Alexander Graham Bell (Groundbreakers)

Reid Struan is a Heinemann Raintree author.

Grade 4-6-Both titles provide brief, interesting texts and many black-and-white and full-color photographs, reproductions, and diagrams. Following the inventors of the telephone and the television from childhood to death, the author reveals aspects of each man's personality in discussing his triumphs, challenges, and setbacks. The basic science behind each invention is also described. Bell's lifelong involvement and work with the deaf as well as his many innovations beyond the telephone are focal points as well. Tom L. Matthews's Always Inventing: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell (National Geographic, 1999) is a first-rate selection. Baird's constant struggle with poor health and continual setbacks and competition comprises much of his story. The book primarily focuses on television development in Britain and fails to mention American inventor Philo Farnsworth. These series titles are solid additions for libraries needing short biographies about these creative pioneers.
Jean Gaffney, Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library, Miamisburg, OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.