Brilliant Ideas from Wonderful Women by Aitziber Lopez illustrated by Luciano Lozano

Subtitle: 15 incredible inventions from inspiring women!

This book was published in 2018 but it is still available. I suggest you act quickly - this is a one of those books that should be added to your school library.

I feel as though I have been hunting for this book (or a book just like it) for a few years. Back in 2022 a box of brand-new donated books arrived in the library where I volunteer at Westmead Children's Hospital here in Sydney, Australia. Among the treasures was a book about women and their amazing inventions. I read it and was amazed especially about windscreen wipers and syringes.  The book I have been looking for is not this book but this one that I found in a library - Brilliant Ideas from Wonderful Women - is just as good. The one that came in the donation box simply disappeared. I am not in charge of the collection or of decisions about which books we accession but I have often wondered what happened to that book I saw back in 2022.

Did you know a woman invented:

• Car heaters 1893 
• Monopoly 1904 
• Disposable diapers 1951 
• The dishwasher 1886
• Kevlar 1965 
• Maritime flares 1859
• Anti-reflective glass 1940
• Wifi 1942
• Syringes 1899
• Submarine periscopes 1945
• Diagnostic tests 1959
• Lifeboats 1882
• Windshield wipers 1903
• ebooks 1949

Each brilliant idea is presented with biographical information about the brilliant woman who came up with it, including what inspired them. Learn how Martha Coston disguised herself as a man to contact pyrotechnicians and convince them to manufacture her idea for maritime flares, how a New York tram ride on a wet winter’s day led Mary Anderson to invent the windshield wiper, and why Letitia Mumford Geer’s one-hand operated syringe was a medical breakthrough, among other fascinating facts. Full-page illustrations show the inspiration for and use of these incredible inventions in humorous detail. Lady in Read Writes

Here are some other books illustrated by Luciano Lozano.

The Great Stink by Colleen Paeff illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

I have decided I am not very good at asking questions. I need to be way more curious. I have been to London several times but it never occurred to me to ask about or research the word embankment. More about that in a moment.

This book begins in 1500. In London at this time sewers carry rainwater to rivers so the city won't flood. Poop or poo and pee go into deep holes called cesspools. When these become full it is time to hire nightsoil men who sell the poo (poop) to farmers as a fertilizer. Jump forward to 1819 and people are installing flush toilets. Some people connect their toilets directly to the sewer and so pee and poo now end up in the river!

The first epidemic of cholera hits London in 1832 and 6,563 people die. Problem is no one makes the connection between this catastrophe and the sewerage going into the river. The government believe the cause is in the air in pockets called miasmas. Oh no - now they order people to send their waste straight into the Thames. AND people are drinking this water too. Another cholera outbreak and 14,137 people are dead. 

Meanwhile a young man called Joseph Bazalgette takes on the job of mapping the sewers of London.

"The sewers are a disorganized, haphazard, higgledy-piggledy mess."

Finally, the authorities call for help - they need a civil engineer. Joseph is the chief engineer. He designs a system of gigantic sewer pipes which will move the sewerage out to the ocean. The debate continues into 1856. This scheme will be very expensive - too expensive. By 1858 the city is almost unlivable. The hot sun of summer adds to the stench - it is now the Great Stink! Finally, the parliament give approval for the building of the huge pipes.

"It is almost impossible for Joseph to find open space where he can build new sewer pipes without causing roadblocks, traffic and major headaches for Londoners. So in some areas he creates man-made riverbanks called embankments."

The final pages of this splendid book talk about the situation in our world today with the disposal of sewerage and also list alternate schemes. There is also a detailed timeline, further reading list and bibliography. 

Read a very detailed interview with Seven Impossible Things featuring Colleen Paeff and Nancy Carpenter. Colleen Paeff has other links on her web page. Here is a set of detailed teachers notes with science experiments. In this blog post Mr Schu talks to Colleen Paeff. 

This informative exploration of London’s sanitation history will delight nonfiction fans interested in history, ecology, biography, and more. Kirkus Star review

Back to embankments. You can read more here and here The story of London's embankment. 

As a part of their science or geography topic our Grade four students used to investigate waste disposal systems. I am not sure if this is still the case but I used to read quite a few books (some were very funny) about poo.

Here are a couple of videos you could use with a primary class:

Where does the water go? - Sewerage treatment Melbourne

How Do Sewer Systems Work?

