What Color Is My World?
The Lost History of African-American Inventors
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball legend and the NBA's all time leading scorer, champions a lineup of little-known African-American inventors in this lively, kid-friendly book. Did you know that James West invented the microphone in your cell phone? That Fred Jones invented the refrigerated truck that makes supermarkets possible? Or that Dr. Percy Julian synthesized cortisone from soy, easing untold people's pain? These are just some of the black inventors and innovators scoring big points in this dynamic look at several unsung heroes who shared a desire to improve people's lives. Offering profiles with fast facts on flaps and framed by a funny contemporary story featuring two feisty twins, here is a nod to the minds behind the gamma electric cell and the ice-cream scoop, improvements to traffic lights, open-heart surgery, and more - inventors whose ingenuity and perseverance against great odds made our world safer, better, and brighter.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Making use of an unusual format, former NBA star Abdul-Jabbar and his On the Shoulders of Giants coauthor Obstfeld offer an upbeat history lesson set within a fictional narrative framework. Siblings the Shoulders of Giants coauthor Obstfeld offer an upbeat history lesson set within a fictional narrative framework. Siblings Ella and Herbie, whose story unfolds in typeset chapter booklike pages surrounded by warmly lit paintings of their adventures, are less than enthusiastic about their fixer-upper of a new house. But as eccentric handyman Mr. Mital unveils the house's potential, he also teaches them about contributions made by African-American inventors ("There's more to our history than slavery, jazz, sports, and civil rights marches," he says). Flaps show lifelike portraits of individuals like Dr. Mark Dean, a v-p at IBM; Dr. Charles Drew, who developed the concept of blood banks; and nuclear engineer Lonnie Johnson, inventor of the Super Soaker squirt gun. Ella's off-the-cuff notes appear inside the flaps, while several spreads provide detailed profiles of other inventors and graphic novel style passages. The banter between the siblings and, in particular, Ella's snarky zingers keep things from feeling didactic it's an entertaining and often surprising exploration of lesser-known innovators, past and present. Ages 8 12.
