What if you Found a Thingity-Jig?

The Thingity-Jig 

by Kathleen Doherty; illus. by Kristyna Litten 

32 pages; ages 4-8

Peachtree, 2021   

theme: mystery, fun, invention

One night, under the light of a silvery moon, all of Bear’s friends were deep asleep.

But not Bear. He wandered about tapping, poking, and sniffing things until he found a Thingity-Jig! It was bouncy! So Bear decides to take it home – but he needs something to pull it or drag it or roll it home. So he builds that thing, and then realizes he needs help lifting the Thingity-Jig onto his contraption to carry it home. But no one will help, so Bear builds a lifter-upper.

What I like about this book: I love the language! Smack. Wallop. Whack. That’s the sound of Bear building something. He clinks and clanks, fiddles and whittles… until he’s built a rolly thing, a lifter-upper thing, and other things with fun-to-say names that describe their function.

I love that Bear invents Rube-Goldberg-type things to help get the job done. I love that he runs into problems trying to get the Thingity-Jig back to his home. I love that Kathleen Doherty puts the best, most fun words to say into her text. I love that I actually have a Thingity-Jig at my house, and my kids used it in much the same way Bear does. 

Beyond the Books:

Bear has to move a huge Thingity-Jig and has no one to help him. So he invents a way to move it. Design and – if you can – build your own thingity-jig mover. Raid the recycling bin for materials, put old wagons into use, think about pulleys and rope. But mostly, have fun!

Build a crazy contraption. Need ideas? Check out this video.

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Layla and the Bots return ... to make CUPCAKES!

Cupcake Fix (Layla and the Bots #3) 

by Vicky Fang; illus. by Christine Nishiyama 

80 pages; ages 5-7

Scholastic (Branches), 2021

I love books that incorporate STEAM elements in an organic way. So, when Vicky told the STEAM Team group that she had a new Layla & the Bots coming out this summer, I could not wait to read it. Fortunately for me, Vicky sent me an arc to satisfy my STEM-y sweet tooth.

Layla is a rock star, performing in a band with her bots. She is also an inventor, and in each book in the series, she uses her engineering and technical know-how to solve a problem. In this book she’s invited to perform at the community center grand opening. But the people in charge of the event are worried they won’t get the crowd they’re hoping for.

Food always brings people together. But what kind of food? Layla decides she needs a survey. 

What I like about this: a survey is a great way to collect information (data). But it’s not useful unless you have a way to analyze that information. So we get to see Layla graph survey results. This is cool – and is something any kid old enough to read this book can do. Heck, my kids were collecting data and graphing M&M colors at this age. (“Mom… we need another bag of M&Ms!”)

Once they discover that folks like cupcakes, the obvious next-step is to design and build a machine that bakes cupcakes and frosts them. 

The machine works! But… the first person to test it asks it to do something unexpected. And that causes problems which must be fixed before the grand opening. The clock is ticking … can Layla and the Bots debug the code and fix the machine in time?

Another thing I like: The problem that’s posed is how to build a machine that allows for personal choice in the baking, frosting, and decorating of cupcakes. Maybe it will get some kids wondering how decisions are made.

And – at the back there’s a Build Your Own activity. Not a cupcake machine – that would be too hard! But a fun extendable grabber arm.

On Wednesday I chatted with Vicky about why she’s so keen on integrating technology, engineering, and coding in her kid’s stories. Check it out at the GROG blog.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we’ll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge’s blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review ARC provided by the author.

Izzy Gizmo and the Invention Convention

Izzy Gizmo and the Invention Convention 
by Pip Jones; illus. by Sara Ogilvie
32 pages; ages 4 - 8
Peachtree Publishing, 2020

theme: STEM, invention, problem-solving

Izzy Gizmo and Fixer were making a racket inventing a So-Sew to fix Grandpa’s jacket, when
Ding  
   Dong  
         Doink! 
went the bell on the door, and a golden note fluttered down to the floor.