A brief history of toilets TED (High School level)

Awards for The Great Stink:

• 2022 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, Association for Library Services to Children
• 2022 Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction Text for Young Readers, SCBWI
• 2022 Cook Prize Honor Book, Bank Street College of Education
• 2022 Notable Book, American Library Association
• 2022 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, Children’s Book Council
• 2022 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Gem, Texas Library Association
• 2022 Best STEM Books K-12, National Science Teaching Association
• 2021 Best Informational Books for Younger Readers, Chicago Public Library
• Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Tricky Nick by Nicholas J Johnson

Nick is not good at sticking with hobbies, sports, or learning musical instruments but finding a magic trick on a box of cornflakes - a magic trick that works - a magic trick that actually impresses his parents - Nick is hooked. He sets off to learn more magic tricks. This is one hobby that he won't abandon.

His mum is a librarian so she tells him to go to SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY THREE POINT EIGHT.  Do you know what that means?  She's sending him to the magic books in the library. On the shelf Nick finds the perfect book. It is old and slightly hidden between other books which tells us this is not just a magic book it is THE magic book - the one Nick needs to make his dream come true. But someone else wants this book - The Encyclopedia of Amateur Magic by J. Mesno. The man who wants it calls himself Mr E. He is a verbose man who (Nick will discover) is very dangerous.

I started reading Tricky Nick on a train journey yesterday. The story was okay but it was just meandering along. I was waiting for a jolt, a shock, a moment of delight, an internal question mark followed by an exclamation mark.  Then along came a young girl called Trixie and the world slightly shifted. The magic she performs at the meeting of The Brotherhood of United Magicians is spectacular. Nick is blown away. Clearly Trixie is a girl to watch but why is Mr E so dismissive of her obvious talent?

Later in the story I found these lines.  I really enjoy the intrusive author voice which Nicholas Johnson uses here - it made me want to race through the book to discover the exciting and weird things that are promised.

"Okay. Let's just stop right here so I can remind you of two things. First, I told you this book was going to take twists and turns and you'd be scratching your head wondering how it could all be true. So don't say I didn't warn you. Second, you chose to read this book. So if it's all too weird and confusing for you, you can put it down now. But if you think you can handle the truth, then you can keep on reading. I promise you, things are going to get more exciting (and weirder)."

Tricky Nick will be published by Pan Macmillan on 25th August, 2020. Readers aged 10+ will enjoy this quirky story of magic, time travel and friendship. Readers may also want to investigate the idea of chaos theory and The Butterfly Effect. Time travel might be fun but travelers from the future must take care in our world. This book is also filled with real magic tricks which do work because the author is actually a professional magician. Nicholas says this book is all true (probably not) but perhaps some parts are autobiographical?

Here is a summary from the front cover of my advance copy (thanks to Beachside Bookshop) of Tricky Nick: "This story is full of magic tricks and secrets, intrigue, humour, heart, time travel, baddies, heroes, adventure ... "

This is also a book with some terrific words: stultiloquent, chrestomathy, athenaeum, enigmatic, chicaney.

You might also like to read more about female magicians. In this book, Nicholas J Johnson mentions Adelaide Herrmann, Celeste Evans, and Lady Frances. Here is a recent picture book biography about Adelaide Herrmann published by Walker Books (Candlewick).

Take a look at this picture book about The Butterfly Effect:

Would follow this book with these:

Disappearing Act

Small Change for Stuart

Orphans of the Tide by Struan Murray

In the opening scene of this book a whale has washed up and is now on the roof of the cathedral. Here are the first sentences which go some way to explaining how this could have happened:

"The city was built on a sharp mountain that jutted improbably from the sea, and the sea kept trying to claim it back. When the tide rose, it swallowed up the City's lower streets. When the tide fell, it spat them back out again, but left its mark. ... That great morning, once the tide had retreated, a whale was found of a rooftop."

Ellie Lancaster seems to be the only person who has any sense. She is just a young girl aged twelve or thirteen but she is the only one who initially tries to think of a way to get this whale back into the sea? Then when this seems impossible she is the only person in the crowd who knows when whales die they decay from the inside. This will cause a build up of gas inside the whale and eventually the whale will explode. Ellie asks her friend Anna to hurry away and fetch her flensting tool. Ellie sits beside the whale while it dies and then she thrusts the sharp blade into its side. This all happens in first chapter which ends with the words:

 "A hand reaching out from the cut in the whale."

Ellie keeps cutting and then she pulls a boy out from the inside of the whale. He is alive. Ellie has rescued him but now his life and hers are in danger because everyone thinks this boy, who Ellie names Seth, is the Enemy. The Whale Lords and the Inquisition want to prove Seth is the Enemy and then they will execute him. Ellie knows for sure Seth is totally innocent but how can she truly know this?

This is a complex fantasy, set in a complex other world but you are in safe hands with Struan Murray because he has created a city that somehow makes sense. The City is densely populated, dangerous, smelly, filled with superstitions and strange beliefs and it is a place where people are always on the look out for the Enemy and the Vessel who is host to the Enemy. The world that exists in this book is so interesting I just had to keep reading on trying to discover what was happening and why these things were happening.

