Calling All Minds

March 26, 2018
Grandin, an animal scientist and spokeswoman for the autism community, offers a guide to two dozen projects grouped into five sections—paper, wood, levers and pulleys, objects that fly, and optical illusions—to make at home with commonly found materials. Detailed step-by-step instructions and drawings accompany each project, which include a puppet theater, a kite, a wooden sailboat, and a stereoscope. Included within each section is historical background on inventors from the past and inventions of note. A self-styled inventor, Grandin employs a clear, direct style—though her vocabulary may be somewhat advanced for the target audience. She provides humorous childhood recollections, reflections on the creative process, and thoughts on how experimentation is essential to discovery. Referencing how she was often teased as a child for being different, she advocates for intellectual diversity: “Though our brains may work in different ways, there is no limit to the kinds of contributions we can make.” Grandin offers a nuanced perspective on the qualities of a successful inventor—notably, a sense of wonder and curiosity, careful observation, and the willingness to learn from mistakes. Ages 8–12.

April 1, 2018

Gr 7-10-Part personal memoir, part historic study of inventions and biography, and part DIY instructions, this book packs in a lot. The result is an account of inventions and inventors and the thinking that motivates innovation. In Grandin's introduction, she states, "My road to becoming an inventor and animal scientist began in boarding school." She goes on to offer a detailed account of her isolated childhood and eventual diagnosis of autism, which serves as a backdrop for her later achievements. The chapters are organized by invention materials and types, such as "Levers and Pulleys" and "Optical Illusions," but each chapter contains such a vast amount of information and text that it is daunting. The author first states a personal account of her interests in the topic and then explains the historical context, including inventor biographies and a concluding project. There are not a tremendous amount of organizational tools, so accessing the information piece by piece is difficult. In addition, the very specific details of each story and history, and some of the diagrams, make the intended audience hard to determine. However, scientifically minded readers will find each section informative. VERDICT Consider for libraries where maker spaces are popular.-Patricia Feriano, Montgomery County Public Schools, MD

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2018
Celebrated inventor Grandin shares her experiences and insights into her processes of tinkering and building, offering excellent advice to aspiring young inventors for realizing their own innovative ideas.Grandin explores the history of inventions from the ancient to the contemporary, the science behind them, and the steps various people took to create and improve upon ideas as they evolved, and she also suggests ways in which young inventors can think about and understand what it means to innovate. What makes Grandin's narrative particularly engaging are the many anecdotes she shares about her own childhood fascination with questioning, investigating, building, and inventing. She shares how her autism enabled her to see things in unique ways, paving the way for her innovative work in animal behavior. Grandin describes herself as a visual, "bottom-up thinker," the type of scientist who gathers data and then arrives at a hypothesis. She passionately encourages young people to use their imaginations, stressing inquisitiveness and open-mindedness as the keys to problem-solving as well as the importance of tactile experiences and hands-on experimentation. Included in the text are 25 kid-friendly projects to help develop those skills. Mixing history, science, and memoir makes for an occasionally digressive narrative that is sometimes unwieldy but never boring. An impassioned call to look at the world in unique ways with plenty of practical advice on how to cultivate a curious, inquiring, imaginative mind. (diagrams, photos, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

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April 15, 2018
Grades 4-7 Grandin, renowned as a scientist, author, and adult with autism, has created a miscellany in which she claims to share the soul of invention. To do this, she integrates anecdotes from her life as a curious tinkerer with stories of important inventions and activities, such as pairing the history of paper and scissors with instructions for making paper snowflakes. Organized by broad categories ( Things Made of Wood, Things That Fly, etc.), the book touches on ideas such as the Fibonacci sequence and optical illusions, encourages creativity by making a water bomb or a plant stand, and provides short background on additional inventions from crayons to hydraulic jacks. Famous inventors are profiled, from Gutenberg to the Wright brothers, who she thinks might today be diagnosed as somewhere on the autism or Asperger's spectrum. To all of that, she tosses in references to the Flying Nun and golf ball dimples. The design is dull, dated, and distant, with reproductions of patents and portraits of dead white men, but the myriad topics and personal text are certainly mind-expanding.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)