That golden note is an invitation to the annual invention convention. Even though her inventions don’t always work, Izzy and Grandpa set off to Technoff Isle. Izzy has an idea, but other competitors take the best tools and supplies. When Izzy discovers a trove of cast-off broken tools that only need repair, she comes up with a new invention.

What I like about this book: Things go wrong, as they do when one is inventing something new. And Izzy ignores what her buddy, Fixer is trying to tell her until… it makes sense. Oh, and did I forget to say that Fixer is a crow whose wing Izzy repaired using her inventive ideas?

Beyond the Books:

Think of something you use and ask: How could we do this better? How could we do this faster? Write or draw your ideas.

Start with materials in your recycling bin. Think of ways you could use plastic bottles to bring light into a tree fort or shelter. Or how you could use those discards to capture the wind. Draw or write your ideas.

Make an Inventor Took Kit. Fill it with needle nose pliers, wire strippers, screwdrivers, alligator clips, wires, batteries, small motors and solar panels, rubber bands, electrical tape, maybe a hot glue gun.

In September we'll join Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Flight for Freedom

Flight for Freedom: The Wetzel Family's Daring Escape from East Germany
by Kristen Fulton; illus.by Torben Kuhlmann
56 pages; ages 5-8
Chronicle Books, 2020

theme: bravery, family, biography

In the days when Germany was divided by a wall, life was very different.

On one side, children watch TV and eat pizza. On the other, children wear uniforms and – if they are lucky – get to eat a banana once a year. Peter lived on the wrong side. The side with scratchy uniforms, no cartoons, and no fruit. Then one night, he discovered a picture of a hot air balloon hidden beneath his parent’s mattress. His parents had a plan!

What I like about this book: Kristen shows us how Peter’s family scrimps and saves to buy materials to build a hot air balloon. She shows how they work secretly into the dark night. She shows the urgency –  they have one chance to try an escape – and the difficulty of both constructing the balloon and of choosing this path of resistance.

And there’s back matter galore! There’s an entire spread devoted to construction, materials, and engineering of the balloon. She’s included a page about escape attempts, and a note about how this story came about.

I met Kristen at a Highlights Foundation workshop about a year after she finished writing Flight for Freedom. I remember her dedication to finding the “golden nugget” of a story, and how she encouraged other writers to write the hard stuff and stick to the facts. I called her up last week and she graciously answered Three Questions:

Sally: What inspired this story?

Kristen: I was looking for my first nonfiction idea, you know, something to write about. I was perusing back issues of Time magazine and came upon a paragraph about a family escaping from East Germany in a hot air balloon. I immediately emailed Peter, using Google translator, and we corresponded. Eventually I traveled to Germany and talked to the family. I also visited the museum where the balloon is on display. Seeing the location and balloon really helped me feel the story in the way a character might feel it.

I also had an opportunity to see a section of the Berlin Wall on display at the Smithsonian. There were bits of graffiti on one side, and the other just had scratches and felt cold. That was the East German side. People couldn’t go near the wall because it was guarded by soldiers.

Sally: You finished Flight for Freedom back in 2012, and here we are, eight years later. Is that a long timeline for publishing?

Kristen: It is. The editor who initially acquired it ended up moving to another publisher. Fortunately, Ariel Richardson at Chronicle loved the original manuscript and that’s where the book found its home. The longest wait was for the illustrator; I really wanted Torben to do the artwork.

Sally: What advice do you have for writers?

Kristen: Do your research. When you think you have enough, keep on going. If you’re writing a picture book, do as much research as you think you’d need to write a chapter book – you want to have enough that you can choose what you put into the story.

Then focus. In this book I focused on just one family and the balloon. With picture books, less is more because the illustrator will fill in the other half of the story with their art.

And, very important, stay true to the facts. Don’t change anything and don’t make anything up. Even when the research isn’t going your way, don’t fudge the truth.

