I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This is a lovely addition to an always exciting series delving into the lives of lesser-known inventors. Kulling's style is pleasant, and Parkins's illustrations add to a sparkling composite text. Huzzah for more books about inventors of color! Could stand some better resources for further reading.

This is a great picture book biography of an African-American inventor. Born to former slaves, Garrett Morgan struggles to make a better life for himself and ends up inventing a hair straightening cream. It is great to see a series that introduces kids to different inventors from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders, and this is a great addition to that series. ( )

Nice picture book biography of a lesser-known African-American inventor from Ohio, Garrett Morgan. He was born in 1877 to former slaves in Kentucky, and made his way north to Cleveland seeking work. He got his first break as a teenager while sweeping floors in a clothing factory, creating a stronger belt for sewing machines that wouldn't break so often. That got him a better job, as sewing machine repairman, and he was on his way to running his own shop, while his wife eventually had her own tailoring shop, too. I had heard of him as one of the first inventors of the traffic light, which doesn't occur until the very end of this story-- but I was amazed as I read this book to see what else he invented. He accidentally discovered a hair-straightening cream while creating a cream to prevent scorch marks from sewing machine needles (those must have been some needles!), which, according to this book, he tried out on his neighbor's Airedale dog! He started a new business to sell the cream. Later, moved by the horrible Triangle Factory fire in NYC (this event keeps popping up in all sorts of books I've been reading lately, it's really ubiquitous), Morgan created a "Safety Hood and Smoke Protector" using hoses modeled after an elephant's trunk. The illustrations of this are pretty funny! However, he couldn't sell it, even when he hired a white man to pose as the inventor and Morgan pretended to be his "assistant" when they tried to sell it in the South; but in 1916, the disastrous collapse and fire in a tunnel under Lake Erie became the perfect opportunity to use his hood in a real emergency--and its success resulted in sales and Morgan being awarded a gold medal from the city of Cleveland! His invention later became the gas mask used in World War I. The illustrations are lovely pen and ink and watercolor, realistic yet whimsical. The opening page has a poem about being "Underground" that sets the stage for the tunnel disaster, but I wondered why the author didn't include more such poems in the book; having just one seemed out of place. There are "sources of inspiration" (other books about Morgan) listed, but unfortunately two lines of dialogue are not given sources, so I wouldn't say it is a full biography, there is some fictionalization. But overall it's a wonderful look at an important historic figure, and I liked the local angle too. I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing EarlyReviewers. ( )

This is a well presented story of a man's struggle to make a better life for himself than that which his parents had. Knowing his life would be hard and unrewarding as a field hand on a farm, he ventured into the North to pursue a livelihood. Beginning simple, he began to contribute to his work place by inventing something better than existed before and this was appreciated and he was promoted.

He continued to pursue more and better yet was confronted with the restraints his race placed on him in a still very race biased society. His invention of a mask to protect the breathing of workers underground was soon used in firefighting.

The book is well written and flows nicely giving just enough of the racial struggles Garrett Morgan faced as well as his fine contributions to society through his work and inventions. The illustrations are lively and interesting to look at because they realistically tell the story just as the words do.

I enjoyed this book and am glad to see young readers have an opportunity to read biographies that they can enjoy as well as learn more about people and times in which they live.

This is a personal copy I am reviewing that I won in a contest. ( )

I really enjoy this series. The books bring forward little known inventors and innovators with an emphasis on people of colour and women. The writing style is easy and approchable, so that is great for kids. The art is attractive and detailed while still being fun and colourful. Some of the stories, such as this one, can seem a little episodic, but that is not far off what the life of an inventor would be like as they spend their life trying out a series of inventions and promoting these inventions, with a mix of hits and failures. It is probably more accurate for kids to see that an inventor's life is a series of attempts and a mixed bag of successes than giving them a narrative that follows a more fiction-like arc with a neat ending.