Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone
Illustrator: Keith Tucker
Nonfiction Graphic Novel Series
For ages 7 to 10
Capstone Press, 1996 ISBN: 978-0736864787
The nature of sound fascinated Alexander Graham Bell. He worked with deaf people and he was convinced that they could learn to talk even if they could not hear. Because of his interests in sound and the human ear, Bell began to wonder if there was a way to transmit sound over telegraph lines. At that time, messages could only travel along the lines in the form of dots and dashes. Bell wanted to get human voices to travel along the lines so that people could actually talk to one another.
And so he began to experiment with a series of contraptions and machines. After years of work, Bell found a way to make sounds travel for short distances along telegraph lines, though people could not talk back. He took out a patent for his invention and he kept on working until he had a machine that people could really use in their homes and businesses.
In this excellent non-fiction graphic novel the author tells her readers about the life and work of one of the world's most famous inventors. Readers will see how Alexander Graham Bell made a series of discoveries that allowed him to invent a machine that changed the world. With comic book style illustrations on every page, this title will suit readers of all kinds, even those who do not usually like non-fiction titles.
