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Toys!: Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions
A fresh, intriguing look at the stories behind great toy inventions, by Don Wulffson and illustrated by Laurie Keller.
"Originally, Play-Doh only came in white. There's a good reason for this. You see, Play-Doh didn't start out as a toy. It started out as a product for cleaning wallpaper."
Have you ever wondered who invented Lego, Mr. Potato Head, or toy trains? Here are the fascinating stories behind these toy inventions and many others. Learn why the see-saw was popular with the Romans, how the Slinky was used during the Vietnam War, and the reason Raggedy Ann has a red heart on her chest that says "I love you." From dolls and checkers to pinball and the modern video game, there's a wide selection here for boys and girls alike.
With humor and wit, this intriguing book serves up slices of cultural history that will inspire young readers to start thinking up their own toy inventions.
"Originally, Play-Doh only came in white. There's a good reason for this. You see, Play-Doh didn't start out as a toy. It started out as a product for cleaning wallpaper."
Have you ever wondered who invented Lego, Mr. Potato Head, or toy trains? Here are the fascinating stories behind these toy inventions and many others. Learn why the see-saw was popular with the Romans, how the Slinky was used during the Vietnam War, and the reason Raggedy Ann has a red heart on her chest that says "I love you." From dolls and checkers to pinball and the modern video game, there's a wide selection here for boys and girls alike.
With humor and wit, this intriguing book serves up slices of cultural history that will inspire young readers to start thinking up their own toy inventions.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
27 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
About the author
Don L. Wulffson
45 books23 followersDon L. Wulffson is the author of more than forty books, including Point Blank, The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle, Future Fright, and The Upside-Down Ship. He lives in Northridge, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
did-not-finish
December 11, 2024DNF @ 53%
The only time I read Toys! was back in June when we were on a road trip. The historical background that this book gives of each toy is fairly decent, not anything super extensive. Since this book is over ten years old, many of the "present-day facts" that are presented are pretty much meaningless because they are all outdated.
Not a book that I feel inclined to continue reading as it doesn't seem worth my time; and I haven't read it in six months so... yeah. I think it's safe to DNF it.
The only time I read Toys! was back in June when we were on a road trip. The historical background that this book gives of each toy is fairly decent, not anything super extensive. Since this book is over ten years old, many of the "present-day facts" that are presented are pretty much meaningless because they are all outdated.
Not a book that I feel inclined to continue reading as it doesn't seem worth my time; and I haven't read it in six months so... yeah. I think it's safe to DNF it.
October 20, 2022
Such a cute book with interesting information! I saw thus book in the middle school library and the kid in me just had to read it. 😂
July 7, 2024
Great little book with good info. This book came in one of my daughters Kiwi boxes. (arts and crafts company) It was a great little read.
April 21, 2021
An interesting look at the history of toys targeted at middle grade readers.
Originally published in 2000 and updated in 2014, this book still felt a bit dated. The author notes he focused on toys that had interesting histories, and he tends to focus on toys that have been around for a long time. I wondered if kids would be familiar with some of them. I guess kids may still play with Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Silly Putty, and Wiffle balls, but I can’t remember the last time I saw any of them in the store. And the author states millions of homes have a Raggedy Ann doll, but I feel as though she fell out of fashion fifty years ago. (I had one as a child, though it never particularly appealed to me—it felt dated even then.) that said, Pokemon is also included and is the most contemporary toy. I imagine many toys kids know today were invented by a corporation to make money, which doesn’t fit the theme of the book. He does manage to at least mention many of them in a chapter on dolls, which from the Q&A seems to have been a newly added chapter likely designed for this purpose. (Netflix has a great series called The Toys That Made Us with those corporate stories behind Star Wars, My Little Pony, etc.)
