mirrors and the dancer’s own muscles. Young dancers often see the finished product on stage, but this book helps them understand the years of conditioning, correction, and quiet effort behind every polished performance.
The book also captures something ballet teachers teach in every class: technique alone is not enough. Soules explores musicality, emotional expression, stage presence, and the mental resilience needed to perform under pressure. She also introduces readers to the many people who make ballet possible, including choreographers, directors, physical therapists, and fellow dancers. The sections on ballet history, from the court of Louis XIV to modern stages around the world, help students see that each plié and pirouette belongs to a much larger artistic tradition that continues to evolve.
So You Want To Be A Ballet Dancer is an excellent starter guide for children who are curious about ballet, whether they are brand-new beginners or already dreaming of performing in productions like The Nutcracker. Soules’s tone is encouraging but realistic, which is exactly what young dancers need. She shows that ballet welcomes dedication, curiosity, and artistry, while also making clear that it requires hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance. I would gladly recommend this book to ballet students and their families because it gives children a fuller understanding of ballet as a language of movement, discipline, beauty, and storytelling.
Pages: 38 | ISBN : 978-1972766354
