Scott R. Welvaert lives in Chaska, Minnesota, with his wife and two daughters. He has written many children's books. Most recently, he has written about Helen Keller, the Donner Party, and Thomas Edison. Scott enjoys reading and writing poetry and stories. He also enjoys playing video games and watching the Star Wars movies with his children.
Grabbing the visual learner's attention, Welvaert is writing for
the "Graphic Library," a series, a new graphic novel approach for
nonfiction. The book uses a comic book format with brief narrative
boxes and short, semi-punchy dialogue in balloons. This book is not
a biography but a piece of the inventor's life. In this case,
Thomas Edison joins others in the race to create a working light
bulb. Because of the format, the text is minimal even as the story
covers a fair number of details. For example, a narrative box
explains, "Edison sent people across the world to find materials
for his filaments." The pictures with this brief statement show a
desert scene with cowboys examining a plant, and a tropical scene
where explorers are looking at bamboo. The illustrations are good,
accurately showing snapshot-like images of the appropriate time
period. They are not as exciting as, say, Spiderman, but they move
the reader through the story. The vocabulary is not simple, but
there are so few words and so many pictures that this works as a
high-low book. Back matter includes a "Glossary," a "Read More"
section, a "Bibliography," an "Index," and a list of "Internet
Sites." The sites are maintained on Capstone's Facthound Site,
where URLs are checked to make sure they are both age appropriate
and current.-- "Children's Literature Comprehensive Database"
In the mid 1800s, people had very inefficient, and often unsafe,
ways of lighting their homes. Scientists were looking for a better
way to do things. They wanted to find a way to use electricity to
bring a clean bright light into homes and businesses, but they just
could not find a way to make it work. Then in 1878 Thomas Edison,
who was already a successful inventor by this time, decided to work
on the project. He got investors and formed the Edison Electric
Light Company. He then, with the help of others, worked out how
enough power could be generated to create the electricity that
would be needed to form a city-wide grid. The next problem that he
needed to solve was how to make a light bulb that would last long
enough. Edison tried all kinds of solutions to the problem and yet
time and time again the filament in his bulb burned out too soon to
be of use. He realized that he had to create a good vacuum in his
bulb and once that was achieved he could use a carbonized filament
of some kind. At long last a good vacuum seal was created and
bamboo based filaments were burning in the bulbs for more than six
hundred hours. The time had come to bring the various parts of the
project together to create a real electric light network for the
city. This excellent title with its graphic novel style format will
show young readers how Thomas Edison set about the task of creating
electrical light. They will see that he was not only brilliant but
that he was also determined to succeed, and succeed he did. With an
easy to follow text and pages packed with illustrations, this is a
perfect book for readers who are intimidated by books that are
dominated by text.-- "Through the Looking Glass Children's Book
Review"
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