“Get ready to have your mind blown with this fun book.” — The Washington Post
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball legend and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, champions a lineup of little-known African-American inventors in this lively, kid-friendly book. Offering profiles with fast facts and framed by a funny contemporary story featuring two feisty twins, here is a tribute to black inventors whose ingenuity and perseverance against great odds made our world safer, better, and brighter.
Back matter includes an authors’ note and sources.
ISBN-13: 9780763664428
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: 12-10-2013
Pages: 96
Product Dimensions: 8.80(w) x 5.90(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range: 8 - 12 Years
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Giant Steps, as well as Kareem and A Season on the Reservation. ANTHONY WALTON is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Mississippi, as well as the coauthor of Reverend Al Sharpton’s book Go and Tell the Pharoah.
What People are Saying About This
From the Publisher
It's an entertaining and often surprising exploration of lesser-known innovators, past and present.
—Publishers Weekly
In his first foray into writing for children, basketball superstar Abdul-Jabbar teams with Obstfeld to introduce 16 mostly lesser-known African American inventors through a fictional story told by young twins, who learn that many items in a typical house and used by a majority of Americans were invented or developed by African Americans.
—Booklist
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 1
Dr. Henry T. Sampson 8
Granville T. Woods 10
Lewis Howard Latimer 12
Chapter 2 19
Dr. Mark Dean 24
Dr. Valerie L. Thomas 26
James E. West2 8
Chapter 3 32
Frederick McKinley Jones 35
Joseph Lee 41
Lloyd A. Hall 44
George Crum 46
Chapter 4 49
Daniel Hale Williams 52
Dr. Charles Drew 54
Dr. Percy Lavon Julian 56
Chapter 5 63
Alfred L. Cralle 66
Lonnie Johnson 68
Garrett Morgan 70
Chapter 6 77
Authors' Notes 81
Sources & Further Information 85
Index 88