This book paints vivid pictures of the city and of the people who live there:

"A tall, broad-shouldered man was marching up the steps towards her. He had dark brown skin, a short black beard and moustache, and wore a long trailing coat of crushed red velvet. He carried a cane made from the tusk of a narwhal, and the pelt of a gigantic, shaggy black wolf was drapped on his shoulders - its head dangling off to one side."

One of the most appealing parts of this book was the character of Ellie. She is an inventor and those skills are  put to excellent use as she and her friends need to escape capture. She is incredibly brave or a better word might be fearless. She jumps off the roof of tall building and she crawls through the sewers under the city. Ellie is a wonderful friend - loyal and caring. But Ellie is also very, very vulnerable.

This is a debut novel by Struan Murray who grew up in Edinburgh. He is lecturer in biochemistry at Oxford University. Read this interview where he talks about his book. I highly recommend Orphans of the Tide for avid readers aged 11+. This is a new book - it was released in late February, 2020. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advanced reader copy.

Fly by Jess McGeachin

My walk in the sunshine today (a Sunday) was disturbed by the sounds of things flying in the air. In just an hour I counted 5 helicopters, 4 small planes, 2 jets and a amazingly a paraplane. All of these were so noisy unlike the beautiful birds who also shared the sky.

Paraplane image source: https://www.easyflight.com/

I guess people have always been fascinated by flight but since we are not birds our flying machines need engines and these engines are so noisy. I was thinking about this as I walked and then I came home and read debut picture book Fly by Jess McGeachin.

Jess himself says:
While the story is fiction, I wanted the reader to be able to learn about amazing birds that exist in our world.

On one level, yes,  this is a book about birds. Lucy finds a tiny bird - a sparrow - with a broken wing. She is determined to help him fly. We already know Lucy is good at "fixing things".  She lives with her Dad. "It was just the two of them ... "

Dad explains the sparrow has a broken wing. "He won't be able to fly again."

Lucy does not agree. She is determined her little friend Flap will fly again so she draws up elaborate plans and builds an aeroplane. The pair take off into the sky and for a while they fly along happily. Flap sits safely in the back seat and it is lovely to know he can "feel the wind in his feathers again." Sadly the flight does not last long. The plane begins to disintegrate and plummet back to earth.

I'm going to pause here because at this point I would stop reading this book and allow the children to make their  predictions. When I read this book at the CBCA National Conference several months ago the image on the next page made me gasp.

Image Source: https://drawthemoon.com/fly

This book has so many layers.  It is a book about problem solving, inventions, flight, birds, determination, kindness and the power of imagination. On a deeper level it is also a book about grief, healing and relationships.

Here are some questions you could use to explore the deeper themes in this book:

• How do we know mum is absent? What might have happened to Lucy's mum?  Why didn't the author give us any specific details about this? 
• What are some ways Lucy tries to help her dad? (look closely at the illustrations)
• Lucy spends one weekend and a few afternoons making her flying machine - what does this tell you? Does it matter that this is not really possible?
• The back cover says "Not everything that is broken can be fixed."  What do you think the author means by this statement? How does the story demonstrate this idea.
• Talk about Flap.  What do you think the words "But then he was gone" might mean?
• On the last page Jess McGeachin says "it's probably best not to build a plane unless you really know what you're doing."  Do you think he really needed to include these words? Do you think they were his idea or were added by the publisher? Talk about this picture from Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten. The US publisher of this book was concerned children might climb onto roofs. What is your opinion?

I've read a few reviews of Fly and they all seem to focus on different aspects of this story. I like this because it shows this book is open to many interpretations.  The suggested audience for this book generally seems to be ages 5-8 but I would suggest it will also appeal to an older primary group because it contains so many unanswered questions along side the deeper themes of grief and healing.

Take less than a minute to watch the book trailer from Penguin. It is perfect. You can also see some pages from Fly here.

Reviews:
Reading Time
The Bottom Shelf
Better Reading

Fly will surely be included in the CBCA awards for 2020 - yes it is that good! Over the coming months I hope to read a selection of Australian picture books published in 2019 with a view to making predictions about these award.

I would pair this book with How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham;  Pete and Roland by Bob Graham;  Kate, who tamed the Wind by Liz Garton Scanlon and Gary by Leila Rudge. I would also read one of my favourite books Herbert Binns and the Flying Tricycle although this book is sadly long out of print. You could also compare Fly with The Storm Whale by Benji Davies and A Wish for Wings that work by Berkeley Breathed.