An Illustrated Timeline of Inventions and Inventors

Let’s put the T for Technology in STEM Friday this week with An Illustrated Timeline of Inventions and Inventors by Kremena T. Spengler and illustrated by Rick Morgan.

“Did you know that people used needles and thread to sew together clothes before the first clay pot was made? Bet you didn’t know that…” I hear these words a lot when children read this book. Not only is the book full of discoveries about inventions and inventors, but it is also full of revelations about when these inventions came about. It’s exciting, entertaining and fun to find out when things were first made.

Seeing inventions unfold page by page as a timeline really does put things in perspective. For the first 1000 years AD the Chinese dominated the invention scene. Things then moved to Europe during the Renaissance, The reader can see the Industrial Revolution take off as major new inventions are made every few years rather than over centuries or decades. Children also begin to see that inventions they take for granted came about in their parents’ lifetime, and some even within their own lifetimes!

Of course not every invention can be included, but the author did a fine job of picking interesting as well as important ones. I like that she included a number of inventions by women.

An Illustrated Timeline of Inventions and Inventors is a resource book that appears to be deceptively simple and yet can be used in a multitude of ways, and will be picked up again and again. It is sure to spark an interest in the reader to find out more.

You can see sample pages at Google Books.

Related activities:

• Inventing a new pencil
• Enchanted Learning has pages of information about inventors and inventions

Reading level: Ages 7 and up
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Picture Window Books (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1404870172
ISBN-13: 978-1404870178

This book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.

Capstone Connect is hosting the Stem Friday meme this week. Be sure to visit for links to more excellent STEM books.

If you would like to participate in STEM Friday in the future, go to Booktalking blog for more information.