A Wizard from the Start

April 26, 2010
Brown (Teedie: The Story of Young Teddy Roosevelt) offers a folksy, episodic picture book biography of Edison’s early years, highlighting his entrepreneurial spirit and love of experimentation, while incorporating a wealth of fascinating, little-known anecdotes about the accomplished inventor. At 12, the homeschooled boy worked 14-hour days, hawking newspapers and other items to passengers on trains, and one day started a fire while conducting a chemistry experiment in the baggage car. Tawny-hued, loosely rendered illustrations, which Brown created using digital imagery and watercolors, balance portrayals of Edison’s industrious and mischievous sides. After launching a newspaper business, Edison decided “it was much more fun hanging around telegraph offices.” He quickly honed his skills as a telegraph operator and discovered ways to improve the machinery. Brown’s description of Edison’s first patented invention (an electric vote-recording device) exemplifies the author’s low-key style: “The machine was a flop. No one wanted it.” A sprink-ling of quotations adds Edison’s own voice to the narrative, which is capped by an author’s note touching on achievements and controversies of Edison’s later life. Ages 5–8.

Starred review from April 1, 2010
Gr 2-4-Focusing on the great inventor's youth, roughly from age eight to mid-20s, this anecdotal picture-book biography is both engaging and accessible. The concise narrative is sprinkled with original quotes and is well suited as a read-aloud. Youngsters will find much to relate to, from Tom's being misunderstood at schoolhis mother decided to homeschool himto the science experiments he and a friend performed in the basement. Not surprisingly, there is also much to inspire and admire; Edison was a voracious reader and a hard workerby age 12 he worked 14 hours a day as a "news butch," selling newspapers, candy, and cigars on the Detroit commuter train. After heroically rescuing the young son of a telegraph operator from an approaching train, he was rewarded with telegraph lessons. When he was 21, he took a job in Boston and found his calling. Despite some early failures as well as losing his hearing, Edison earned 1093 patents in his lifetime but insisted that, "I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun." Brown's signature sketches combine digital imagery and watercolors and reflect the period costume and key moments in Edison's early life. This title is for a younger audience than Michael Dooling's "Young Thomas Edison" (Holiday House, 2005)."Barbara Auerbach, PS 217, Brooklyn, NY"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2010
Grades 1-3 Browns picture-book account of Thomas Edisons childhood begins with a heartening description common to many of historys great minds: he was a poor student. His mother withdrew him from school after a daydreaming incident: Addled, the teacher saidanother way of calling Tom confused or stupid. Of course, he was anything but, and once he gained an appreciation of good books, he took it upon himself to read everything he could get his hands on. His life of invention began in his cellar laboratory and carried over to conducting chemistry experiments during downtime at his job selling papers and cigars on commuter trains. It all really clicked, though, when he started working with the newfangled telegraph. The book ends at the (literally) lightbulb moment when he finds out what the world needs, then decides to go ahead and invent it. Browns always jaunty scribbly artwork nicely captures the thoughtful boy Edison in this gentle nudge pushing kids to take learning into their own hands and run with it. An authors note fleshes out his career.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)