inventors – Mom Read It

Beulah Has a Hunch! – a salute to STEMinism!

Posted on December 7, 2023December 7, 2023 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Beulah Has a Hunch! : Inside the Colorful Mind of Master Inventor Beulah Louise Henry, by Katie Mazeika, (Oct. 2023, Beach Lane Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9781665903639

Ages 6-9

Beulah Louise Henry may be one of the coolest inventors we haven’t heard of. Born in North Carolina in 1887, Henry had both hyperphantasia – she saw things in extreme detail in her mind – and synesthesia – words, numbers, and music all manifested as color in her brain. This all sounds like the perfect conditions to create the perfect backdrop for an inventor, but not so for “young ladies” of the time; Mazeika describes her parents’ frustration at Beulah’s “daydreaming” and taking household gadgets apart to discover their inner workings. Henry’s desire to learn and discover pushed her to invent a multitude of devices; she updated parasol technology and bath toys, baby dolls and ice cream makers. Called “Lady Edison” by a patent office, Henry’s brain was hard-wired to create. Mazeika’s illustration uses bright swirling colors to denote Henry’s synesthesia and brings in different perspectives to allow readers to look over Henry’s shoulder as she creates technical drawings. Back matter includes photos and more notes on Henry, a timeline of her inventions, and sources for further reading. A good addition to picture book and STEM/STEAM biographies.

The U.S. Patent Office’s kids’ website has a page on Henry, and an expanded page in their Learning and Resources section.

Tiny Jumper: A picture book biography of a female daredevil

Posted on November 27, 2023 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Tiny Jumper : How Tiny Broadwick Created the Parachute Rip Cord, by Candy Dahl/Illustrated by Maithili Joshi, (Oct. 2023, Little Bee Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9781499813944

Ages 4-8

Just when you think you’ve read the all coolest biographies of female innovators, Candy Dahl and Maithili Joshi prove you wrong. In 1893, Georgia Ann Thompson was born, weighing only 3 pounds, but her impact is still felt today. Nicknamed “Tiny” because of her diminutive size, she set out to climb up: up tobacco leaves and cotton mill machinery in her childhood jobs; up trees as she dreamed of getting away from tobacco fields and cotton mills; and up, up, up into the air as an aeronaut, after seeing Charles Broadwick rise up in a hot-air balloon and parachute to the earth. Tiny learned from Broadwick and became famous, touring the country and performing daring feats. Pushing the envelope, she became the first woman to parachute from an airplane and created the parachute ripcord when one of her jumps encountered problems. Dahl uses quotes from Broadwick to allow readers to step into her shoes and experience the excitement and the bumps and bruises of the aerialist: “I had broken bones an dislocated shoulders… I loved it. I loved the excitement” and how women were treated at the time: “It burned me up having to dress like a baby doll and having that name tacked on me!” An author’s note provides further detail on Tiny’s life; a bibliography provides more resources for further reading. The State Archives of North Carolina provides a lesson plan on Broadwick and publisher Little Bee offers downloadable activity sheets on their webpage. A good addition to picture book biographies!

Middle Grade, Non-Fiction, Non-fiction, Tween Reads

Blog Tour: Twisted True Tales from Science!

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Happy New Year! What better way to kick things off than by talking up a new, cool nonfiction science series?

Series information:

Title: Twisted True Tales from Science

Author: Stephanie Bearce

Release Date: February 1, 2017

Publisher: Prufrock Press

Did you know that Nikola Tesla invented a death ray gun and was also afraid of women who wore jewelry? How about the Chinese scientists from two-thousand years ago who were trying to create a medicine that would make them live forever but accidentally blew up their lab and discovered gun powder?

Find out more about the strange history of science in Twisted True Tales from Science, a new non-fiction series that introduces kids to some of the most twisted yet completely true stories from science. These books are perfect for the gross-but-true legends of the Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not! stories.

Freaky Facts from Explosive Experiments

Gunpowder was a chemical explosive discovered by the ancient Chinese. But they weren’t experimenting to invent a weapon. They were actually trying to make a medicine that would give their emperor eternal life. Boy – were they surprised when the elixir for life exploded and blew up their laboratory.

The mission was code named Starfish Prime and it was one of the largest man-made explosions in the history of the world. In 1962 the United States tested a nuclear bomb in outer space. The explosion was so bright that it lit up the sky over Honolulu just like it was the fourth of July. But instead of fireworks, it was a nuclear bomb 100 times bigger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

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