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What's the Big Idea?: Inventions that Changed Life on Earth Forever
This lively book by an award-winning author brings to life the history of human innovation for young readers. What's the Big Idea? focuses on those inventions that help fulfill people's six basic food, sleep, security, shelter, companionship, and good health. Main spreads feature a specific invention such as the wheel and axle, paper, bicycles, or the Internet. Each one starts with a "What’s the Big Idea?" box that explains the problem the inventors were trying to solve. It answers the pertinent Why this invention and why now? "Fast Facts" and "Big Ideas" sidebars give young readers quick blasts of information reference-style. Twelve special spreads scattered throughout the book highlight either a famous inventor or a specific theme. The "Inventor Biography" spreads profile inventors such as da Vinci, Galileo, and Thomas Edison, and summarize their main inventions. Comic strips deliver an added snippet of information and a humorous punch. Helaine Becker's witty, inventive text and Steve Attoe's wonderfully whimsical art make this a book children can enjoy while they learn.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
12 people want to read
About the author
Helaine Becker
98 books78 followersHelaine Becker has written over 70 books, including the #1 National bestseller, A Porcupine in a Pine Tree,and its sequel, Dashing through the Snow, Sloth at the Zoom, Dirk Daring, Secret Agent, the Looney Bay All-Stars chapter book series, non-fiction including Counting on Katherine, Worms for Breakfast and Zoobots (all Junior Library Guild Selections), Monster Science, You Can Read, Lines Bars and Circles, and Boredom Blasters, plus many picture books and young adult novels. She also writes for children’s magazines and for children's television. Her show Dr. Greenie's Mad Lab was a finalist at MIP.com Junior in Cannes.
She has won the Lane Anderson Award for Science Writing for Children twice,once for The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea and once for The Insecto-Files, and the Picture Book of the Year Award from the Canadian Booksellers Association for A Porcupine in a Pine Tree. She has also won three Silver Birch awards and a Red Cedar award.
Helaine Becker holds U.S. and Canadian citizenship. She attended high school in New York, university in North Carolina (Go Blue Devils!!!!) and now lives in Toronto with her husband and dog, Ella. She has two really handsome sons.
She has won the Lane Anderson Award for Science Writing for Children twice,once for The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea and once for The Insecto-Files, and the Picture Book of the Year Award from the Canadian Booksellers Association for A Porcupine in a Pine Tree. She has also won three Silver Birch awards and a Red Cedar award.
Helaine Becker holds U.S. and Canadian citizenship. She attended high school in New York, university in North Carolina (Go Blue Devils!!!!) and now lives in Toronto with her husband and dog, Ella. She has two really handsome sons.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 12, 2021
[English review follows Spanish]
Me encanto esto. Cada doble página cubría un invento diferente, comenzando con cosas como la aguja y el arado, y avanzando a través de relojes, motores, fertilizantes artificiales, teléfonos, Internet y mucho más. También hubo páginas que destacaban a grandes inventores y otras páginas que hablaban brevemente sobre los muchos inventos en un aula, baño, consultorio médico, etc.
La ciencia se explicó bastante bien para una descripción general, aunque gran parte de ella es tan sorprendente y complicada que todavía me parece mágica. También hubo imágenes divertidas, diagramas útiles y muchas historias geniales y datos interesantes, como las afirmaciones que hizo una mujer de que un fantasma le dijo cómo procesar mejor los alimentos enlatados.
El español no es mi lengua materna y necesitaba un diccionario para muchos términos técnicos ... pero aprendí muchas palabras nuevas.
Muy buen libro.
I loved this. Each two-page spread covered a different invention, starting with things like the needle and the plow, and advancing through clocks, motors, artificial fertilizer, telephones, the internet, and so much more. There were also pages spotlighting great inventors and other pages talking briefly about the many inventions in a classroom, bathroom, doctor's office, etc.
The science was explained pretty well for a general overview, though a lot of it is so amazing and complicated that it still feels like magic to me. There were also fun pictures, useful diagrams, and lots of very cool stories and interesting facts, like the claims one woman made that a ghost told her how to better process canned food.
A very good book.
Me encanto esto. Cada doble página cubría un invento diferente, comenzando con cosas como la aguja y el arado, y avanzando a través de relojes, motores, fertilizantes artificiales, teléfonos, Internet y mucho más. También hubo páginas que destacaban a grandes inventores y otras páginas que hablaban brevemente sobre los muchos inventos en un aula, baño, consultorio médico, etc.
La ciencia se explicó bastante bien para una descripción general, aunque gran parte de ella es tan sorprendente y complicada que todavía me parece mágica. También hubo imágenes divertidas, diagramas útiles y muchas historias geniales y datos interesantes, como las afirmaciones que hizo una mujer de que un fantasma le dijo cómo procesar mejor los alimentos enlatados.
El español no es mi lengua materna y necesitaba un diccionario para muchos términos técnicos ... pero aprendí muchas palabras nuevas.
Muy buen libro.
I loved this. Each two-page spread covered a different invention, starting with things like the needle and the plow, and advancing through clocks, motors, artificial fertilizer, telephones, the internet, and so much more. There were also pages spotlighting great inventors and other pages talking briefly about the many inventions in a classroom, bathroom, doctor's office, etc.
The science was explained pretty well for a general overview, though a lot of it is so amazing and complicated that it still feels like magic to me. There were also fun pictures, useful diagrams, and lots of very cool stories and interesting facts, like the claims one woman made that a ghost told her how to better process canned food.
A very good book.
February 22, 2011
Jake's Review: The pictures are hilarious. Everything was educational (Mom's love that stuff) but it was a fun way of learning about things. I think this is a good book to give to my teacher, because when she teaches stuff like this it's really boring. If her classes were like this book I would pay attention more in class. Oh yeah and the pictures and some of the words really made me laugh
Jake's Rating: 9/10
Mom's Review: I love Helaine and I love her books. I don't have to twist Jake's arm to read them and even my book hating hubby likes to look through them. She makes learning fun -- the way it should be. Her style of writing most importantly appeals to boys & we all know how hard it is to get their attention. The illustrations are delightful. I'm not sure if Helaine has any input into the illustrators, but no matter what books we have read by her -- she always gets an illustrator that gets her humor and puts it into pictures. BTW, I learned tons of stuff too and even my know it all hubby learned some things. A must have for every library and middle school classroom.
Mom's Rating: 10/10
I won this (and a whole bunch of other Helaine books) from Owl Kids Twitter contest
It's up for the OLA's Silver Birch: Non-Fiction Award
Jake's Rating: 9/10
Mom's Review: I love Helaine and I love her books. I don't have to twist Jake's arm to read them and even my book hating hubby likes to look through them. She makes learning fun -- the way it should be. Her style of writing most importantly appeals to boys & we all know how hard it is to get their attention. The illustrations are delightful. I'm not sure if Helaine has any input into the illustrators, but no matter what books we have read by her -- she always gets an illustrator that gets her humor and puts it into pictures. BTW, I learned tons of stuff too and even my know it all hubby learned some things. A must have for every library and middle school classroom.
Mom's Rating: 10/10
I won this (and a whole bunch of other Helaine books) from Owl Kids Twitter contest
It's up for the OLA's Silver Birch: Non-Fiction Award
August 27, 2012
This is such a great read! Very interesting tid-bits throughout. Each page has a new invention or inventor to focus on so the reader can really just pick this book up and read any section. The language is simple so that children can understand it but the ideas are so interesting that many adults would also enjoy it. I loved this book because I often wondered how some inventions came to be - very fascinating!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews