Charlesbridge: 2016.Ĭheck out the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge at Kid Lit Frenzy. Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton, illustrated by Don Tate. Just keep the pages away from those super-soakers! The back matter also talks about Barton’s experience interviewing Johnson and the widow of one of his co-workers.ĭon Tate’s cartoon-style illustrations are appealing. I loved the back matter’s call to action: “…if you want to better understand how Lonnie Johnson himself works, then you’ll put this book down, step away from the computer screen, and get permission to take something apart.” The back matter sends the curious reader to the internet to unravel that mystery. I was surprised that the book didn’t talk at all about the scientific principles behind the super soaker. It can be tricky to condense an entire life to 32 pages, but Barton’s retelling stays focused on his theme–what Johnson had to do to invent–and is lively throughout. In addition to telling the story of how Johnson came up with the super soaker, the book tells about his contributions to the US space program and NASA’s Galileo probe. Fangirl is the new novel from Rainbow Rowell (probably marketed in that hot New Adult market, but likewise appealing for young adults and regular adults too). We watch Lonnie Johnson from his childhood on up facing the problems of creating something new: testing, trouble-shooting, revising, and just plain keeping track of loads of gea r. In Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-soaking Stream of Inventions, Chris Barton paints a portrait of the temperament of an inventor.

Fangirl rainbow