Library Media Connection review

The five titles in the Inventors at Work! series were recently reviewed in the November/December 2014 issue of Library Media Connection.

Written for upper elementary readers, these inventors created items that are used by or familiar to young readers. All of these titles are available in library bound, paperback, or eBook formats, and can be purchased through your preferred vendor, local bookstore, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

An excerpt from the review is below:

"Readers learn about the lives of the inventors and what drove them. Young readers are encouraged to explore their own ideas and are told how to research their own inventions."

Stephanie Kwolek has passed away at the age of 90

Stephanie Kwolek, the American chemist who invented Kevlar®, has passed away.

Countless lives have been saved using products made with Kevlar®, a superstrong fiber invented by Stephanie Kwolek. From bullet-resistant vests to brake pads, her efforts have made the world a safer place.

Written for the upper elementary reader, this title (and the others in the Genius Inventors and Their Great Ideas series) are available in library, paperback, and ebook formats, and can be purchased through your preferred vendor, local bookstores, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Who invented windshield wipers?

With all of the rain and snow affecting the United States, does anyone think about something as simple as

who invented the windshield wipers that allow drivers to see in those bad conditions?

Before the invention of the windshield, drivers had to wear goggles to keep rain, snow, and bugs out of their eyes while driving. The first windshield, invented in 1904, could be folded down in case it became so dirty that drivers could not see through it. The other option was to pull over and try to clean the glass with your hand. Some drivers even tried rubbing an onion or carrot on the windshield, thinking that the oil from these vegetables would leave a film on the windshield, and repel the rain. That did not work either.

This 48 page book, written for the upper elementary reader, describes how Mary Anderson came up with her idea, what steps she took to try to patent the idea, and what happened after she allowed the patent to expire. Available in library, paperback, and eBook formats, this title is part of the Inventors at Work! series. This series is correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards. Other inventors in this series include Ruth Wakefield, Willis Haviland Carrier, Percy Spencer, and Jacques Cousteau. These titles are available from your preferred vendor, local bookstore, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Biographies about Inventors

For STEM Friday, we are going to focus on two series for the upper elementary/lower middle school reader. Both series focus on inventors.


Genius Inventors and Their Great Ideas, a new series for 2013 and written for the upper elementary reader, takes the reader on a journey of learning how different inventions were made and created. One of the books in this series is about Stephanie Kwolek, the woman behind the creation of a fiber, made from petroleum and other products, that was eventually used in bullet-resistant vests.

Other titles in this series focus on Theodore H. Maiman, Les Paul, George Ferris, Philo T. Farnsworth, James Naismith, and Vivien Thomas. All of these titles are 48 pages in length, and are available in library, paperback, ePUB, single-user PDF, and multi-user PDF formats.



The Genius at Work! Great Inventor Biographies series is written for the lower middle school reader. This series also covers six inventors: Madam C. J. Walker, Igor Sikorsky, Thomas H. Gallaudet, W. K. Kellogg, Samuel Colt, and Ralph Baer. Each book is 32 pages in length, and is available in a library edition.

Titles from both of these series are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, local independent bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Women's Equality Day

For Women's Equality Day, let's discuss an inventor who contributed to the world of medicine and cancer medication.

Because of the shortage of male chemists during World War II, female chemists were hired in laboratories.

978-0-7660-4162-2 Library
978-1-4644-0245-6 Paperback

One of these scientists was Gertrude Belle Elion, who worked alongside George Hitchings, to create drugs to fight diseases such as herpes, leukemia, and malaria. Their research led to the discovery of AZT, which was the first drug used in AIDS patients.

Gertrude Elion shared a Nobel Prize with George Hitchings in 1988, and was the first woman inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Having developed a drug that slowed the development of leukemia cells, she conducted more experiments, and then changed the drug so that it would allow pediatric leukemia patients to live longer than they would have without the medication. This medication became the standard treatment for childhood leukemia in the 1950s and is still used today, along with other medications.

Gertrude Elion is one of ten inventors included in the Amazing American Inventors of the 20th Century. Part of the Inspiring Collective Biographies series, this title includes William Lear, Philo Farnsworth, Beatrice Kenner, Gordon Gould, Charles Ginsburg, Robert Shurney, Jack Kilby, Stephanie Kwolek, and Lonnie Johnson.

This title, as well as the others in the series, are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, your independent bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Today would have been Alexander Graham Bell's birthday

Best remembered for inventing the telephone in 1876, did you know Alexander Graham Bell also invented the first metal detector? His metal detector was used to find bullets still lodged in the bodies of Civil War veterans. He also invented what he called a vacuum jacket (a very early respirator-type device,) which became the predecessor to the iron lung.

Did you know he introduced Helen Keller and her father to the woman who would become Helen's teacher, Anne Sullivan? Written for the middle school student, this book is great for reports.

Enslow also has an elementary title on Alexander Graham Bell. This title gives the reader an understanding of what Bell did to help deaf children, and how he helped them learn to speak.