What do you think?
Rate this book
Project Penicillin: The Race to Develop a Life-Saving Antibiotic
Join the race against time to turn a 'miracle mould' into a life-saving cure in this action-packed STEM book for kids.
Enter the high-stakes world of the 1940s and relive the thrill of a medical breakthrough alongside Alexander Fleming and his team as they discover a way to save millions of lives. This is the story of penicillin, humanity’s greatest shield against infection - and the brilliant minds who made it happen.
Learn all about one of the greatest moments in the history of medicine in this exciting, fast-paced narrative, from the discovery of a ‘miracle mould’ in a messy lab to the life-and-death race against the clock of World War II.
Join the team of scientists and
An exciting, action-packed narrative with historical accuracy that allows readers to deep-dive into how this life-saving antibiotic was developed.Atmospheric illustrations that give a moody graphic novel vibe, perfect for keeping kids aged 9-12 engaged. Accessible STEM learning through light-touch diagrams and microbiology explanations that reveal how the medicine was made possible.
The perfect gift for young scientists, Project Penicillin is a must-have science adventure book that will inspire you to look at the microscopic world through the eyes of a scientist and discover your own path in STEM.
More in the series
Explore more of the greatest moments in science history, told as exciting adventure stories with DK Science Stories. Next, experience the historic Apollo 11 mission from Earth to the moon in Moon Landing.
Enter the high-stakes world of the 1940s and relive the thrill of a medical breakthrough alongside Alexander Fleming and his team as they discover a way to save millions of lives. This is the story of penicillin, humanity’s greatest shield against infection - and the brilliant minds who made it happen.
Learn all about one of the greatest moments in the history of medicine in this exciting, fast-paced narrative, from the discovery of a ‘miracle mould’ in a messy lab to the life-and-death race against the clock of World War II.
Join the team of scientists and
An exciting, action-packed narrative with historical accuracy that allows readers to deep-dive into how this life-saving antibiotic was developed.Atmospheric illustrations that give a moody graphic novel vibe, perfect for keeping kids aged 9-12 engaged. Accessible STEM learning through light-touch diagrams and microbiology explanations that reveal how the medicine was made possible.
The perfect gift for young scientists, Project Penicillin is a must-have science adventure book that will inspire you to look at the microscopic world through the eyes of a scientist and discover your own path in STEM.
More in the series
Explore more of the greatest moments in science history, told as exciting adventure stories with DK Science Stories. Next, experience the historic Apollo 11 mission from Earth to the moon in Moon Landing.
87 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 5, 2026
6 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 12, 2026
One of two books that fictionalise science at work – surely a series that will expand over time – this shows us how Alexander Fleming grew from being someone upsetting the medical apple cart on the fields of WWI, to discovering penicillin. Once he worked out what it was and what it was doing – and what to call it – the next steps involved lots of other characters, in making sure it could be scaled up, purified and called an echt medicine. That handily takes us up to a coda at the start of D-Day, when penicillin was definitely in many a field kit.
This certainly taught me things, such as how rare it was at the outset – and how it was distilled from recipients' urine to make sure it went further. I didn't know anything about the timeline of the research once Fleming found the lucky Petri dish, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that. However, I am not sure this is the ideal way to get the story across. Fine, many students would learn better from a novelised account than a textbook, and this goes nowhere near the depths of the form, where Person A tells Person B exactly what B already knows, because really A has to tell us. But I didn't get much in the way of character from these pages, and things that might have made this a standard novella – it would be roughly a two-hour audiobook, by my reckoning – weren't fully developed.
That said, it's not a daft option to choose – to repeat, this is informative, and you can see the moulds in their bedpans as Oxford scientists tried and tried to create enough to count as an actual full course of adult doses, among other smaller details. The artwork is fine, as is the wartime framing. But whereas the textbook version would be quite dry, this didn't inject that much fun, character or distinction into things – hence three and a half stars.
