Awesome Achievers in Technology, short stories of innovation for 8 and up

Eight pages should not be this entertaining and be able to tell a contained story.  That’s what I was thinking at the end of each profile in Awesome Achievers in Technology, Super and Strange Facts about 12 Almost Famous History Makers. Awesome Achieves is a new book series written by Alan Katz, who wrote the very funny book The Day The Mustache Took Over, its sequel and many others. This is an educational book, but it’s also fun to read and provides dozens of ‘light bulb’ moments when readers will see the moment that something special in history was created.

The book highlights 12 people who created seemingly innocuous items or processes that we use in everyday life. For example I didn’t know that Marie Van Brittan Brown, who devised the first home security system in 1966.  She always wanted to know who was at her door. Her husband, an electronics technician, sometimes worked late and she wanted to be safe. She devised a series of peepholes, and then put video cameras that she could operate via remote control into a secure wooden box inside her door. There was also a two-way microphone so that she could speak with people who were there. The ‘home security’ element went even further because she was able to remotely lock the door and had an alarm that could be sounded. Three years later the Browns patented the concept of a Home Security System Utilizing Television Surveillance.

 That story, as well as, all of them in the book, is written in a way that’s informative, witty and teaches kids without them realizing that they’re learning something. Stealth education is the best kind of learning.

The rest of them introduce young readers to Nils Bohlin (the person who made the 3-point seat belt), Adam Cheyer, Dag Kittlaus, Percy Spencer and others whose inventions you know, but their names are behind the curtain. Kids will also the love hidden factor about these people. They’re responsible for things that they touch every day, yet few people know their names.

The text in the book is appropriate for ages 8 and up. Those younger kids might have some issues with the longer chapters, but, they would be based on comprehension and the inability to read it. The chapter length is perfect. Readers can get through one chapter easily and continue reading or call it a night. Parents will like the book because even if kids put the book down it’s a safe bet that they’ll pick it up again to read about the next person.

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