Going Up!: Elisha Otis's Trip to the Top (Great Idea Series) - Hardcover

Kulling, Monica

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1770492402 ISBN 13: 9781770492400

Publisher: Tundra Books, 2012

Synopsis

This is the fourth book in Tundra's Great Idea Series of biographies for young readers. The story behind the invention of the elevator is one that all young children can relate to! The previous books in the series have been well reviewed, and this new book will be equally compelling.
 
A short, fully illustrated biography in the award-winning GREAT IDEA SERIES, about the man who invented the elevator - Elijah Otis. The man who enabled the hi-rise, and other feats of modern architecture.

About this title

About the Author:

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, MONICA KULLING is a poet who has published many books for children, including picture books, adaptations of classic novels, and biographies. Known for introducing biography to children who are just learning to read, she has written about Harriet Tubman, Houdini, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Amelia Earhart, among others. Her book It's a Snap! George Eastman's First Photograph, illustrated by Bill Slavin, was the first in Tundra's Great Idea Series, followed by All Aboard! Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine and In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up. Monica Kulling is also the author of the hilarious Merci Mister Dash!
 
Award-winning artist DAVID PARKINS has illustrated more than fifty books for children. He began his career at Dyfed College of Art in Wales, where he studied wildlife illustration. From there, he attended the Lincoln College of Art.

From Booklist:

Kulling gives lesser-known inventor Elisha Otis a lift in this latest entry into the Great Idea series. As a boy in the early 1800s, Otis enjoyed watching the pulleys and ropes hoist—and occasionally drop—hay on his family’s farm. After his grist mill, which he built himself, went bust, he found success creating a rail-turner machine for a bed-frame factory and inventing a hoisting platform for heavy machinery. Unlike the pulleys and ropes of his boyhood, this platform had a safety break to avoid crashes. But when Otis expanded his operation to make elevators that would hoist people, spectators were skeptical. A daring demonstration in the Crystal Palace of the 1854 World’s Fair in New York convinced the audience of the viability of elevators and paved the way for skyscrapers. Although it wouldn’t have been possible for Otis’ wife to “almost see the lightbulb over her husband’s head” in 1845, this picture-book biography gives a lively account of Otis’ world-changing invention. Caricatured expressions set against detailed backdrops add playfulness to the informative text. Grades 1-3. --Angela Leeper

About this edition

• Publisher: Tundra Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1770492402
• ISBN 13: 9781770492400
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Parkins David