This certainly taught me things, such as how rare it was at the outset – and how it was distilled from recipients' urine to make sure it went further. I didn't know anything about the timeline of the research once Fleming found the lucky Petri dish, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that. However, I am not sure this is the ideal way to get the story across. Fine, many students would learn better from a novelised account than a textbook, and this goes nowhere near the depths of the form, where Person A tells Person B exactly what B already knows, because really A has to tell us. But I didn't get much in the way of character from these pages, and things that might have made this a standard novella – it would be roughly a two-hour audiobook, by my reckoning – weren't fully developed.
That said, it's not a daft option to choose – to repeat, this is informative, and you can see the moulds in their bedpans as Oxford scientists tried and tried to create enough to count as an actual full course of adult doses, among other smaller details. The artwork is fine, as is the wartime framing. But whereas the textbook version would be quite dry, this didn't inject that much fun, character or distinction into things – hence three and a half stars.
October 31, 2025
What a really fantastic book and told through such great storytelling!
I think we’ve all heard the basis of the story of Alexander Flemming’s discovery of penicillin. Boiled down to ‘he went on holiday, didn’t clean up his lab bench, came home and WHAM penicillin’ at least that was the whistle stop story I’ve been told all through my education! It somewhat went more detailed when I finished an MSc in Microbiology but the foundations of this story is what I’ll always remember!!
There is so much more to the tale and from the moment I picked the book up, you’re whisked back to the frenzy of the whispers of war to the depths of battle both inside and outside of the lab. Men were going off to fight, returning with life threatening injuries and the race was truly on to find a way to treat them all.
The writing had the feels of a true story epic and it was so compelling to follow. And with the absolutely stunning illustrations made this book no hardship to read whatsoever. It’s a solid recommend to any person out there, whether you’re interested in science or not! It appeals to everyone. I hope the author writes more of this ilk because it was such a great book!
Thank you to the author and publisher for this book on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review.
I think we’ve all heard the basis of the story of Alexander Flemming’s discovery of penicillin. Boiled down to ‘he went on holiday, didn’t clean up his lab bench, came home and WHAM penicillin’ at least that was the whistle stop story I’ve been told all through my education! It somewhat went more detailed when I finished an MSc in Microbiology but the foundations of this story is what I’ll always remember!!
There is so much more to the tale and from the moment I picked the book up, you’re whisked back to the frenzy of the whispers of war to the depths of battle both inside and outside of the lab. Men were going off to fight, returning with life threatening injuries and the race was truly on to find a way to treat them all.
The writing had the feels of a true story epic and it was so compelling to follow. And with the absolutely stunning illustrations made this book no hardship to read whatsoever. It’s a solid recommend to any person out there, whether you’re interested in science or not! It appeals to everyone. I hope the author writes more of this ilk because it was such a great book!
Thank you to the author and publisher for this book on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review.
March 31, 2026
With thanks to the author, publishers DK Children, and NetGalley for providing me with a DRC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This is an ideal book for younger readers to learn the story of penicillin, and the key role its discovery played in the development of antibiotics that people in today’s modern world take for granted. There is quite a lot of text, but the writing is easy to read and understand, and the regular illustrations are vibrant and engaging. There is a good level of scientific detail given throughout, but not so much that it might be overwhelming for younger readers.
The way the story of the evolution of penicillin was framed between Alexander Fleming’s observations of soldier’s suffering due to infections in WWI and the subsequent race to find a solution to prevent the same suffering in WWII helped to add some context both the urgency and importance of the discovery.
There is certainly something for everyone in this book, and it is a great start to what promises to be an engaging DK Science Stories series.
This is an ideal book for younger readers to learn the story of penicillin, and the key role its discovery played in the development of antibiotics that people in today’s modern world take for granted. There is quite a lot of text, but the writing is easy to read and understand, and the regular illustrations are vibrant and engaging. There is a good level of scientific detail given throughout, but not so much that it might be overwhelming for younger readers.
The way the story of the evolution of penicillin was framed between Alexander Fleming’s observations of soldier’s suffering due to infections in WWI and the subsequent race to find a solution to prevent the same suffering in WWII helped to add some context both the urgency and importance of the discovery.
There is certainly something for everyone in this book, and it is a great start to what promises to be an engaging DK Science Stories series.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
E ARC provided by Netgalley
March 28, 2026
3.5 Libby
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews