Breakthrough: how one teen innovator is changing the world

By Jack Andraka and Matthew Lysiak

An inspiring teenage memoir from globally renowned young scientist Jack Andraka. 
Have you ever had a problem you would give everything to solve — a problem so difficult you would spend years searching for a solution?
When Jack Andraka was thirteen, he had a whole pile of problems like this. An outsider at school, he knew he didn’t fit in — and a close family friend was dying of cancer. But instead of giving in to the bullying and the despair, he took another path. Using his passion for science, he decided to try to create a better method of cancer detection. After conducting two years of research and asking hundreds of universities and companies for help, to no avail, Jack was finally able to secure the lab space necessary to test out his ingenious idea. In the end, he did it. Jack’s early-detection test for pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers has the potential to be over four hundred times more effective than the medical standard — and it costs only three cents per use. Jack was just fifteen at the time he came up with his solution.
Jack Andraka’s story is not just one of inspiring teenage success; it is a story of overcoming depression and homophobic bullying, and of finding the resilience to persevere. Whatever your age and interests, his book will motivate you to pursue your own dreams in the face of resistance, and to never stop learning. Full of fun, simple experiments you can try at home, Breakthrough is an amazing personal story and a reminder of why young people’s ideas deserve to be heard.

PRAISE FOR JACK ANDRAKA

‘Funny, brave and super-enthusiastic, with a healthy dose of adolescent egotism and some comic glimpses of the trials of being Jack’s parent, Breakthrough is an inspiring story for would-be scientists … just don't complain when they turn your microwave into a ray gun.’ The Daily Mail

‘The book is pitched at young people and Andraka’s geeky charm comes through. So even if he has been over-hyped, in the end what’s not to like about a gay nerd doing his bit to show how exciting braininess can be?’ The Sydney Morning Herald

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scribe Publications
• Release date: Apr 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781925113747

Jack Andraka

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 Achievement 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 countless radio, newspaper, and magazine articles.

Reviews for Breakthrough

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jack is a science-minded kid who excels at experimentation and science fairs. However, his middle school experience is full of bullies, questions about fitting in, and getting comfortable in his own skin. He has a lot of success in the science fair circuit. Inspired after his uncle died from Pancreatic Cancer, he goes on a quest to discover an early detection test for it. His determination to find a solution and get lab space is inspiring. His success brought on awards and opportunities to spread his message, met the press, and even attend the State of the Union. His question for discovery continues on and has implications for schools today. Sometimes heavy on the science, but the message is a positive one of dogged perseverance and discovery.

[jrlibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the fabulous true story of Jack Andraka, a boy who, at the age of fifteen, came up with a early detection test for pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer. HIs method is much more effective than what doctors used previously and cost only three cents a test. The story is more than just that of a young successful innovator. It details quite clearly Jack's path of creative inventiveness, the close connection he had with a dear family friend who Jack called "Uncle Ted" and how Ted's death inspired Jack to help others suffering from the same disease. It also does a great job of explaining when and how Jack realized he was gay, and how he handled some of the homophobic bullying that he faced regularly. It is an inspiring read for a variety of reasons and one that young people should not miss.