Always Inventing: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell. Tom L. Matthews. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society (Distributed in Canada by Random House Canada), 1999/2015. 64 pp., trade pbk., $8.99. ISBN 978-1-4263-2217-4. Subject Headings: Bell, Alexander Graham, 1847-1922-Juvenile literature. Bell, Alexander Graham, 1847-1922-Portraits-Juvenile literature. Grades 4-6 / Ages 9-12. Review by Suzanne Pierson. **** /4

excerpt:

Financially, the telephone made Alec and Mabel wealthy enough never to need to work again. But Alec was driven to invent, to work, to prove himself. He wrote, “I can’t bear to hear that even my friends should think that I stumbled upon an invention and that there is no more good in me.

Originally published in 1999, this award-winning book has been reprinted and issued in reinforced library binding and paperback. The original publication won School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People and was included in the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing. Author Tom Matthews has created a beautiful and informative record of the creative genius of Alexander Graham Bell using many of his own words and photos and illustrations from the time. A very readable text tells the story of AGB from his birth in Edinburgh in 1847, his emigration to Canada in 1870, his career in teaching and inventing in the United States, to his death at Beinn Bhreagh, NS, in 1922. The scope of Bell’s interests is well-represented in photos of Bell at work and at home, and notes from Bell’s detailed journals. Having examples of primary source material for students to study and learn from makes this book well worth purchasing. The added value, though, is the inspirational attitude that Bell modelled throughout his life.

Alexander Graham Bell was never content with the world the way it was. He never complained about it, he did something about it.

     Always Inventing: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell includes a Foreword by Bell’s great-grandson, an Afterword, a Chronology, a Bibliography, Index, and Educational Extensions.

      If you don’t already have a copy of the 1999 edition of this book, buy the reprint now. It is a wonderful example of primary source material for younger students.

Highly Recommended.

Dr. Suzanne Pierson is a retired teacher-librarian, currently instructing Librarianship courses at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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