For each toy there’s a few pages of history followed by a few bulleted facts. Keller adds cute illustrations that enhance the text. The writing style often feels more like a list of facts than a fluid narrative, and there are points where you could have elaborated. For example, he notes the suits on playing cards represent the four seasons, and he lists the suits but not the season each correlates to. There are some chapters where he explains things, and others where he doesn’t but probably should. For example, one toy’s inventor couldn’t afford to pay his workers and gave them shares in the company instead—I wondered, does a nine year old understand stocks and investments and what that means?
The book works well as an episodic read, my term for one of those books you can read a chapter or two from, but it down for two weeks, then pick it up and continue without having to remember where you left off. You could also skip around, just reading what interested you—I imagine most kids would read it that way. I read it straight through and learned some interesting things. Kites were used to fly soldiers up to see enemy maneuvers in China in 500 BC, and again in Europe in the late 14th century. Play-Doh was originally marketed as wall paper cleaner. Monopoly was largely taken from a game created by a young Quaker woman, Lizzie Magie, that was designed to teach the evils of capitalism. And most novelty gags (sneezing powder, dribble glasses, squirting flowers, snake in a can) were invented by the same man, Sam Adams. It was also interesting to see how many toys originated from attempts at military applications (Silly Putty, remote control toys, Slinky) or scientists trying to invent something else for a corporation, as well as during the Depression when people couldn’t afford to go out and board games became very popular. It makes me wonder if any new toys will emerge from the pandemic, with so many people at home with extra time on their hands to experiment and create.
Originally published in 2000 and updated in 2014, this book still felt a bit dated. The author notes he focused on toys that had interesting histories, and he tends to focus on toys that have been around for a long time. I wondered if kids would be familiar with some of them. I guess kids may still play with Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Silly Putty, and Wiffle balls, but I can’t remember the last time I saw any of them in the store. And the author states millions of homes have a Raggedy Ann doll, but I feel as though she fell out of fashion fifty years ago. (I had one as a child, though it never particularly appealed to me—it felt dated even then.) that said, Pokemon is also included and is the most contemporary toy. I imagine many toys kids know today were invented by a corporation to make money, which doesn’t fit the theme of the book. He does manage to at least mention many of them in a chapter on dolls, which from the Q&A seems to have been a newly added chapter likely designed for this purpose. (Netflix has a great series called The Toys That Made Us with those corporate stories behind Star Wars, My Little Pony, etc.)
For each toy there’s a few pages of history followed by a few bulleted facts. Keller adds cute illustrations that enhance the text. The writing style often feels more like a list of facts than a fluid narrative, and there are points where you could have elaborated. For example, he notes the suits on playing cards represent the four seasons, and he lists the suits but not the season each correlates to. There are some chapters where he explains things, and others where he doesn’t but probably should. For example, one toy’s inventor couldn’t afford to pay his workers and gave them shares in the company instead—I wondered, does a nine year old understand stocks and investments and what that means?
The book works well as an episodic read, my term for one of those books you can read a chapter or two from, but it down for two weeks, then pick it up and continue without having to remember where you left off. You could also skip around, just reading what interested you—I imagine most kids would read it that way. I read it straight through and learned some interesting things. Kites were used to fly soldiers up to see enemy maneuvers in China in 500 BC, and again in Europe in the late 14th century. Play-Doh was originally marketed as wall paper cleaner. Monopoly was largely taken from a game created by a young Quaker woman, Lizzie Magie, that was designed to teach the evils of capitalism. And most novelty gags (sneezing powder, dribble glasses, squirting flowers, snake in a can) were invented by the same man, Sam Adams. It was also interesting to see how many toys originated from attempts at military applications (Silly Putty, remote control toys, Slinky) or scientists trying to invent something else for a corporation, as well as during the Depression when people couldn’t afford to go out and board games became very popular. It makes me wonder if any new toys will emerge from the pandemic, with so many people at home with extra time on their hands to experiment and create.