Beyond the Books:

You can see the escape balloon and flimsy basket in this video, taken at the museum in Germany.

Read the Time article that inspired Kristen’s story here, and then another over at the Washington Post here.

Thank you for joining us today, Kristen. You can find out more about her books at her website.
We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday in a couple weeks -  once the Valentine story contest ends. PPBF is a gathering of bloggers who share their reviews of picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Of Owls and Mice

Today I’m sharing two books from Dawn Publications: one about an owl, one about a mouse. The themes: birds, invention, and imagination.

Silent Swoop: An Owl, an Egg, and a Warm Shirt Pocket
by Michelle Houts; illus by Deb Hoeffner
32 pages; ages 4-8
Dawn Publications, 2019

In the dark of night, no one saw the Great Horned Owl glide over the coal yard.

But the next morning the workers found her eggs, so they called Walter. He tucked the eggs in his shirt pocket and carried them to the bird sanctuary where he placed them in an incubator. Eventually one of the eggs hatched into a fluffy, downy owlet. Coal, the owl, became an ambassador for the bird sanctuary.

What I like about this book: This is a sweet story of love growing between a tiny owl hatchling and the man who saved her. And the kids and grandparents she met. I like the language. After Walter puts the eggs in the incubator he watches. He wonders. He waits. We get such a good feeling of time passing slo-o-owly. I like the “explore more” pages at the back. More information about Great Horned Owls. More about the man who saved the owl. More about nests and eggs, about writing and finding facts. And plenty of STEM activities and resources for curious kids.

Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist
by Mike Allegra; illus. by Elizabeth Zechel
32 pages; ages 3-8
Dawn Publications, 2019

The vegetable garden was the place to be. It was where every mouse in the valley went to chat and dance and laugh and play.

Until the owl arrived. The mice moved elsewhere – except for Scampers. She hid in the garden watching the owl. Why was the owl so still? Maybe it’s not even a real owl – but how could the mice find out?

What I like about this book: I like that Scampers is curious enough to ask important questions, such as: is the owl alive? She is inventive enough to come up with ways to test the garden owl. And, she realizes that her scientific knowledge is important to share with the community. And of course I like the “explore more” pages: ways of thinking like a scientist, more information about owls and mice, and a quartet of STEM activities.

Beyond the Books:

Do you have owls living in your neighborhood? How would you find out? You could listen for owls at night (here’s an article with owl calls), and you could read more about owls to learn where they like to live. Some even live in cities.

Learn how to think like a scientist. It means honing your skills of observation, asking questions, playing around with some experiments, and recording what you find out. Read more here.

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publisher.

Stories from Miss Bunsen's School for Brilliant Girls

Light as a Feather [series: Miss Bunsen's School for Brilliant Girls]
by Erica-Jane Waters
128 pages; ages 7 - 9 years
Albert Whitman & Company, 2019

Miss Bunsen’s School for Brilliant Girls is a new chapter book series that celebrates STEM STEAM. Pearl, Millie, and Halinka are a tight trio of friends who tackle all kinds of challenges throughout the series.

In Light as a Feather they are trying to design and build a flying machine for the Annual Girls of Science Games Day. A famous astronaut has issued a challenge: to build their flying craft from environmentally-friendly materials. The winning team gets to spend a week at her space center, plus a trip into space aboard a shuttle.

I like how the three friends work as a team, and their plan to use recycled metal from drink cans and re-purpose other materials. When a fire breaks out and destroys their machine, they rebuild, making do with old tomato cans, rubber hoses, wire whisks, and a few other intriguing “found” items. But will their craft remain airborne long enough? And can they pedal it fast enough to win?

This is the second book in the series about the trio of best friends who attend a funky old school. The school is old, underfunded, and perpetually plagued by squirrels.

The first book in the series, If the Hat Fits features an invention/engineering competition. If they win, the money could help keep the school open.

