Young Thomas Edison

by Michael Dooling

Explores the childhood years of America's greatest inventor through a review of his early experiments, work, and education, enhanced with detailed illustrations.

Genres: Biography, Picture Books, Childrens, History, Nonfiction, Science

40 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2005

About the author

Micahel has illustrated more than 50 books, most of them historical. A graduate of Syracuse University, Michael has worked on books from a variety of authors and publishers over the past 20+ years. He lives in Audubon, New Jersey where one of his favorite pastimes is researching for his next project in the local library.

Reviews

[Luisa Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastically told narrative for children! I will definitely be looking up Dooling's other historical picture books for children to see if they are on par with this great read.

Ages: 5 - 11

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[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful biography of Thomas Edison's younger years which describes the hardships he overcame in school with the encouragement and love of his mother. Teachers believed he was mentally challenged and would amount to nothing - his mother home educated him because she believed he was a genius. Beautiful illustrations!

[Sara S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good Biograph about a young boy named Thomas . He lost his hearing at age 9 from scarlet fever . When people in 3rd grade read this they were so interested in the poison !And others in his jobs he went through !But when the story said that his mother died they cried and cried! What was so interesting was that his mother let him blow things up !!!!! I that it was amazing on how much inventions he patent ! Its amazing on how old he lived but that's what made it interesting for me and my class !

[Mary Keen · Rating 5 out of 5]

We had a chance to visit a family member in NJ and took this advantage to visit a museum in nearby Menlo Park, N of Rutgers Un. Here we saw a restoration of his lab with an interesting tour, showing many artifacts with a tall tower outside. (There's also a gift shop; when i was there, there was a selection of original phonograph tubes for sale, with his "Edison" on them, all reasonably priced, IMO)

I had first checked out books, including this wonderful children's library book, which is full of amazing facts about Edison and gorgeous illustrative paintings, also by the author, Michael Dooling.

Like most people, i've always been very impressed by Edison's life and his many, many accomplishments. This book made all the info memorable and i highly recommend this for all ages!

[Lexi Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well written biography about Thomas Edison as a young boy. The illustrations are incredible because they truly convey a dated photograph, and it really brings the story to life. The book uses simple language, making it an easy read for a child in third grade and older. I would probably use this book for a short history lesson about Thomas Edison.

[Ronda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking for a biography to use for introducing my 2nd graders to our larger biography section, and I think this is it. It also ties in nicely with the idea of growth mindset and our new STEM program and will pair nicely with Ada Twist, Scientist.

[Y.Poston]

beautiful story & illustrations for such a big life

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, informative, and not boring.

[Kathleen Lance]

This book talks about the early years of Thomas Edison's life. At a young age Thomas contracted scarlet fever and lost most of his hearing. After that schools weren't good for him because the teachers treated him badly. His mother homeschooled him and encouraged him to invent. He work as a telegraph operator all over the country and began creating major inventions during his early teen years. He invented the telephone, phonograph, motion picture, the light bulb, and much more!

I liked this story because it is non-fiction that tells a story that is interesting to read. The pictures that go along with he book are black and white and fit in very well with the time period of the story.

I think that this book would be great in a classroom library because teachers could talk about inventions and the history behind how we have things today that someone, long ago, invented. The kids could maybe write about an invention that they might create one day. It would be a great way to get them to use their imagination!

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nonfiction picture book about Thomas Edison. The author recounts the story of how he grew from a curious young boy into a genius who invented many of the things we take for granted today.
I really loved reading his story and learning more about Edison's childhood. The story is simple enough for young readers but still very informative. I also loved the illustrations. The paintings were warm and bright and the illustrator did a good job with the characters.
I would definitely recommend reading this book to young kids who are just learning about Thomas Edison and what he did. There is even a list of inventions with pictures on the last page to encourage discussion about them.

[Alissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picture biography is a facinating story about the life of Thomas Edison. It follows "Al", as he was known as a child up until he turned 21. As a child he was always experimenting. In his parents' basement, in the baggage car when he was a newspaper boy on a train and in the train station when he worked as a telegrapher. He was hard of hearing so he was able to work in almost complete silence which helped him concentrate. I never knew he had invented so many things. Not just the lightbulb, but the phonograph, the principle of sound waves which helped the radio possible, and developed the motion picture. WOW!!!

A few activities I would use this book would be:
1) I would have the children write their own life story up until current day. I would ask them to think of as many details as they could.

2) I would be to ask each student (or group of students) if they had enough resources, what would they invent. Have each student (or group) invent something new. Either a gadget, a new way of doing a task, time travel, or a new recipe. Then I would have the students come up with a commercial to present their new invention.

