Author and scientist Dr Amanda Hartley wins Association Science Book Award

Author and scientist Dr Amanda Hartley has won a prestigious national award for her first book The DNA Detectives - To Catch a Thief.

The book, which aims to get children to read an exciting, page-turning story while learning about DNA, won the Association Science Book Award.

She said: “I purposely wrote my books so they could be used as a cross-curricular tool for teaching literacy and science. I kept the chapters short and easy to read and ended each chapter on a cliff hanger. The idea was that the exciting story and science content would appeal to even the most reluctant of readers.”

Mrs Hartley has since published a follow-up book titled The DNA Detectives - The Smuggler’s Daughter.

These are the first fiction books for seven to 12-year-olds where the characters in the book use DNA to solve a crime.

Both books are linked to school science and literacy curriculums.