Innovations and inventions

Nonfiction

Carlson, Laurie. Queen of Inventions: How the Sewing Machine Changed the World. 2003. 32p. Millbrook, $22.90 (0-7613-2706-1).

 Gr. 2–6. This in-depth look at the story of Isaac Singer’s sewing machine includes information on how and why it came to be and its impact on nineteenth-century society. Photos and period-style illustrations add to the book’s authenticity.

Curlee, Lynn. Brooklyn Bridge. 2001. 32p. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, $18 (0-689-83183-8).

 Gr. 2–6. Curlee introduces the stories of both the bridge and the family that took it from idea to reality in this title marked by dramatic acrylic paintings reproduced from photographs. Diagrams, bridge specifications, and a construction time line complement the text.

Driscoll, Dan, and others. The Inventor’s Times: Real-Life Stories of 30 Amazing Creations. 2002. 64p. Scholastic, paper, $9.99 (0-439-38474-5).

 Gr. 3–up. Each page of this book is arranged in newspaper format, containing articles, descriptions, and experiments dealing with inventions. The changes in the format of the newspaper as the book moves from 1876 to 1999 are visually intriguing.  

Greenstein, Elaine. Ice-Cream Cones for Sale! 2003. 32p. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, $15.95 (0-439-32728-8).

 K–Gr. 4. The invention of the ice-cream cone is shrouded in mystery, and here Greenstein introduces all the contenders for the cone title and briefly tells their stories. For a history of ice cream, including the inventions of sundaes and banana splits, as well as ice-cream cones, see Jules Older’s Ice Cream: Including Great Moments in Ice Cream History (Charlesbridge, 2002).

Hudson, Wade. Scientists, Healers, and Inventors. 2003. 72p. Just Us, paper, $9.95 (0-940975-97-1).

 Gr. 5–8. The page-long biographies in this title from the Book of Black Heroes series includes information on inventors such as George Washington Carver, as well as those who may not be generally known, such as Andrew Beard, a freed slave who invented the automatic railroad coupler.

Jones, Charlotte Foltz. Accidents May Happen: Fifty Inventions Discovered by Mistake. Illus. by John O’Brien. 1998. 96p. Delacorte, paper, $11.95 (0-385-32240-2).

 Gr. 3–6. A follow-up to Foltz’s excellent Mistakes That Worked (Doubleday, 1991), which describes a wide variety of inventions created by accident, this title summarizes the oddball origins of a variety of household items, foodstuffs, medicines, and more. Both books are full of short pieces and quirky facts that will pique kids’ interest, and O’Brien’s cartoons add just the right touch of levity.