Inventions and Inventors

In Seussian rhyme and lively illustrations, Jack imagines and describes the car he will build — much better than the clunky family car!

The chase is on when Polo's book is stolen by a small alien. Polo, an engaging hound, pulls an amazing assortment of aids from his backpack, all leading to a satisfying conclusion. Colorful art placed in comic strip format is supported on large pages in Polo's second adventure.

This is the story of one brilliant idea and the child who helps to bring it into the world. As the child's confidence grows, so does the idea itself. And then, one day, something amazing happens.

It's windy on the Danish island of Samsø. Meet the environmentally friendly people who now proudly call their home Energy Island. This inspiring true story proves that with a little hard work and a big idea, anyone can make a huge step toward energy conservation. 

Benjamin Franklin was amazing. He was a musician, a printer, a cartoonist, a shopkeeper, an inventor and more. He figured out how to solve many problems — including how to steal lightening from the sky to prevent it from starting fires in Colonial towns. Conversational text and lighthearted illustrations introduce this early American hero to a new generation.

The voice of an old, blind Galileo Galilei is used to look back on a life that started in Pisa where early on he challenged tradition. Though confined, the elderly Galileo asserts that, "The truth has a way of escaping into the light." Bold lines border illustrations to evoke time and place, enhanced by spot illustrations of Galileo's work and observations.

Iggy has one passion: building. His parents are proud of his fabulous creations, though they’re sometimes surprised by his materials — who could forget the tower he built of dirty diapers? When his second-grade teacher declares her dislike of architecture, Iggy faces a challenge. He loves building too much to give it up! With irresistible rhyming text and puckish illustrations, this book will charm creative kids everywhere, and amuse their sometimes bewildered parents. [Amazon review]

Lewis Latimer's invention of the carbon filament made light bulbs more affordable and longer lasting. Readers follow his journey from working with Alexander Graham Bell to improving Thomas Edison's light bulb. It's an enlightening story filled with engaging text and colorful images, all reviewed by Smithsonian experts.

A romp through the possibilities of the unbound imagination. Marveltown is a place where flights of fancy come to life. Residents go sky-skiing for fun, drive around on a skyway held up by ion rays, and work in the Invent-o-Drome to come up with ever more fantastical and farfetched creations. Even the kids get in on the fun, inventing homework-eating mechanical dogs, Hypno-Goggles, and the Rocket Chair, which can launch a kid from home to school in seconds flat. When giant worker robots go nuts and run amok, it is the kids’ inventions that save Marveltown.

Nature does it best…and did it first! Explore the ways we have looked to nature for brilliant new designs and innovations to solve our own conundrums. Each example in nature is paired with a fun, rhyming description, an example of how it has been used by us, and a question to the reader―“what other problems can be solved?”

What would you do if you lived in a community without a library, hospital, post office, or fire department? If you were Benjamin Franklin, you’d set up these organizations yourself. Franklin also designed the lightning rod, suggested the idea of daylight saving time, invented bifocals and the odometer — all inspired by his common sense and intelligence.

A fictional account based on events in the life of eccentric inventor Lodner Phillips as told from the perspective of his daughter, Virena. Papa theorizes and tinkers but never succeeds. Finally, while the family is dropping lines from a pier into Lake Michigan, his daughter asks, "have you ever wondered what it's like to be a fish?" Immediately the man dashes back to his workshop and soon produces one of the world's earliest submarines, the Whitefish. Children will delight in the way Virena is the catalyst for her father's successive improvements to his primitive vessel as she continues...

Each room of every house holds items, objects, and other surprises that were invented at one time or another. (A kitchen calendar, for example, comes from a 16th century. Detailed, interactive pages are filled with fascinating tidbits sure to intrigue and inspire.

This activity book features art from the picture book Rosie Revere, Engineer and will inspire young readers with activities of all kinds. Kids will have the chance to design a better bicycle, build a simple catapult, construct a solar oven, and more! This book will teach problem-solving and creative-thinking skills crucial to STEM fields while also providing opportunities for its readers to try new things and, sometimes, to fail.

