Inventing the Hybrid Car

April 1, 2016

Gr 2-4-These highlights in the history of modern technology offer light doses of names and dates, along with nontechnical descriptions of significant early tweaks or innovations. The volumes take snowboarding from the time it was called "snurfing" through Shaun White's legendary run in the 2010 Olympics, computers from UNIVAC to the Apple II, and mobile phones from Marty Cooper's first taunting call to a competitor in 1973 to the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. Despite occasional gaps-Laine skips any mention of how color TV came to be-these titles will help young readers pair a range of common tools and toys with the often obscure men (all men, here) who made them possible. VERDICT Good choices for casual browsers and budding inventors.

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