Brainstorm!: The Stories of Twenty American Kid Inventors [Paperback]

Tom Tucker (Author), Richard Loehle (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Inspiring young inventors, from ages 5 to 19

Of the thousands of inventions filed each year since 1790 with the United States Patent Office, some have come from neterprising kids, and not just those who have grown up to be famous adult inventors. Here are the stories of twenty ingenious young Americans. Among them are Chester Greenwood, creator of ear muffs; Ralph Samuelson, originator of water-skiing; Vanessa Hess and her colored car wax; and Jerrald Spencer, whose electronic gizmo has made a line of toys so popular that over five million of them have been sold!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Scientific American

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (September 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374409285
• ISBN-13: 978-0374409289
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #486,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for kids with ideas...., May 28, 2001

By 

Diogenes99 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brainstorm!: The Stories of Twenty American Kid Inventors (Hardcover)

Brainstorm! is a great book about child inventors. Children in grades 3 through 6 will enjoy it. Each chapter -- averaging 2 to 5 pages -- focuses on a child and his or her inventions. There are plenty of female inventors, and the book includes some inventions that are modest as well as ground-breaking. This book will inspire children to have confidence in their ideas.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book of interest, July 16, 2006

By 

R. Combs "sciencerulz" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brainstorm!: The Stories of Twenty American Kid Inventors (Paperback)

This book allowed me relate stories of kid inventors to my classroom students. These stories were easy for them to relate to and showed them that we value their ideas and contributions. They can be used to inpsire the next generation of kid inventors.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fairly Dull, September 22, 2010

By 

Nicola Manning (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brainstorm!: The Stories of Twenty American Kid Inventors (Paperback)

Reason for Reading: Came with our history curriculum. Read aloud to my ds, a biography at a time over a period of time.

A collection of short biographies featuring kid inventors, focusing on what they invented and how it came to be. Includes such inventions as earmuffs, coloured car wax, the Popsicle, water skis, resealable cereal box tops and others.

Neither of us was particularly thrilled with this book. The inventions I've mentioned above were the ones that ds enjoyed most. A lot of the other inventions were things he couldn't care less about like tufted bedspreads or couldn't relate to such as the rotary steam engine. Ds was keen when I started reading a story about a real kid (an 8yo or a 13yo) but some of these bios are about 17 or 18 year old's and that is pushing it a bit for a 10yo to consider a kid. Then some bios often were about how the inventor got the idea as a kid but didn't bring it to fruition until they were an adult which I think is cheating in regards to the title of the book. Also any mechanical or engineering inventions such as the electrical TV and the rotary steam engine were very detailed with scientific specifics which made the 10 yo's eyes glaze over. By the time we got to the last 5 stories he was begging me not to read the book anymore so I read them quickly in bed one night to if they were worth trudging through and I couldn't find any reason he needed to hear them so we ended the read-aloud there. I wouldn't recommend the book.