And there’s a third book coming out next spring: Penny for Your Thoughts. The blurb from the publisher says that Pearl, Millie, and Halinka put their problem-solving skills to the test in a maze competition. But… they find themselves trapped in a strange maze, and Miss Bunsen has to give up her book of secrets in order to set them free. They will need to keep their wits to solve their way out of the puzzle.


Review copy provided by the publisher.

Sweet Dreams, Sarah

Sweet Dreams, Sarah

by Vivian Kirkfield; illus by Chris Ewald

32 pages; ages 7-11

Creston Books, 2019

themes: nonfiction, women in history, inventor

Before the Civil War, Sarah obeyed her owner. 

Hurry up. 

     Eyes down. 

          Don’t speak.

But Sarah dreamed of a different life: a family and work she loved. When the war ended, she moved north with “hope in her heart, and dreams swirling in her head.” She married and helped run the family furniture store. And dreamed of creating something new: a bed that folded up when it wasn’t being used.

What I like about this book: I like how Vivian Kirkfield shows us Sarah’s perseverance:  when things don’t work the way she wants them to, she tweaks her design and rebuilds. She applies for a patent. Gets rejected. Tries again. What a great example of the drive and commitment it takes to create something new.

I like that Sarah builds more than a bed that folds into a desk. She builds a life of freedom, where she can realize her dreams.

I like the back matter: an author’s note about Sarah Goode and what a patent is. There’s also a timeline so we can put her life and invention into broader historical context. And… ta-da! There’s a timeline of black women patent holders from Sarah Goode (1883) to Janet Bashen (2006, web-based software program).

Beyond the book:

Meet some other black women inventors - click here.

Invent something! Have you ever thought, "gee, someone should make a _____________?" Inventors are the ones who say, “this would be better if....” Here's a video from Kid President about his inventions.

Can kids be inventors? You bet. Here's 10 inventions dreamed up by kids.

We're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It's a weekly event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Cogheart

Cogheart
by Peter Bunzl
368 pages; ages 12 & up
Jolly Fish Press, 2019 (US edition)

Action! Adventure! Danger and Daring! What a great kick-off for the new series of Cogheart Adventures .

Thirteen-year-old Lily Harman is stuck at Miss Octavia Scrimshaw’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies. She would rather be anywhere else, especially if it involved adventures and piracy, like the stories she reads in her penny dreadfuls – the Victorian equivalent of comic books. Instead, she’s condemned to classes on deportment and posture and the Art of Making Polite Conversation (in French, no less).

Then her father, a famous inventor, disappears on what should have been a routine zeppelin flight. Suddenly Lily’s life is turned upside down. Her father’s housekeeper Madame Verdegris, becomes her legal guardian and brings her back home. Lily is happy to be away from the pretentious school. She is happy to be reunited with Mrs. Rust, a mechanical servant who cooked so many of Lily’s meals.

But something strange is going on. Madame Verdegris is selling some of her father’s mechanicals off for salvage, and strange men metal-eyed men lurk in the shadows.  Then there’s the clockmaker’s son, Robert, who has rescued Lily’s mechanical pet fox, Malkin. Why were metal-eyed men chasing – and shooting – at her fox?

I love the wild adventure that takes Lily and Robert across the rooftops of town. I love the mechanicals – and how each has its own winder. They are as precise as clockwork. I love Mrs. Rust’s wonderful lexicon of alliterative idioms. “Cogs and chronometers!” she exclaims. “Smokestacks and sprockets!”

And I love how the secret of the Cogheart is revealed. I’d say more, but there are metal-eyed men lurking in the shadows, so I must be off. I look forward to more exciting adventures in this series.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle , so hop over to see what other people are reading. And drop by one of his earlier posts where he reviews Cogheart. Review from Advanced Reader Copy provided by Blue Slip media.

Two Cool Science Guys

It's not every day I get two well-known science guys to hang out on my blog. So today I'd like you to welcome Alexander Graham Bell and Sir Isaac Newton. Granted, they lived 200 years apart, but book magic brings them alive today.

