Customer Reviews

The Real Mccoy (A Blue Ribbon Book)

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I love informational picture books, and this one is the real McCoy! All about Elijah McCoy, the son of fugitive slaves, his many inventions and how he came up with some of his ideas. His best known invention was an automatic oil cup for trains, a cup often poorly duplicated by others, so buyers would ask for "the real McCoy". The vivid illustraions beautifully detail the story. I work in an elementary school library and I've sent this book home with kids whose parents have thanked me for introducing this inventive man and his achievements to their families.

Elijah McCoy really existed, and his inventions as described in this book are real. The book, to my knowledge, adequately and succinctly sums up his life.

Unfortunately, it spends a page or so talking about him as a spurious inspiration for the phrase "the real McCoy". Given that lubricators with his name on them weren't sold until the end of his life, and given that the expression has been attested to before the man was even *born*, that's incredibly unlikely, and a small amount of research would have shown the author that fact. It's even on the back cover that he's the origin of the phrase, and it's not true.

It seems like a small thing, but as I already knew this "fact" was wrong it meant I was in doubt about the veracity of the whole rest of the book and had to start confirming the details, fact by fact. I wouldn't expect a small child to do that. Factual books should be researched so they do not contain inaccuracies.

I think that this story really tells the story about Elijah McCoy. It gives very good details and gives interesting facts. I think that kids who want to learn ANYTHING about Elijah McCoy should read this book.