Katherine Krieg

I liked this book for several reasons. I enjoy that each chapter was broken up further into subheadings, which makes the text easier to read. It signals to the reader when a main idea is shifting or the biography is moving on to the next chunk of Edison’s life. I also enjoyed that the book included historical photographs of Edison, his home and his inventions and tools he used. The captions are written in bright yellow underneath the black and white images which draws attention to the caption and helps the reader understand the images. I also liked that at the end of each chapter there was a “straight to the source” segment which featured a quote from a historical source. At the end of chapter 5 there is a quote snippet of a 1931 article in the New York Times that announced Edison’s death. These elements add authenticity to the biography and bring the biography to life for the reader. I liked that the book features not only Edison’s successes but his failures as well. For example, the book discusses how Edison hoped to use a magnet powered by electricity to remove iron from crushed rock. This invention, however, failed and cost Edison millions of dollars. This shows that the biography is not biased and also gives the message to young readers that everyone has failures in life. Lastly, I enjoyed that the language used was appropriate for the target audience (young readers) and featured a glossary in the back to define any terminology young readers might not know. The central message of this book is to teach readers about Edison’s life and accomplishments in science.… (mer)