Breakthrough: How One Teen Innovator Is Changing the World - by Jack Andraka & Matthew Lysiak (Hardcover)
About this item
Highlights
- Featured in the 2018 movie Science Fair!A National Science Teachers Association Best STEM Book of 2017In this acclaimed memoir, teen innovator and scientist Jack Andraka tells the story behind his revolutionary discovery.When a dear family friend passed away from pancreatic cancer, Jack was inspired to create a better method of early detection.
- 256 Pages
- Young Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography
Description
About the Book
"Teen scientist Jack Andraka chronicles his development of an inexpensive early detection test for pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancer, and recounts his own personal story of overcoming depression and homophobic bullying. Includes hands-on science experiments"--From publisher description.Book Synopsis
Featured in the 2018 movie Science Fair!
A National Science Teachers Association Best STEM Book of 2017
In this acclaimed memoir, teen innovator and scientist Jack Andraka tells the story behind his revolutionary discovery.
When a dear family friend passed away from pancreatic cancer, Jack was inspired to create a better method of early detection. At the age of fifteen, he garnered international attention for his breakthrough: a four-cent strip of paper capable of detecting pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers four hundred times more effectively than the previous standard.
Jack's story is not just a story of dizzying international success; it's a story of overcoming depression and homophobic bullying and finding the resilience to persevere and come out.
His account inspires young people, who he argues are the most innovative, to fight for the right to be taken seriously and to pursue our own dreams. Do-it-yourself science experiments are included in each chapter, making Breakthrough perfect for STEM curriculum.
But above all, Jack's memoir empowers his generation with the knowledge that we can each change the world if we only have the courage to try.
From the Back Cover
Jack wouldn't give up.
After a dear family friend died of pancreatic cancer, Jack Andraka decided to create a better method of early detection. It took two hundred letters before Jack found lab space to pursue his idea and months of work to make it a reality, but in the end, he did it. Jack's early-detection test for pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers has the potential to be over four hundred times more effective than the medical standard and cost only three cents. Jack was fifteen at the time.
Jack's story is not just one of dizzying international success; it is a story of overcoming depression and homophobic bullying and finding the resilience to persevere and come out. His account inspires young people, who he argues are the most innovative, to fight for the right to be taken seriously and to pursue their own dreams. With hands-on science experiments included, Jack's memoir empowers his generation with the knowledge that we can each change the world if we only have the courage to try.
Review Quotes
"[N]ot only interesting, but beautifully honest...Jack's life unfurls with the...realities of growing up that, at times, conflict with identity and awareness, self- esteem, and self-worth [and] are openly shared with the reader. Andraka is certainly an inspiration beyond his generation." -- USA Today