Thomas Edison for Kids

June 1, 2006
Gr 5-9 -Pre-sented chronologically and always in a positive light, the inventor -s life is described in considerable detail. Being the workaholic that he was, it -s understandable that there -s little mention of his personal life once he moves out of his teens. Enough detail is given about his childhood that one senses the single-mindedness that drove his genius. However, with so much emphasis on Edison -s many inventions and projects, one can easily get bogged down. Photographs, frequent diagrams, and sidebars add interesting insights. Short biographies of his peers, both friends and foes, are included. The activities tend to have text-heavy instructions and lack detailed diagrams. The explanation of atoms and their charges in -Make an Electrically Charged Puppet Dance - is inaccurate. Also, some of the activities become repetitious, particularly those showing the persistence of vision phenomenon used to achieve motion photography. Sources for science experiments, lists of related museums, and Web sites are appended. For Edison enthusiasts and invention fans, this book is a serviceable addition. Most libraries that own Brian Williams -s "Thomas Alva Edison" (Heinemann Library, 2001) or Marfe Ferguson Delano -s "Inventing the Future" (National Geographic, 2002) don -t need it." -Carol S. Surges, McKinley Elementary School, Wauwatosa, WI"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2006
Gr. 4-7. Carlson combines, with some success, a lively biography of one of the most creative and inventive minds in history with 21 activity pages that students can use to replicate some of the simplest of Edison's experiments. Edison, mostly deaf and thought to be a slow learner as a child, never stopped investigating. He tended to ignore his first wife and their children and didn't do much better with his second set, but he brought the world the phonograph, incandescent electric light, the storage battery, the moving-picture projector--and an electric pen now used in tattooing. He also pretty much created the Skunk Works labratory model that Apple, Microsoft, and many other think tanks use today. A handful of sidebars about Henry Ford, Nikola Tesla, and others whose lives and work intersected with Edison's, and black-and-white illustrations, many of them period, contribute texture. An extensive list of resources adds value.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)