Incredible Inventions

by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Julia Sarcone-Roach (Illustrator)

Overview

Inventions can be big, like roller coasters, or small, like crayons. And inventors can be scientists or athletes or even boys and girls! It's hard to imagine life without Popsicles, basketball, or Band-Aids, but they all started with just one person and a little imagination.

With sixteen original poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and Julia Sarcone-Roach's imaginative artwork, Incredible Inventions celebrates creativity that comes in all shapes and sizes.

What will you invent today?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060872458
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/03/2009
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	5 - 10 Years

About the Author

Noted poet Lee Bennett Hopkins has edited or authored numerous books for children, including the I Can Read Books Hamsters, Shells, and Spelling Bees; A Pet for Me: Poems; and the ALA Notable Children's Book Surprises. The recipient of a Christopher Award and the University of Southern Mississippi's Medallion for "lasting contributions to children's literature," Mr. Hopkins lives in Florida.

Julia Sarcone-Roach's animated short Call of the Wild has shown at numerous film festivals around the world. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design. This is her first book. Julia Sarcone-Roach lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

This compendium of small poems about common inventions will entertain and inform a wide span of age groups, either as a read-aloud, read-together or read-alone.” — Kirkus Reviews

“This anthology does an excellent job of uniting the creativity of words, art, and innovation. It will spark children’s curiosity and hold their interest.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

K-Gr 5

The highlighted inventions in these 16 poems-blue jeans, roller coaster, basketball, and Popsicle, to name a few-have great kid-appeal. Poets such as Joan Bransfield Graham, Kristine O'Connell George, J. Patrick Lewis, and Alice Schertle each single out one invention. Their poetic styles vary from couplets to free verse and concrete poetry. Some poems are pure fun; others are a mix of facts and history. Four pages of informational paragraphs follow the chronologically arranged selections, followed by an illustrated time line. Sarcone-Roach unites the different poems with double-page illustrations, which vary in style from painterly to cartoon. Quick sketches and notes in the margins of the contents page suggest that the inventing is still in progress. This anthology does an excellent job of uniting the creativity of words, art, and innovation. It will spark children's curiosity and hold their interest.-Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH

School Library Journal

This compendium of small poems about common inventions will entertain and inform a wide span of age groups, either as a read-aloud, read-together or read-alone. From jigsaw puzzles (invented in 1766) and the drinking straw to crayons and the running shoe, each well-chosen piece, all from different poets and arranged chronologically, presents readers young and old with some interesting and surprising facts about everyday objects. Most poems follow rhyming patterns, one is a haiku and several imitate the shapes of the objects they describe. Although the font may be a touch too small for the youngest readers, the rhymes and rhythms will appeal to all. Sarcone-Roach provides active, splashy illustrations on every page that unify the book visually and contribute their own humorous touches. Hopkins adds a mini-biography for each invention at the end of the book, and these contain some surprises too. Both an easy introduction to nonfiction for young children and a fund of interesting trivia for older readers. (Picture book/poetry. 5-12)

Kirkus Reviews