Inventions & Inventors

It was just a test . . .
But something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong. What was to have been a standard ten-day survival test had suddenly become an indefinite life-or-death nightmare.
Now they were stranded somewhere in the universe, beyond contact with Earth . . . at the other end of a tunnel in the sky. This small group of young men and women, divested of all civilized luxuries and laws, were being forced to forge a future of their own . . . a strange future in a strange land where sometimes not even the fittest could survive!
". . . fascinating . . . ingenious . . . this a book in the grand tradition of high literature!"
-- The New York Times

Young Orville and Wilbur Wright loved building things. From the fastest sled in town to the highest-flying kite, the Wright brothers’ creations were always a step ahead of everyone else’s. They grew up learning all about mechanics from fixing bicycles and studied math and physics. On December 17, 1903, Orville took off in the world’s first flying machine! The Wright airplane is one of the most amazing–and life-changing–

Meet the medical researcher (born in 129 A.D.) whose work and writings would be revered as a standard of authority by both Christian and Muslim worlds for the next 1300 years. One day some of Galen's theories of human physiology would be corrected. But the foundation of his work, a respect for the unity of the human person in body and spirit, would be handed on - as he himself had received it in the Hippocratic tradition. In this fascinating biography for young people, Jeanne Bendick brings Galen's  Roman world alive with the clarity, humor, and outstanding content we enjoyed in Archimedes and the Door of Science. An excellent addition to schools, libraries, and homes; ideal for home education.

The Arctic wolf inches towards you. Like you, he is torn between fear and curiosity. His instinct leads him towards the scent of your leather boots. Your instinct is to reach out to this curious white canine. Suddenly, he snarls, and you’re face to face with a wild animal. For years, photographer Jim Brandenburg has observed lone wolves by moonlight, Arctic wolves leaping onto ice floes, and wolves hunting and foraging for food. Packs of gray wolves surround his house in Minnesota. Let him lead you on an intimate journey through their mysterious world, making a persuasive case for the protection of this threatened species, and showing how wolves and humans can live together.

You slip over the side of your boat, descending deep into the dark realm of the Earth’s largest creature. Then the whale starts to sing, just feet away from you. You record the sounds, hoping one day to understand their language. Their music is a rare glimpse of this majestic mammal’s unknown world. Photographer Flip Nicklin brings you face to face with whales as they communicate, nurse their young, and surface dramatically for air. Meet these intelligent, social creatures in their natural habitat; learn of the different kinds of whales, from humpbacks to belugas; discover how we can aid their recovery from years of overhunting; and how we can protect their environment.

Now in paperback—National Geographic Children's Books presents the award-winning photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell. This fascinating profile, named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, uses direct quotes to give readers a vivid insight into the life of a prolific inventor, driven to succeed.

With a foreword by Gilbert M. Grosvenor, Bell's great-grandson, Always Inventing features over 70 period photographs and drawings from Bell's notebooks.

From his first invention at age 11—a tool to clean husks from wheat kernels—to his patent of the hydrofoil 64 years later, Bell was always inventing. Bell was also one of the original founders of the National Geographic Society.

Awards include:

• Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People—NCSS/CBC
• New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
• Best Book of the Year—School Library Journal

From the Trade Paperback edition.

In 1923, there were no doctors or hospitals in the isolated mountains of Appalachia. Then Mary Breckinridge came. Trained as a nurse, she made the Appalachians her life's work-fording icy streams and climbing untracked mountains to bring medical help to those in need. These three stories, told in simple, luminous prose, bring to life the birth of the Frontier Nursing Service, which still operates in Kentucky. Mary On Horseback shows yet another side of Rosemary Wells-one of today's most versatile authors.

"These beautifully written stories will remain with the reader long after the book is closed." - Booklist, starred review

"A compelling little book that might well cause some children of this overabundant age to consider their blessings...." -The Horn Book, starred review

Awards:

( Winner of the Christopher Award
( A Horn Book Fanfare Book
( A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
( A Smithsonian Notable Book for Children

Mimi Koehl tinkers with machines. Some are so tiny they can't be seen by the naked eye, and some disappeared millions of years ago. But Mimi isn't a mechanic. She's a biomechanist. Mimi Koehl uses engineering and physics to study the designs of living things that fly, swim, drift, and crawl. She loves solving riddles about how creatures 'from feathered dinosaurs to flying frogs' live and move. Mimi's curiosity has led her into all kinds of natural neighbourhoods. She has braved turbulent waters to explore how giant green sea anemones survive crashing waves. In Chile, while studying seaweeds, a rogue wave washed Mimi off one cliff and slammed her into another one. But nothing stops her desire for discovery. To uncover answers, Mimi has attached leashes to microscopic animals and created ingenious models using raspberry gelatin and even Silly Putty. Today Mimi searches the world 'and her imagination' for answers to life's challenging mysteries.

Neil Armstrong was Americas rocket man, the first person to set foot on the moon and turn science fiction into amazing reality. Award-winning authors Tara Dixon-Engel and Mike Jackson tell the fascinating story of how Armstrong went where no one had gone before, leaving his mark on the powdery surface of another world. Even at an age when other boys were just learning to drive, Neil was training to reach the skies. He went on to study aeronautical engineering, win medals as a fighter pilot, try out the X-15 experimental rocket plane, and become one of the elite few chosen to be a NASA astronautwhere he took the test pilots credo of higher, faster and farther to thrilling heights. Authors: Tara Dixon-Engel, Mike Jackson Reading Level: Ages 9 to 12 years Format: Paperback, 128 pages Publisher: Sterling Books ISBN: 9781402744969