Inventors

Plato once said, "Necessity is the mother of invention." As long as there is a need for something there will be an inventor to create it. Trial and error is the main process to create something new since our first ideas rarely work perfectly. Edison is no stranger to this fact and is known for saying, "I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work," while inventing the light bulb. This fierce drive to do what no one has done before is what captures the hearts of people making them long for the romantic era before infomercials; the magical time when inventors wore goggles and vials of liquid exploded here and there. Then again, dancing robots and touch screens are pretty awesome. The people in the books below invented the amazing things we take for granted now, so read about them!

	The Picture History of Great Inventors is just that, a history of great inventors illustrated with pictures of their inventions. While it mostly focuses on dead white guys, it does cover inventions from ancient Greece all the way to vulcanized rubber and more modern things. This is a good book for a little information on a lot of different things.
	Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women Don’t forget the women! Not everything was invented by men. Along with telling the stories of some famous female inventors, it also includes a guide for how girls can become inventors, important addresses, and colorful collage illustrations.
	Journal of Inventions: Leonardo da Vinci is a pop-up book made to look old like his original sketches. Each page has a different machine that springs to life upon opening. Along side the pictures are quotes from da Vinci’s sketchbook about each invention.
	The Wright Brothers for Kids: How They Invented the Airplane includes a biography, 21 activities to do, places to visit, and websites to see. This is great for the classroom.
	The Chinese Thought of It: Amazing Inventions and Innovations Acupuncture, gunpowder, toilet paper, playing cards, umbrellas, paddleboats, and wheelbarrows are just a few of the things the ancient Chinese invented. Illustrated with color photographs and information packed text, this is a great book for any library.
	What A Great Idea! Inventions That Changed The World is for older children since it’s mostly text but it does include colored illustrations of the inventions. This is a 112 page book with a LOT of stuff in it and an index in the back.
	African American Inventors includes lots of drawings and photographs to break up the text. This is a good overview of people that changed the world most history books forget to mention.
	Inventor McGregor has a family with five kids and he discovers he’s good at inventing after he creates a barking bag for the mailman to scare dogs with. After moving to a private lab he realizes that his family is his source for inspiration.