Breakthrough: How One Teen Innovator Is Changing the World

Jack Andraka; Matthew Lysiak

ISBN 10: 1483079473 ISBN 13: 9781483079479

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishing and Blackstone Audio, 2015

Synopsis

[Young Adult Nonfiction (Ages 12-17)]
[Read by Kevin R. Free]
[Includes bonus PDF with experiments, tips, and facts: ''Breakthrough Enhance'']

In this inspiring and compelling memoir, eighteen-year-old Jack Andraka, who at the age of fifteen created an early-detection test for pancreatic cancer, delves into the challenges and triumphs he faced on the road to his revolutionary discovery.

For the first time, 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 cancer 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 one of dizzying international success; it is a story of overcoming bullying and depression and finding the resilience to persevere. 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. 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.

About this title

About the Author

Jack Andraka was just a fifteen-year-old Maryland high school student when he invented an inexpensive early-detection test for pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers. Now, at eighteen, he has already won the 2012 Intel ISEF Gordon E. Moore Award, the 2012 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Youth Award, first place in the 2014 Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, and the 2014 Jefferson Award. He speaks to audiences across the globe about his personal story, his research, LGBT issues, and his ideas for STEM education reform. He has been featured in several documentaries, including Morgan Spurlock's You Don't Know Jack, as well as numerous radio, newspaper, and magazine articles.

Matthew Lysiak is a nationally recognized journalist and the author of Newtown: An American Tragedy. He is a former reporter for the New York Daily News and has appeared as a contributor on the Today show, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and other media outlets.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishing and Blackstone Audio
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1483079473
• ISBN 13: 9781483079479
• Binding: Audio CD
• Number of pages: 1