Always Inventing: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell

by Tom L. Matthews

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426322174
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/10/2015
Series:	Photobiographies
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	684,280
Product dimensions:	7.70(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Tom L. Matthews is the author of the National Geographic book Light Shining Through the Mist: A Photobiography of Dian Fossey. He is a graduate of Brooklyn College, New York.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 4-7-Informative engravings, journal sketches, and family photographs illustrate this handsomely designed book about one of the 20th-century's most creative geniuses. (Mar.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Gr 4-7-A photobiography of Bell's life and work, giving proper emphasis to all of his inventions. Bell was much more than the inventor of the telephone; his lifelong devotion to the education and welfare of hearing-impaired people is thoroughly explored as is his dedication to the advancement of science. This book contains many full-page black-and-white photographs, reproductions, and illustrations that help bring the avid tinkerer to life. A chronology of the inventor's life and lists of books and Web sites for further information conclude the volume. This book provides more depth on Bell's life and work than Leonard Everett Fisher's Alexander Graham Bell (Atheneum, 1999). Both titles have merit for pleasure reading, but Matthews's is the one to use for research.-Carol Fazioli, The Brearley School, New York City, NY

School Library Journal

Here are two quite different biographies of the inventor that together provide a fuller than usual picture of the man, his life, and his work. Fisher's warm, storylike text with full- and double-page illustrations (in rather dark tones) provides a good introduction to the subject, while Matthews's longer book features many vintage photographs and drawings that richly picture the details of life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In Matthews's personable text, Bell's inexhaustible curiosity emerges as his wide range of experiments are outlined; his concern for people and making their lives better is also made clear. Fisher's book is more of a straightforward biography, with the illustrations giving the text an intimacy and a sense of personal investment on the part of the author-illustrator. Both books capture Bell's apparently indefatigable energy and interest in the world around him. Always Inventing contains a chronology, bibliography, and index.

Horn Book Magazine

A memorable tribute to a notably versatile inventor: From his first invention at age 11 to his last, 64 years later, Bell "recorded everything, sketched every idea, documented every experiment." Clearly, Matthews does not lack for source material, but rather than weigh readers down with a long recitation of accomplishments, he covers some high spots (the telephone, Bell's work with the deaf, experiments in flight, and his role in the National Geographic Society) on the way to creating a character study, a portrait of a man who both earned and knew how to enjoy success, and who never lost his sense of wonder. The fluent text is matched to an expertly chosen array of photographs, encompassing not only family scenes and closeups of small, complex devices, but such seldom-seen treasures as Mark Twain's telephone bill, and a choked mass of wires suspended over New York City's Broadway. So upbeat is the tone that the tragedies and challenges in Bell's life seem downplayed, but readers will come away with a good sense of who the man was and what he did. (chronology, bibliography, index) (Biography. 9-12) .

Kirkus Reviews