Themes: nonfiction, science, invention

Alexander Graham Bell Answers the Call
by Mary Ann Fraser
32 pages; ages 6-9
Charlesbridge, 2017

From the beginning, the world all around spoke to Alexander Graham Bell. And he listened.

He listened to the hustle and bustle of traffic on the streets, and the sound of the wind blowing through wheat. And because his father was a speech therapist and worked at home, Alec listened to the sounds and chants of the students. Which may have influenced his work as a teacher for the deaf, and his desire to invent a way for people to communicate over long distances.

What I like about this book: I love that the end papers show the history of the telephone and the informative charts Mary Fraser drops into the text (one shows how the ear works). And I like how she shows him growing up within a family where hearing and deafness were part of their lives. Fraser shows Alec discovering vibrations and then putting his discovery to use to communicate with his mom. What I like most of all is that the invention of the telephone took time and met with failures along the way. But Alec didn't give up.

Newton's Rainbow
by Kathryn Lasky; illus. by Kevin Hawkes
48 pages; ages 4-8
Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2017

On Christmas Day over three hundred years ago, in a village in England, a baby was born too early.

He was so tiny that no one expected him to live. But he did, and he was immensely curious. While a student, he boarded with the village apothecary. The shelves in the shop were crammed full of jars with fluids and powders, spiderwebs, and leeches. This is where he learned chemistry.

One day he was in a jumping competition. Being small, he waited for an extra-strong gust of wind to give him the boost he needed to get the longest jump. So he began his study of physics. He carved sundials, made models, and spent his days thinking - even when he was supposed to do farm work!

What I like about this book: It takes us right inside of Newton's life and times. Kathryn Lasky tells us straight out what's true and what's "story". There was an apple, she says, and it did indeed fall - but probably not on Newton's noggin. She helps us see his thought process as he experiments with light and gravity.

Beyond the books:
Make your own telephone. All you need are plastic cups, string, paperclips, and a sharp pencil. Here's how to do it.

Test sound waves with a spoon and some string (and maybe a ruler, too). Easy-to-follow instructions and even some ideas for further investigation here.

Create a water prism to break sunlight into the colors of the rainbow. All you need is a bowl of water, a small mirror, a sheet of paper, and a sunny window. Here's how to do it.

Check out more biographies of scientists over at Archimedes Notebook.

Today we're joining the STEM Friday roundup. Drop by STEM Friday blog for more science books and resources. We're also joining others over at Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books.  Review copies from the publishers.

The Hole Story of the Doughnut

The Hole Story of the Doughnut
by Pat Miller; illus. by Vincent X. Kirsch
40 pages; ages 6-9
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016

theme: invention, biography

"Few remember the master mariner Hanson Crockett Gregory, though he was bold and brave and bright. But the pastry he invented more than 166 years ago is eaten daily by doughnut lovers everywhere."

Hanson Gregory was just 13 when he went to sea. He wanted to learn as much as possible, and he eventually became a captain of a clipper, shipping foods from Maine to California. He even got a medal for heroism from the Queen of Spain.

But what people remember him for: inventing the doughnut.

What I like about this book: It's a true story that reads like a tall tale. Kitchen boy goofs up making buns; comes up with way to ensure there are no raw, doughy centers by cutting them out. Sailors loved them and the rest is history. It's fun to read and the illustrations are clever, but make sure you've got a plate of doughnuts because everyone will want one when you turn the last page.

I like that there's back matter: author's note, a timeline, a bibliography of resources. I also like that author Pat Miller was inspired to write this book by a snippet of conversation she overheard. On a tour of Boston Harbor the guide offhandedly commented, "The guy who invented the hole in the doughnut is buried over there." That, and Miller's curiosity, led her to discover a delicious story.

Beyond the book

Celebrate National Donut Day. The first Friday of June (that's today) is National Donut Day, so find a place that serves doughnuts and celebrate. Check out this video about how doughnuts are made.

