THE KID WHO INVENTED THE POPSICLE

Wulffson (Time Fix, 1994) sketches out the origins of 99 inventions in this entertaining volume of trivia that may launch further research for reports. There is no depth on any topic, nor descriptions of inventors' lives, nor information on how patents are obtained. There are few child inventors included, so the title may mislead; nevertheless, one good example of youthful ingenuity is that of Blaise Pascal, who was 19 when he created a counting machine to assist his father, involved daily in routine calculations. Readers learn that some dice were loaded in ancient Egypt; that baseball caps evolved from imitations of Civil War military hats; that flyswatters must have holes to be effective; that some inventions might have flopped without a push in the public-relations department. Such stories are well-suited to sharing. (Nonfiction. 9-14)