[Leah]

Young Thomas Edison is a biography of the famous inventor. This book starts with Edison’s birth including his parent’s names, birth place, and even his nick name of young Al. It continues through his youth years and the experiments he made, and the interests that he had. Then, it continues through his most famous inventions. The final page of the book features all of his inventions, the year they were invented, and a brief description of them.
The illustrations in the book are incredibly detailed. They almost appear to be a photograph taken during that time. The format of the photos varied between pages; some encompass both pages, while others only take up a small portion of the page. Each of the pictures show a portion of Edison’s life to correspond with the text. Overall, this is a great biography for kids to read and be engaged on the topic.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great biography about Thomas Alva Edison's life as a young inventor and scientist. I used this text with my 3rd grade students as part of a biography unit in the media center. After reading the book, we compared the information to the facts presented on pebblego.com. My students enjoyed the text and were able to easily make text comparisons to the biography on the website.

Recommended for students in grades 2 - 4. While the information is interesting and comprehensive, students will need additional information to write a complete biographical report. An excellent text to use for a read aloud!

[Heather Dunbar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was filled with tons of information on Thomas Edison that I did not know, but still managed to keep the reading simple. But in my opinion that made the book go a little slow for my taste. Still, the author also managed to include a little bit of humor, such as "Apart from the occasional explosion life was grand". I think that the pictures were the highlight of the book, they almost looked like photographs because they were so realistic. Overall, good book for kids who already have a slight interest in history, or to go along with a lesson plan. I don't see a child that doesn't like history reading this for fun anytime soon.

[Brie Tennyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Young Thomas Edison" is a book about the life of Thomas Edison through the years, and his struggles with deafness and not fitting in all that well. It is a great book that shows that if you believe in yourself you can overcome adversities. This book would be great to use in a classroom to teach children about overcome adversities or teaching about the life of the man who created the lightbulb and had other great inventions. I think it would be great for children in younger elementary (5-8 years).

[Kelly Sommers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome biography. It is all about Thomas Edison's growing up and into his young adult years. It talks about how he was hard of hearing and how his mom home schooled him. It also talked about all the inventions he had created and had nice descriptions to go along with the major ones. I am in fact using this book for one of my lesson plans currently. I think it great for elementary school children. I really enjoyed this picture book.

[Eva Best · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great nonfiction picture book!!! This detailed but understandable book for kids teaches about Thomas Edison and his young life. I think that this could get kids thinking and 1) help them understand the life of Thomas Edison and 2) help them see that they can invent or try new things too at a young age. The illustrations are incredible and the book and way it describes him is perfectly informative!

[Tanya Wadley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this children's book about Thomas Edison... wow he worked so tirelessly inventing. What an interesting and super-focused life. I would have liked a little more info than what was provided. For some reason, I thought that he never had a family, which was not the case. I think it would have been better if it had at least mentioned other dimensions of his life.

[Erin Saflarski]

This informative picture book biography of Thomas Edison gives an overview of Thomas Edison's life that is not usually known. The story is about a determined young inventor who will stop at nothing to persevere through his struggles such as setbacks and even health problems. This thrilling book is full of determination and inspiration and would be appropriate for ages 4-8.

[Maddie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a great little biography on the life of Thomas Edison that was easy for children to understand. This book would be great to use in a history lesson. I loved who the author wrote about how Thomas overcame his hearing disability to become one of the greatest inventors ever. This book is for middle-late elementary.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Edison was an inventor who really influenced his world for good through his research into and invention of the phonograph, the light bulb, moving pictures, and sound waves. I loved the illustrations in this picture book.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this book doesn't inspire the scientist in you, I don't know any that will. LOVE this book!

Note: watch animated hero classics Thomas Edison. A+

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great scientist/ inventor! The drawings were great in this book and the text and length were perfect for 5-8 year olds.

[Samantha Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning images, great storyline, and wonderful writing! 100% recommend.

[Inesskever · Rating 1 out of 5]

Young Thomas by Bradbury Robinson has NOTHING to do with Thomas Edison, thank god ! 😂

[Hussam]

good

[Carly Warren]

Summary:
"Young Thomas Edison" begins with Edison as a twelve year old boy. The author begins by explaining all of the ways his world was different without his inventions. As a child, Edison was always experimenting and getting into trouble. He began spending his time working as a paper boy and studying in the library while still just twelve years old. At fifteen years old, he began to sell his own newspaper. He became a railroad telegraph operator and learned Morse Code. At age 21, he decided he would be an inventor and moved to Boston. His mother, who had always believed in him, died when he was 24. He invented a phonograph and an electric lightbulb. He discovered sound waves, making radio possible. At one point, he had 45 inventions going at once. He lived to be 84 years old and patented 1,093 inventions.

Analysis:
This book is incredibly educational while still feeling like a story. The information of his trouble in school and the details of his close relationship with his mother and his sorrow at her loss make all of the information in this book more fascinating. This is highly factual while remaining a sweet tale of success.

How I Will Use This:
I would use this book as an intro to an inventors unit. This could be one choice for students to use for an inventor presentation. Using this book, students could create a poster board or a power point telling about the life of Thomas Edison, and I could provide other books about other inventors to choose from as well.