The World's First Roller Coaster and Other Amazing Inventions

‘This book has more light bulb moments than a funfair after sundown’(p.8). The quotation sums up the way this volume is packed full of interesting information and is quite original in both subject matter and design.

The Contents pages show how inventions are arranged by topic and there are eight chapters. Each invention has a double page spread devoted to it and is in both comic strip style and text boxes or prose. Fascinating facts are found throughout the book and humour is frequent. I was amazed to learn that sparkling soft drinks were invented in 1767 by Joseph Priestley! We learn that bubble wrap was an accidental discovery, and its history is very interesting. Initially an American engineer and a Swiss chemist ‘were trying to invent a new type of trendy wallpaper’ (p.38) but in the end bubble wrap became a way of packaging fragile goods.

Unusual facts are to be found everywhere. For example, ready salted crisps are generally people’s favourite flavour, but in China and Japan it is cucumber flavour and seaweed flavour which are preferred! I am sure youngsters will love learning such information and recounting facts to their friends. I think the eighth chapter, ‘Screen and Heard’ about computers etc. will be particularly popular with students. Young inventors are encouraged to think up a creation with a final page that can be filled in with the reader’s own invention.

This is a book you can easily dip into rather than reading it sequentially or in one sitting. For those students who enjoy non-fiction and facts this is certain to be a big hit. Congratulations to both the author and illustrator who work hard and succeed at keeping the reader’s attention. It is a fun and colourful paperback which will appeal to ages 7 upwards and will be a great acquisition for libraries and classrooms, as well as a fabulous gift.