A Dangerous Idea: The Scopes Trial, The Original Fight over Science in Schools

Ages 10 to 14

The true story of the theatrical Scopes Monkey Trial, when a science teacher was taken to court for teaching evolution.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

What should kids be allowed to learn in school—and who should decide?

In 1925, when a Tennessee statute banned the teaching of evolution in public schools, teacher John Scopes volunteered to be arrested to challenge the law. Thus began a gripping circus of a legal battle. The lawyers William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow faced off in defense of two different books—the Christian Bible and Charles Darwin's groundbreaking On the Origin of Species—in a debate over creationism and Darwinism.

One hundred years after the Scopes Monkey Trial, discover what happened and why it matters. For a nation still at odds over the scope and role of public-school education, this important narrative nonfiction book delivers a perceptive examination of our history and illuminates the challenges we face today.

About the Author

Debbie Levy is the award-winning author of many books for young people, including the New York Times best-selling I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark (Sydney Taylor Book Award, National Jewish Book Award, Orbis Pictus Honor); Becoming RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Journey to Justice (Bank Street College Best Children’s Book, Nerdy Book Award for Graphic Novels, YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens); and This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality (with Jo Ann Allen Boyce) (Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Robert F. Sibert Honor). Before she started writing books for young people, Debbie was a newspaper editor, and before that, she was a lawyer. debbielevybooks.com