Strong lines and narrative combine in this picture book biography of the Vermonter who figured out how to photograph real snowflakes. The dramatic drawings won illustrator Mary Azarian a Caldecott Medal.

It is difficult for today's young readers to imagine a time when personal computers were not widely accessible. This volume of the "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Inventors and Scientists" series presents an overview of the history of computers and the significant roles Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak played in bringing computers to the public. [Barnes & Noble review]

Born in England in the early 19th century, Anna was encouraged by her father to observe, study, and document the natural world. Together, they also experimented with light as a way to photograph and record her botanic specimens. Unfortunately, none of the photographs exist today as the “prints faded over time, like memories.” Later she created books using cyanotype (known today as sun prints). Lush but muted illustrations in blues and white evoke the period and this scientist’s work. Additional resources are included.

Two machines captivated young Philo Farnsworth: a telephone and a phonograph. Both had cranks and both connected people with others (one in real time, the other through music). These and other inspirations motivated young Philo to invent what was to become known as the television. His early story is fascinatingly told and well illustrated.

You may not have heard of Edwin Binney but chances are you’ve used his invention: Crayola crayons. Binney’s determination to come up with ways for children to create and draw with non-dusty color led to the invention. His life and legacy (and even how the name Crayola was crafted) makes a memorable story. Illustrated in color and brought right up to contemporary crayon making, this is a fascinating and well documented look at one man’s continuing legacy.

After touring a German submarine in the early 1940s, young Raye set her sights on becoming an engineer and becoming a pioneer who changed the course of ship design forever.

Using his ingenuity and tenacity, Garrett overcame racial barriers and forged a career as a successful businessman and inventor. But when a tunnel collapsed, trapping twenty men, the rescue would test both Garrett's invention — and his courage.

Images of unusual inventions are presented with possible uses, explained when the page is turned. They really are wacky but very creative in this fascinating look at creativity.

This fascinating story of the development of steam engines is told against the backdrop of David Macaulay’s personal narrative of his family’s trip across the ocean from England to the United States in 1957 at age 8. Historical information is accompanied by detailed drawings and schematics of pumps and pistons, early steam engines, steam-powered paddleboats, river steamboats, compound engines, steam turbines, and the building of the SS United States

Young people see a need and work to better their world in this upbeat chronicle of youthful activists.

Discover the stories behind some of the world's greater and lesser inventions. Beginning with a dedication to Leonardo da Vinci, it includes Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press; James Watt and the steam condenser; the Wright brothers; Guglielmo Marconi and the radio; and John Logie Baird and the television. In addition, there are chapters on useful inventions like toilet paper and postage stamps as well as one on the women responsible for coffee filters, teddy bears, and windshield wipers. Another chapter covers the author's favorite inventions, such as hula hoops, Legos, pencils, and...

Take a detailed look at the fascinating world of robots — from the earliest single-task machines to the advanced intelligence of robots with feelings. Young readers will be amazed to learn all that robots can do: perform delicate surgical operations, clean city sewers, work as museum tour guides, or even battle each other in combat. [Amazon]

The first in the Accelerati Trilogy, 14-year old Nick, his younger brother and his father have moved from Tampa (FL) to a ramshackle Victorian house in Colorado Springs. Peculiar things happen when items from the attic are sold. Could they really be inventions from inventor Nicola Tesla? Intrigue with plenty of humor and likeable characters in a fast-pace will leave readers awaiting the next book.

Did you know that the ice cream sundae was invented because of a law forbidding the sale of ice cream on Sundays? Or that the first motorcycle was really just a tricycle with a motor? Would you believe that Mickey Mouse started out as a rabbit? Arranged in alphabetical order with anecdotal, fun-to-read text, this fascinating book is packed with the stories behind these and over 100 more inventions. [Amazon review]

Journey to the wave-battered coast of the Pacific Northwest to meet some of the engineers and scientists working to harness the punishing force of our oceans, one of the nature’s powerful and renewable energy sources.