Brainstorm!: The Stories of Twenty American Kid Inventors

Grade 5-9?Brainstorm features young inventors from colonial to modern times and includes women and minorities. The ideas range from a safety device for power looms to the Popsicle, invented by an 11-year-old boy in 1905. Many inventors in this book started their careers as children and some held patents while still in their teens. Others did not receive their first patent until they were older and were able to raise the money necessary to fund the patenting process. The last chapter explains that process and gives advice on ways to save money on searches. Black-and-white photographs and pen-and-ink drawings show the inventor and/or their inventions. A useful book for encouraging self-expression and the creative process.?Margaret M. Hagel, Norfolk Public Library System, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ever eaten a Popsicle, kept your ears warm with earmuffs or resealed your breakfast cereal with the built-in cardboard tab on the box top? Thank a kid inventor, because all those things, and quite a few more described in this book, were invented by children. A great inspiration for your own young scientist.

Gr. 4^-7. Some of the "kid inventors" of the subtitle are quite young; others are below their legal majority, but not really kids. The 20 stories Tucker tells show the passion for creative tinkering in many forms. Drawn from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, they record the invention of such things as earmuffs (1873), Popsicles (1905), waterskiing (1922), and colored car wax (1991). Some readers may be heartened to find out that a few of the kids profiled were considered "vexatious dullards" before they met with success. A concluding section gives good, specific advice for young inventors (and their teachers). Mary Harris Veeder