How It Happened! Gum: The Cool Stories and Facts Behind Every Chew

by Paige Towler, WonderLab Group

Overview

Find out how gum became everyone’s favorite chewing candy in this fact-filled nonfiction book, part of the How It Happened! series.
 
Baseball stadiums, movie theaters, underneath your desk at school—gum is everywhere. But how did this gluey glob become everyone’s favorite candy to chomp on? Readers will love gobbling down the story of gum, from its ancient origins to its influence on “pop” culture . . . and everything in between! 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454944980
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	04/18/2023
Series:	How It Happened
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1060L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

WonderLab Group is a custom-content-creation and editorial-services firm specializing in publishing, audio, and digital content in the areas of children’s nonfiction and STEM. Their focus is on developing programmatic and 360-degree content to build nonfiction brands and franchises that promote science and inspire curious kids. 

Editorial Reviews

A lively look at the history of chewing gum . . . . Energetic graphic design incorporates swaths of bright gum-ball colors with dashes of bubble-gum pink along with plenty of photographs and whimsical cartoon illustrations . . . . A diverting look at the rest of the story for a familiar product.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The How It Happened! series provides energetic, upbeat histories of everyday items that should be familiar to most kids. Pages are filled with eye-catching graphics, sidebars, photos, illustrations, and accessible text pepper with numerous exclamation points.” —Booklist
 

From the Publisher

2023-02-08
A lively look at the history of chewing gum.

Towler delivers an account of the long history of humans and gum, from birch bark tar found at a Stone Age site to the prized ancient Greek mastic gum from the island of Chios. Central American peoples collected sap called chicle from the sapodilla tree, while North American spruce gum inspired the first chewing gum to be manufactured and sold. Energetic graphic design incorporates swaths of bright gum-ball colors with dashes of bubble-gum pink along with plenty of photographs and whimsical cartoon illustrations (people depicted are racially diverse). Towler looks briefly at environmental and economic injustices committed in the harvesting of chicle in the first part of the 20th century. Chewing gum was sent to U.S. soldiers along with rations in both world wars, spreading the appeal throughout the world. The invention of bubble gum and the connection with comics and baseball cards cemented the popularity of chewing gum as entertainment. Towler examines the cultural context for chewing gum—including etiquette debates, health claims, and the use of racist and sexist stereotypes and slogans in advertising. Instructions for blowing gum bubbles and speculation about what future developments might be in store complete the picture. The wealth of intriguing information nicely pitched to middle-grade readers makes the lack of source notes or a bibliography regrettable.

A diverting look at the rest of the story for a familiar product. (timeline, glossary, index, image credits) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews