Accidents May Happen: Fifty Inventions Discovered By Mistake - Softcover

Charlotte Jones

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385322402 ISBN 13: 9780385322409

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1998

Synopsis

From Wheaties to telephones, microwave ovens to yo-yos, here are the inspiring and often funny stories of 50 mistakes and misunderstandings that helped bring about life as we know it. With hilarious cartoons and wacky facts, this fascinating compendium illustrates the adage "If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense making them."

About this title

From Booklist:

Gr. 4^-6. As she did in Mistakes That Worked (1991), Jones plunges into human cultural and technological history to summarize the origins of a variety of household items, foodstuffs, medicines, and more--from yo-yos to Avon cosmetics to dynamite to typewriter keyboards. The great full-color illustrations in the earlier book have been replaced by black-and-white sketches, but the pictures still exude a humor that aptly captures the totally oddball beginnings of some things we take for granted. Popular nursery rhymes seem an odd inclusion, though the information is interesting all the same. Kids familiar with the previous volume will enjoy this one; kids who read this first will want Mistakes next. Wonderful for browsers and trivia addicts; a bibliography is included. Stephanie Zvirin

From Kirkus Reviews:

In this entertaining companion volume to Mistakes that Worked (1994), Jones describes more of the often humorous incidents that resulted in inventions, products, and fashions. The telephone and photography are discussed as well as cellophane, Bakelite, Masonite, and dynamite. Another chapter offers speculation as to the origins of yeast, raisins, coffee, and vinegar, without much in the way of documentation, and a part of a chapter is devoted to the meanings of some nursery rhymes (it's never clear what they have to do with inventions). Nevertheless, this is entertaining reading, with whimsical black-and-white drawings, places to write for more information, a brief bibliography, and an index. (Nonfiction. 10-12) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0385322402
• ISBN 13: 9780385322409
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96
• Illustrator: John O'Brien