A portrayal of five inventors, from childhood to adulthood and what they invented.

This biography style book gives insight on five African American inventors, some who have gone unnoticed. It gives brief insights on Madam C.J. Walker, Elijah McCoy, Granville T. Woods, Garret A. Morgan, and Jan Ernst Matzeliger. A couple of these inventors you may have heard before and some not so much, but without their inventions society would be nowhere close to how it is today.

I found this quite informative, to see the impact African American inventors have had on society. Some of the inventors have been forgotten or overlooked and I feel that this is a good read for a classroom to shed light on important characters in history.

1-Get into groups and discover more about and inventor
2- Pick object(s) and discover the inventor, see if any of them overlap with a neighbor’s object

I enjoyed reading this informative book for a few reasons. First, I liked how the book was organized. For example, the book is organized into chapters and each chapter is dedicated to one of the five notable inventors. First it's Jan Ernst Matzeliger, then it's Elijah McCoy, then it's Granville T. Woods, then it's Madam C.J. Walker, and finally it's Garrett A. Morgan. Second, the illustrations in the book are both drawn and real. For example, the author describes men working in a shoe factory and provides a real picture of a "shoe-lasting machine". I think the overall message of the book is perseverance and determination. ( )

This book contained stories about five of the greatest black heroes. I glanced through this book but the story that caught my eye was the one about Jan Ernst Matzeliger. He was born in 1852 and died in 1889. He was 36 years old when he died. He invented a machine that lasted shoes. Lasted is where the upper part is connected to the inner sole. The first contraption that he made was out of cigar boxes. He was offered 50.00 for this. He made the second contraption out of scrap metal and was offered 1500.00. Both times he said no. Two business men gave him the money to make the machine and in return they would receive 2/3's of any money made. They formed the "Union Lasting Machine Company".

My Response: I liked this book. I felt that the stories were just long enough to hold you intrest but not too long that you would get bored. I feel that the book was very informational about the people that it was wrote about it. It was straight to the point.

Classroom Activity #1: This book would be used in the Black History Month module. I would read about one author each day since there are 5 authors, that would cover one week for this book. After reading about each author, I would ask the students if they liked what each inventor made and why or why not.

Classroom Activity #2: The students would be asked to come up with their own inventions. They would have give in detail how they planned to build it and what exactly would their invention do. Also, how much would they sell the idea for?

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