Children's Books discussion

Our theme for November will be "Inventors" to include adult inventors and (hopefully) young inventors, too. This thread becomes our Master List and General Discussion for those who find more books to add to the list, or who read some of the books that were not chosen as our official six selections and would like to talk about them.

A few for starters:

Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor

I Is for Idea: An Inventions Alphabet

Hooray For Inventors!

Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum

The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth

Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci

Imaginative Inventions: The Who, What, Where, When, and Why of Roller Skates, Potato Chips, Marbles, and Pie

If I Built a Car (fiction)

Regards To The Man In The Moon
A Big Ball of String

This book is great, I hope people consider it. Even though it doesn't have the word invent in it this kid is an a architect and in the story he invents something. It is a great book.


Iggy Peck, Architect

The Picture History of Great Inventors
George Washington Carver: Ingenious Inventor
George Crum and the Saratoga Chip A food inventor =)
Inventor McGregor (Fiction)

Mr. Archimedes' Bath - discovery rather than invention
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - for a different kind of inventor

In the Belly of an Ox: The Unexpected Photographic Adventures of Richard and Cherry Kearton

Well, it's time to vote! Thanks to all for the recommendations. It was definitely more challenging than I expected to find picture books about inventors (I found more upper elementary and middle grade materials, actually). Looks like we have some good books to choose from, though! :-)

Please vote by listing your five choices in a comment below. Votes will be accepted until October 17th. Thank you!

my votes:

Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum
Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor
Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin
Iggy Peck, Architect
Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci

I am not voting because I won't be able to obtain the books. But I wanted to say I also found it hard to find books about inventos, especially girl/women inventors.

George Washington Carver
Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor
George Crum and the Saratoga Chip
Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin
Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum

Kirei wrote: "I am not voting because I won't be able to obtain the books. But I wanted to say I also found it hard to find books about inventos, especially girl/women inventors."

Oh, sorry to hear that :-( Hopefully next month's theme will be better for you. But, yeah, it was really surprising and disappointing how few picture books there are. Especially since, when I was a kid, I was fascinated with inventions and would have loved to read about them!

Snowflake Bentley
Robert Cade: Gatorade Inventor
The Kellogg Family: Breakfast Cereal Pioneers
George Eastman and the Kodak Camera

The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth

Madame C.J. Walker and New Cosmetics

Kelly wrote: "Madame C.J. Walker and New Cosmetics"

Kelly, thanks for the suggestions. We are actually in the voting period now, so if you would like to vote, please choose five of the books from our official list in messages 2-8 :-) Later, this will become a "Master List and General Discussion" thread and it will be great to have your suggestions here.

Sorry I didn't read very carefully!!

Kelly wrote: "Sorry I didn't read very carefully!!"

No problem! I am just glad we have some more books for the Master List.

No worries! I think "inventors" is a great theme. Obviously though writers should take note that ther is a need for these books.

I have Iggy Peck in my amazon cart. Wanna buy it! :-)

Kirei wrote: "I have Iggy Peck in my amazon cart. Wanna buy it! :-)"

I *love* that book! It's one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy it :-)

I may love the 'Inventors' theme - but the limited availability of this list in Australia, and in general, is disappointing. Most of the listed books are American, so I'm glad that you have access to wonderful stories about inventors, but I'm going to take on the challenge this month to find more titles to add to our list rather than reading the nominations. Happy Reading All!

Linda wrote: "I may love the 'Inventors' theme - but the limited availability of this list in Australia, and in general, is disappointing. Most of the listed books are American, so I'm glad that you have access..."

How disappointing, Linda! I was frustrated by the lack of books available here in America and it sounds even worse in Australia. Best wishes and if you find any stellar titles, please come back here to post about them on our Master List and General Discussion! :-)

My votes go to:


Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor

Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum

Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci

Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

In the Belly of an Ox: The Unexpected Photographic Adventures of Richard and Cherry Kearton

I didn't offer any nominations for this month because most of the books we've read about inventors are too overwhelming with details and facts. We definitely felt that way about Hooray For Inventors!, even though we liked looking through the pages.

I had to vote based on what's available at my library. Unfortunately, about half of the books that were nominated are not available. So many of the books nominated look very interesting; we hope to find some gems.

Dolly wrote: "I didn't offer any nominations for this month because most of the books we've read about inventors are too overwhelming with details and facts. We definitely felt that way about [book:Hooray For I..."

Oh, dear. Well, I hope we will be able to find a nice selection of books that are suitable for both the beginning and upper picture book ages. It's such a fascinating topic!

Kirei-
Thanks for you comment!! I was worried that this was an unknown books that no one knew!

I hope it gets picked so we can read it again.

Thanks again to all for the nominations and voting. I know this ended up being a surprisingly challenging subject; why are there not more picture books about inventors!?! And I know some of you couldn't find any books locally. I hope that those of you who can will join us for the discussion come November 1st and that we'll have a more universally viable theme for December.

Here are our November titles:

Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin


Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor

Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum

Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci

Iggy Peck, Architect

Sixth/Alternate Title
George Washington Carver
(note this is for the upper age group as its a bit longer than the standard picture book at 40 pages and text-heavy)

Thanks, Kathryn! =)I was able to get all but Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Abigail wrote: "Although beyond the scope of our club, because it is not a picture-book, I thought that Mistakes that Worked (96 pages), by Charlotte Jones, looked very interesting!"

Oh, yes. I saw that one and was also intrigued! Too bad it's not a picture book :-(

Oh, wow! This looks fabulous. It's a new book, not even at my library yet, but is one I will definitely watch for:
The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont

Our oldest just brought home a book about food inventions, called Food Creations: From Hot Dogs to Ice Cream Cones. It was great, and not too overwhelming with details. I don't know if it's widely available, but I wish I'd seen this when it was time to nominate books!

Dolly wrote: "Our oldest just brought home a book about food inventions, called Food Creations: From Hot Dogs to Ice Cream Cones. It was great, and not too overwhelming with details. I don't know..."

Thanks for sharing! This looks like one I want to add to my home collection. Glad you enjoyed it.

Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton

The Marvelous Thing That Came from a Spring: The Accidental Invention of the Toy That Swept the Nation by Gilbert Ford

Thank you, Mary! :-)