Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone

by Jennifer Fandel, Keith Tucker (Illustrator)

Overview

Tells the story of how Alexander Graham Bell came up with the telephone, and how his invention changed the way people communicate. Written in graphic-novel format.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780736896405
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	09/01/2006
Series:	Graphic Library: Inventions and Discovery Series
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,133,122
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.12(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

Table of Contents

Messages and Sound     4
An Amazing Sound     10
Across the Wires     16
Connecting the World     24
More about Bell and the Telephone     28
Glossary     30
Internet Sites     30
Read More     31
Bibliography     31
Index     32

Editorial Reviews

Grabbing the visual learner’s attention, Fandel is writing for the “Graphic Library,” a series, a new graphic novel approach for non-fiction. The book uses a comic book format with brief narrative boxes and short, semi-punchy dialogue in balloons. This book is not a biography but a piece of the inventor’s life. In this case, Alexander Graham Bell struggles with his understanding of how ears work and fights the advice of his backers to keep working on improving telegraph. Because of the format the text is minimal, even as the story covers a fair number of details. The book’s most dramatic moment comes when Bell and his assistant Watson set up the new telephone within the house. Bell says into the speaker “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.” And Watson is shown startled by the sound coming from the box. The illustrations are good, accurately showing snapshot-like images of the appropriate time period. They are not as exciting as, say, Spiderman, but they move the reader through the story. The vocabulary is not simple, but there are so few words and so many pictures that this works as a high-low book. Back matter includes a “Glossary,” a “Read More” section, a “Bibliography,” an “Index,” and a list of “Internet Sites.” The sites are maintained on Capstone’s Facthound Site, where URLs are checked to make sure they are both age appropriate and current.

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