As an author I really enjoy touring schools and I enjoy sharing science tips and facts about our planet. So I find it fascinating that studies suggest that girls lose interest in STEM subjects at school and that women are underrepresented in STEM jobs. Books are a fab way to get your head around STEM themes as they offer scientific topics in more digestible, fun and personal way.

With that in mind, here are 10 inspirational STEM girls in teen literature that you might like to know a little more about…

1. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

A reworking of the traditional Cinderella fairytale, this dystopian novel takes place in futuristic Beijing at a time when countries have formed new empires. Cinder, the main protagonist, is a cyborg and she is also an extremely gifted mechanic; collecting scrap materials and fixing-up androids. When Cinder’s stepsister dies after contracting the plague, Cinder’s stepmother blames her stepdaughter and hands Cinders over to a research centre. Here, Cinder works with Dr Erland, to study her unique physiology. She’s a tough cookie this one; resourceful, resilient, clever and compassionate.

2. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

The novel focuses on two great things – a wonderful friendship between two women, Maddie and Queenie, during the second world war and their skills in engineering and aviation. Not only are they fiercely loyal to each other but they are also dedicated to their professions. At a time when women would have generally been encouraged to stay at home and support the war effort from afar, they celebrated their ingenuity and aviation skills by enlisting and doing their bit. Elizabeth Wein’s second novel Rose Under Fire also celebrates female ingenuity through the character, Rose Justice. Rose is an 18-year-old American Air Auxiliary pilot who is captured by the Luftwaffe on a flight in France in 1944.

3. Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris

Kate Grable. What a girl! A dedicated student and medical adviser for the school’s football team. She’s intuitive and on the ball (no pun intended!) During school, Katie finds a used syringe in the coach’s office and is not satisfied with his vague explanation that it’s vitamin B12 shots for his team. The players begin to show strange symptoms and Katie soon realises that her school is in big trouble. Oh, nothing too serious, just a bad case of flesh eating zombies. Katie must rely on her medical and scientific expertise to create an antidote. She’s got a tough job on her hands but for someone like Kate, it’s no biggy.

4. Higher Geometry by Sharelle Byars Moranville

1950s America, the rock and roll generation; when rules were broken, rebels had a cause and most women were still encouraged to become housewives. Hold up. Not Anna Conway. Anna is a natural at mathematics and is ready to shake, rattle and roll the conventions of the time and head to college. There’s also Anna’s love interest, Mike, who is supportive but doesn’t really want her to leave for college. She falls for him big time and Anna must work out her own life equation and tally up her future.

5. 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

Josie Byrne and her scientific dreaming leads to a double life. For Josie, teenage life is pretty tough so far. Her parents are divorcing, she’s struggling in physics at school and she feels like she is becoming detached from her boyfriend. However, when she gets some shut eye at night, she dreams of a polar life. One exactly like her own but better and… she dreams about Jo. Josie and Jo realise that they are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Josie is intrigued by this other life but there’s a chance she’ll be trapped there when the portal seals. Thank goodness she’s got a sharp, analytical brain because that is certainly needed in order for her to make a home run. Perhaps her next physics lesson won’t be so tough after all!

6. Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson

Kate Malone is a self-confessed science and maths geek. Meticulous with planning her life. She’s on top of it all; methodically handling her boyfriend, her parents, her work and school life. Her life is on the brink of change as she’s applied to the Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology and is eagerly awaiting their response. Science and technology is her life and her devotion but she soon discovers that things change as suddenly and as quickly like the Big Bang.

7. Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Willow Chance, a genius, a gardener, a reader, a lover of nature with a keen interest in medicine, oh and she loves to count by 7s! She’s a solitary little thing and can only communicate unreservedly with her adopted parents whom she loves dearly. Suddenly, Willow’s world is in complete upheaval when tragically, her parents both die in a car crash. However, this is no disaster story, Willow’s resilience and sharp inquisitive mind help her through the grief and the book really is a true celebration of her unique and systematic understanding.

8. The Evolution of Calpurnia Virginia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

At the young age of 11, Calpurnia Virginia Tate is a natural, erm… naturalist. Her interest in science and the natural world begins when she realises that the yellow grasshoppers in her backyard are so much bigger than the green ones and she wants to know why. Inquisitive and avaricious for facts about the world around her, Calpurnia becomes a willing student and absorbs her loving grandfather’s knowledge. This book is about evolution; insects and species, the evolution of women at the turn of the century and Calpurnia’s own growth from a young girl into a young woman. (psst… Green grass hoppers are not so easily camouflaged against the yellow grasses and are eaten before they get a chance to grow!)

9. Alice Jones: The impossible Clue by Sarah Rubin

Alice Jones, mathematical genius and detective. What a cool combination?! This instalment of the Alice Jones series is perhaps the greatest and loveliest celebration of intelligent and curious girls, science, maths and friendship. A scientist has disappeared after Dr Learner has reputedly invented an invisibility suit and Alice and her sidekick, Sammy, are on the case.

10. Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science - and the World by Rachel Swaby

Well, this just had to be included. I know, I know, that it’s not fiction, nor does it celebrate one character but it’s a must read because it celebrates all (or at least tries to cover all) role models for today’s aspiring female scientists and that really ticks of the “exceptionally clever and inspirational at breaking moulds” part of any STEM girl list.

Headstrong covers Nobel prize winners, major innovators, as well as lesser-known scientists who influence our every day and had a great impact on the scientific world. The book meticulously details centuries of courageous thinkers and doers and maps their journeys from the conception of their scientific thoughts, to their methods and their findings. Guaranteed to make a new generation pick up a lab coat, screw driver, calculator or portable computer and that’s a scientific fact!

Christiane Dorion is a children’s author and expert in education for sustainable development. She will be taking part in the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour during British Science Week. Sponsored by Scottish Friendly Assurance and organised by Scottish Book Trust, the tour visits schools in Scotland and England to inspire a love of reading, writing and illustration.