Make a cardboard Doughnut Ring Toss game. All you need is cardboard, scissors, paint and paper and glue and your imagination - and a dowel to pound into the ground for the target peg. Get some ideas here.

Make donuts out of old socks. You can toss them into a basket, play catch, juggle, or create a bakery. Directions here.

Today we're joining PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. On Monday  we're joining the roundup over at the Nonfiction Monday blog where you'll find even more book reviews Review copy provided by the publisher.

The Perfect Percival Priggs

The Perfect Percival Priggs   

by Julie-Anne Graham

32 pages; ages 3 & up

Running Press Kids, 2015

Theme: family life

Opening: Percival Priggs was perfect. His parents were perfect. His grandparents were perfect. Even his pets were perfect.

The problem, though, is that being perfect is quite exhausting! And Percy is afraid that his parents won’t love him if he isn’t perfect.

What I like about this book: Percival tries to do too many things at once, and multi-tasking doesn’t aid perfection. In fact, he makes a slight miscalculation … causing his rocket launch to be anything BUT perfect. But instead of yelling at him, his parents laugh because they, too, have tried things that didn’t work out so well.

 Beyond the book: Think about a time when you tried something and failed at it. Draw or write about that attempt. What do you think about it now?

Some inventions came about by accident: popsicles, potato chips, post-it notes, and play-doh (it was intended to clean wallpaper). You can learn more about them here.

Today is PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books.  Review copy provided by the publisher. 

Ben Franklin's Big Splash ~ A mostly true story

Ben Franklin's Big Splash ~ the mostly true story of his first invention
by Barb Rosenstock; illus. by S.D. Schindler
32 pages; ages 8 and up
Calkins Creek (Boyds Mills Press), 2014

Is this book nonfiction? Is it historical fiction? Does it really matter?

This much is true: Ben Franklin taught himself to swim. Around the age of eleven, he made the first pair of swim fins and tried them out in the Charles River. He even wrote about his invention in a letter to a fellow scientist many years later.

But he never wrote about how he made the fins or the process by which he developed them. That is the part that author Barb Rosenstock imagines.... and she does so with humor and such wonderful language that you will be drawn into this book immediately upon opening it.

"Before the world knew the famous Doctor Benjamin Franklin, his neighbors knew him as Ben, the sturdy, saucy, smelly son of a soap-maker..."  Ben was the kid who would sneak away from work to swim in the river. As Rosenstock puts it:

He STOOD on his hands...
He SLIPPED like an otter
and SLOSHED like a turtle-
SQUIRTING, SPURTING,
and SPOUTING.

Don't you just love the language she uses to describe this skinny kid playing around in the water? While he's swimming, he wonders why he can't swim like a fish.

So he observes the fish. He notices they have fins, where he has hands.... and perhaps that's where he gets his idea for swim fins - wooden paddles that he uses to swim through the water. Like any other scientist, Ben experiences failure, goes back to the drawing board, and tries something different. Question-Research- Hypothesize - Test - Analyze- Conclude - Repeat.... these are the foundations of the scientific method, and Rosenstock shows Franklin going through them all.

Did it happen exactly the way she wrote it? Probably not. That's why she ends with a lengthy author's note telling what is known and what she imagined. At the end there's a timeline of Franklin's life and lists of resources.

Whether it's a "true story" or not, this book offers a glimpse into an unusual childhood invention of a famous inventor. And it does so through fun, imaginative language. With the story focusing on Swim Fins, there's a preponderance of S-words on the page. They are fun to s-s-say...

More to the point, this is a guide for any kid who wants to do science. If Ben could do research, design and test prototypes, collect and analyze data, then anyone reading this book can do the same. You don't need to be stuck in a lab to make discoveries... you can swim in a river.

Today we're joining the roundup over at the Nonfiction Monday blog where you'll find even more book reviews.  Review copy from publisher.