Kirkus Reviews QR Code
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL by Jr. Micklos

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

Inventor of the Telephone

by Jr. Micklos with Eds. of TIME for Kids

Pub Date: March 1st, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-057619-7
Publisher: HarperTrophy

This attractively designed, if routine, biography of Bell combines period photos on each page with a simply phrased account that notes the inventor’s lifelong interest in working with deaf people along with his development of the telephone, several other sound-related devices and even an airplane. Side boxes look at the Industrial Revolution, the Centennial Exhibition and similar contemporary topics, and the author closes with both a timeline and a three-question interview with Bill Gates. As this does convey a sense of what the man was like, as well as an overview of his accomplishments and importance, it will be a useful addition to the array of assignment-fodder bios already on the shelf—despite minor errors (no, Bell did not coin the term “greenhouse effect”) and the lack of either source citations or resources for further study. (Nonfiction. 8-10)