Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Snake Scientist | 1999 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 2 | The Wildlife Detectives | 2000 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 3 | Digging for Bird Dinosaurs | 2000 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 4 | Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks | 2001 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 5 | Anthropologist | 2001 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 6 | Looking for Life in the Universe | 2002 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 7 | The Tarantula Scientist | 2004 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 8 | Gorilla Doctors | 2005 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 9 | The Prairie Builders | 2005 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 10 | Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano | 2006 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 11 | The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo | 2006 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 12 | Tracking Trash | 2007 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 13 | Emi and the Rhino Scientist | 2007 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 14 | The Whale Scientists | 2007 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 15 | The Mysterious Universe | 2008 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 16 | Science Warriors | 2008 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 17 | Extreme Scientists | 2009 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 18 | The Frog Scientist | 2009 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 19 | Saving the Ghost of the Mountain | 2009 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 20 | Kakapo Rescue | 2010 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 21 | Project Seahorse | 2010 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 22 | The Hive Detectives | 2010 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 23 | The Bat Scientists | 2010 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 24 | The Elephant Scientist | 2011 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 25 | The Mighty Mars Rovers | 2012 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 26 | Wild Horse Scientists | 2012 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 27 | Stronger Than Steel | 2013 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 28 | Eruption! Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives | 2013 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 29 | The Tapir Scientist | 2013 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 30 | The Dolphins of Shark Bay | 2013 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 31 | Chasing Cheetahs | 2014 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 32 | Park Scientists: Gila Monsters, Geysers, and Grizzly Bears in America’s Own Backyard | 2014 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 33 | Beetle Busters | 2014 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 34 | The Next Wave | 2014 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 35 | The Octopus Scientists | 2015 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 36 | Call of the Osprey | 2015 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 37 | Inside Biosphere 2: Earth Science Under Glass | 2015 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 38 | The Great White Shark Scientist | 2016 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 39 | Crow Smarts | 2016 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 40 | Mission to Pluto | 2017 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 41 | Eye of the Storm | 2017 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 42 | Amazon Adventure | 2017 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 43 | Life on Surtsey | 2017 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 44 | Impact! | 2017 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 45 | The Hyena Scientist | 2018 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 46 | Saving the Tasmanian Devil | 2019 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 47 | Eclipse Chaser | 2019 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 48 | Condor Comeback | 2020 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 49 | The Big One | 2020 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 50 | The Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale | 2022 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 51 | Backyard Bears | 2022 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 52 | The Lizard Scientists | 2022 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 53 | The Tornado Scientist | 2023 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 54 | Urban Coyotes | 2024 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
The Scientists in the Field series is a long-running children’s nonfiction series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Each book follows a real scientist doing hands-on research, whether that means tracking snow leopards in Mongolia, studying bats in a cave, or investigating a deep-sea volcano. The books pair photographs with clear, engaging text that makes complex science accessible to young readers. Sy Montgomery is one of the most prolific contributors to the series, having written many of its most popular entries.
With 54 books published between 1999 and 2024, the series covers a huge range of subjects. Early entries like The Snake Scientist and The Tarantula Scientist focused on individual animal researchers, but the series has expanded over the years to include topics like space exploration (Mission to Pluto), weather (Eye of the Storm, The Tornado Scientist), and ecology (The Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale). Multiple authors have contributed to the series, and the books can be read in any order since each one profiles a different scientist and field of study.