November 1, 2017
This book tells the stories behind the inventions of many different toys: slinky, seesaw, Lego, tops, Mr. Potato Head, playing cards, silly putty, wind-up toys and automatons, hobbyhorses, bicycles, remote-controlled toys, Raggedy Ann, toy soldiers, twister, parcheesi, checkers, magic rocks, super ball, toy trains, Play-doh, table tennish, pinball, trivial persuit, kites, and trickster toys. It is well-written. The illustrations are simple black-and-white cartoons.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Some may view this book as useless trivia, but there are a lot of valuable lessons here, including the values of creativity and perseverance. The stories of these toys are, by turns, hilarious, inspiring, delightful, and even heartbreaking or horrifying (who would have guessed the see-saw has such a dark past!?). Some of these toys were invented by one person; others took groups or even entire cultures of people to create them. Some were invented deliberately, others came about totally by accident.
This books works equally well as a sit-down read or something to be perused for just a few toys' stories.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Some may view this book as useless trivia, but there are a lot of valuable lessons here, including the values of creativity and perseverance. The stories of these toys are, by turns, hilarious, inspiring, delightful, and even heartbreaking or horrifying (who would have guessed the see-saw has such a dark past!?). Some of these toys were invented by one person; others took groups or even entire cultures of people to create them. Some were invented deliberately, others came about totally by accident.
This books works equally well as a sit-down read or something to be perused for just a few toys' stories.
April 24, 2018
I happen to work at a darling novelty toy store, so of course I’ve collected a fun inventory of toy knowledge along the way. We have this book (gifted to the owner) lying next to the register and I thought~ how better to add to one’s quirky collection of toy facts than by carousing its pages?? I was not disappointed!! Every classic toy they cover has a truly surprising story behind its inception. Our shop specializes in nostalgic items and I was happy to find that we sell variants of every toy listed!! (except for seesaws~ too big)
I can now happily talk our patron’s ears off with the facts I’ve learned from this book.
I can now happily talk our patron’s ears off with the facts I’ve learned from this book.
January 18, 2019
Have you ever wondered where the idea for the Slinky started? Or, what about Mr. Potato Head? These two along with many other toys/inventions are explained in detail, with illustrations pictures, inventor backgrounds...the what, who, why, and where: a compendium of many of our favorite toys from years gone by, up to today. A fun book to discover the mysteries of our toys! And what I really appreciated was the simplicity of many of the toys I grew up with, that allowed us to use our imagination, our brains, our muscles, to make them truly worth having and enjoying. Sadly, the children today do not see that or the reasoning behind a toy.
October 27, 2021
This was a fun and fast read about some of the most iconic toys invented in the 20th Century. If you have ever played with a Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, or built LEGOS you will learn some interesting facts about the designers of these toys and the process they went through to get these toys to become some of the most played with and loved toys. It amazed me to learn that Slinky’s were used as extended radio antennas by Army Radiomen during the war and that my beloved LEGOS started out as wooden bricks that could be stacked on top of each other.
April 1, 2019
What a fun read! My child and I had such a great time reading this, plus many nostalgic moments for me. You get a chance to explore the beginnings of many 20th and 21st century, some even older, toys. The chapters, each only about 1 specific toy, are relatively short but to the point. Laurie Keller blesses the chapters with her fun and creative illustrations that add to the storyline and offer additional humor for both adult and child. My child gave this 5 stars, so do I!
March 23, 2024
Fun book with an interesting selection of toys. It is organized as one toy per chapter, giving the history, and at the end of each chapter is a list of other interesting facts. The arrangement worked well--allows for more intresting factoids without trying to strain the narrative part to fit them in. While mostly generations-old toys, also touched on video games and Pokemon. A light fun read, easy to read in chunks. The illustrations were fun and fit well into the chapters.
November 16, 2017
Such a fun, quick read about history on some of the favorite toys ever. Truly an amazing book, small but concise, about classical toys to the latest favorite (i.e. Pokemon!) The chapter on Trivial Pursuit even have few questions for readers to try out. Adults and children would find joy reading it. Highly recommended.
