Never give up is a book that pushes and encourages children of all ages to continue to push through and follow their dreams because the more you continue and put your mind to it the more possible your dreams can come true.

This is a great book about an important female scientist! Her story is a lesson in perseverance as she failed many times and was shut down before finding success. We owe the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to her never-ending curiosity and research! Great book for children to read!

What a wonderful and education story about Kati and her work with mRNA and vaccines. The science content of this book is a bit high for elementary students however, having had them live through the pandemic, it is a story that hits home with them. What a wonderful way to celebrate a woman scientist in addition to showing the perseverance it takes to accomplish your dreams. Would recommend to teachers to share with their students.

Never Give Up
Dr. Kati Karikó and the Race for the Future of Vaccines
by Debbie Dadey, illus. by Juliana Oakley
Pub Date 07 Mar 2023
Lerner Publishing Group, Millbrook Press ™
Biographies & Memoirs | Children's Nonfiction


I am reviewing a copy of Never Give Up through Lerner Publishing Group and Netgalley:


As a child Hungarian born biochemist Katalin "Kati" Kariko became fascinated by science and grew up determined to find a way to use messenger RNA, a copy of a part of DNA that provides cells with instructions to make proteins, to help fight illness.


At that time a mRNA vaccine had never been made, she faced frequent criticism and was told by other scientists she would never succeed.



But Kariko refused to give up her research, and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she played a critical role in developing the successful Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine faster than any other vaccine in history.



I give Never Give Up five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

It was good to see women getting credit for their accomplishments, even years after the fact. I thought it was interesting how her efforts from long ago made such a pivotal impact on life now.

Never Give Up describes the life of scientist Dr. Kati Karikó and her research on mRNA that led to the development of the COVID-19 vaccines.

My biography-loving kindergartner enjoyed this book, but the science content was well ahead of her understanding. For older kids (and even adults) I think this is an informative and inspirational book that is very relevant right now. The author's notes at the end are a nice addition. Even though it's a children's book, the research is cited, which I appreciate. I didn't find the quotations throughout particularly helpful, especially for children, but they were easy to skip so they didn't detract from the reading experience.

Mr. Rogers is known for advising kids to "look for the helpers," and this book helps them do just that. Highly recommend.

Thank you to Lerner Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy for me to review! My family enjoyed it.

This book caught my eye simply because of the cover. With having no backstory or summary of the book, I read it quickly and enjoyed it immensely. As an adult who has lived through the covid-19 pandemic, and has been vaccinated, I had no idea about Kati and all of her hard work as a scientist to make this vaccine come to life. What an inspiring story of perseverance for a foreign woman especially! This book is an excellent addition to children's bookshelves to show them anything is possible with time, effort, and strength. And to NEVER GIVE UP!

This was a wonderful book. It follows the life and work of Dr. Kati Kariko who's life work and dedication led to the speedy development of a Covid-19 vaccine.

While I wished the illustrations had another layer of polish, they were wtill very engaging and lovely. They gave a lot of life to the story, with a lot of variety.

I enjoyed how thorough the story was, talking about, for example, her favorite snack and thinking about her research while she ran marathons and the hardships she faced. The timeline and glossary at the back were also a thoughtful touch.

It was clear that this story was presented to inspire and to educate, and I felt it did a very good job at that.