August 22, 2018
This is pretty interesting to learn about the history of a lot of different toys. It's full of facts that I never would have learned without reading this.
Ex:
Nawbrama, an African king of the nineteenth century, always rode on a wheeled hobbyhorse pushed by slaves.
Ex:
Nawbrama, an African king of the nineteenth century, always rode on a wheeled hobbyhorse pushed by slaves.
August 15, 2021
Great background knowledge for many of your childhood memories. Learn about the first “Monopoly” being about sharing resources, why there are 52 cards and four suits in a playing card deck, Play-Doh’s original purpose was, and much more. Fun read!
October 4, 2022
Great look into the invention of many toys I grew up with. Most interesting facts I read:
Legos started out as only white and red.
The first TV commercial for a toy was Mr. Potato Head.
The Super Bowl got its name from the toy the Super Ball, commonly known as a bouncy ball.
Legos started out as only white and red.
The first TV commercial for a toy was Mr. Potato Head.
The Super Bowl got its name from the toy the Super Ball, commonly known as a bouncy ball.
November 22, 2018
Short little book, but fun to read. I loved learning about the history of many popular toys.
December 5, 2018
This is a very interesting book and a lot of background stories about Famous toys.
February 12, 2019
This book was surprisingly awesome!
February 25, 2020
Entertaining, dare I say "playful" fun!
March 18, 2020
Really enjoyed reading this out loud to my daughter.
August 6, 2020
This is a quick and easy read about how many toys and games came to be.
December 3, 2020
It contains some interesting facts but just didn't thrill me much.
February 3, 2021
Super fun and interesting! Read it with my kiddos.
June 16, 2021
Very nice
February 28, 2022
This was pretty fun to read the history of some toys. I read 2 topics everyday to my children and they liked hearing the stories.
bookcrossing-2022
April 25, 2022Donations to the #KindnessTrioLibrary 2022
BookCrossing.com BCID: 296-16539061
BookCrossing.com BCID: 296-16539061
May 7, 2022
I learned so many facts about these toys, and historical information about early artists and creators. I could not put it down. Loved the little illustrations throughout also.
June 3, 2023
Fun little book! Had no idea about the history of some of these toys. Really enjoyed learning about different toys and games.
February 16, 2024
Interesting tales about the origins of toys.
January 31, 2025
Interesting facts on how some of the worlds greatest toys were created. Barbie, Hot Wheels, Wiffle Ball etc.
October 28, 2021
If a book were a walking tour, this would be a pleasant jaunt through the park.
The author presents the compressed history of some of the most common, and popular toys, and games, such as the Pokémon, Hot Wheel,and the Slinky.
One could assert that the highlights offered are the bones of a the story-- giving the reader the best bits while avoiding some segments that others might consider dull.
I would call this a bathroom reader-- a page or two-- for the amusing summaries about every day objects, that refrains from any complexity. I found myself constantly amused, occasionally amazed and always sharing with others a tid-bit that fascinated me. It is an update of a book published in 2000. There is an extensive bibliography , and a list of websites from which to learn more about this surprising subject.
I do enjoy when I find these pocket-sized, non-fiction collections of interesting peeks into the background of the items, or events we all know yet may not know. I will check out his other works immediately for the sheer pleasure of it.
The author presents the compressed history of some of the most common, and popular toys, and games, such as the Pokémon, Hot Wheel,and the Slinky.
One could assert that the highlights offered are the bones of a the story-- giving the reader the best bits while avoiding some segments that others might consider dull.
I would call this a bathroom reader-- a page or two-- for the amusing summaries about every day objects, that refrains from any complexity. I found myself constantly amused, occasionally amazed and always sharing with others a tid-bit that fascinated me. It is an update of a book published in 2000. There is an extensive bibliography , and a list of websites from which to learn more about this surprising subject.
I do enjoy when I find these pocket-sized, non-fiction collections of interesting peeks into the background of the items, or events we all know yet may not know. I will check out his other works immediately for the sheer pleasure of it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews