A cool idea with a big splash!
Chris Barton is the award-winning, best-selling author of several
books for children, including Shark vs. Train (Little, Brown) and
The Day-Glo Brothers- The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's
Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Don Tate is an award-winning author and illustrator of many books
for children. His illustrated books include The Cart That Carried
Martin and Hope's Gift (Putnam). He is also both author and
illustrator of It Jes' Happened- When Bill Traylor Started to Draw
(Lee & Low) as well as Poet- The Remarkable Story of George Moses
Horton (Peach Tree). He lives in Austin, Texas.
♦ A tinkering African-American boy grows up to become the inventor
of a very popular toy.
Lonnie Johnson always tinkered with something. As a kid, he built
rockets and launched them in the park amid a crowd of friends. (He
even made the rocket’s fuel, which once caught fire in the kitchen.
Oops.) As an adult he worked for NASA and helped to power the
spacecraft Galileo as it explored Jupiter. But nothing is as
memorable in the minds of kids as his most famous invention (to
date): the Super-Soaker. While testing out a new cooling method for
refrigerators, Johnson accidentally sprayed his entire bathroom,
and the idea was born. However, the high-powered water gun was not
an instant success. Barton shows the tenacity and dedication (and,
sometimes, plain good timing) needed to prove ideas. From the
initial blast of water that splashes the word “WHOOSH” across the
page (and many pages after) to the gatefold that transforms into
the Larami toy executives’ (tellingly, mostly white)
reactions—“WOW!”—Tate plays up the pressurized-water imagery to the
hilt. In a thoughtful author’s note, Barton explains how Johnson
challenges the stereotypical white, Einstein-like vision of a
scientist.
A delightfully child-friendly and painfully necessary
diversification of the science field.
- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
♦ Homemade robots, space probes, pressurized water rifles—the story
of African-American inventor Lonnie Johnson is tailor-made for a
young audience, and Barton and Tate do it justice in this inspiring
account of a man driven toward innovation against the odds.
Johnson's interest in engineering blossomed at an early age, and he
went on to work on NASA's Galileo project and design what would
become the popular Super Soaker water gun. Barton makes clear how
Johnson struggled in his unconventional line of work, and also
shows the rewards of his persistence. Tate's inviting digital
illustrations bring an appropriately playful air to the pages,
especially in a foldout spread showing the Super Soaker's blast in
all of its glory.
- Publishers Weekly, starred review
This picture book biography tells the story of Lonnie Johnson, kid
rocket launcher, teen robot builder, adult NASA engineer, and
inventor of the Super Soaker water toy. The story documents his
perseverance in overcoming obstacles, some stemming from being
African American--a school aptitude test that indicated he was not
cut out to be an engineer, the prejudice he and his high-school
team experienced while winning the 1968 University of Alabama
science fair, and professional doubts concerning his abilities. The
narrative also covers his initial failure at becoming a
self-employed entrepreneur, remedied only by the hard-won success
of the Super Soaker. The text emphasizes the continuing support he
received from his family, and the vibrant illustrations are
especially effective at capturing expressions and mannerisms that
bring Johnson to life (as when Johnson and his fellow Tuskegee
Institute students party to a sound and light system constructed
from leftover electronics). This upbeat tribute makes an engaging
and inspiring addition to STEM collections.
- Booklist
As a child, Lonnie Johnson was a "tinkerer," or an avid collector
of pieces and parts--all things that were considered scrap but that
to Johnson were perfectly ripe for new applications. Early projects
included rockets, a robot, and a powerful sound system for parties.
Johnson's engineering degree took him to NASA, where he worked on
the Galileo orbiter and probe. What Johnson really wanted to do,
however, was build his own inventions. When trying to find an
environmentally friendly solution to refrigerator and
air-conditioning cooling systems, he stumbled upon what would
eventually become his opus, the Super Soaker. Readers follow the
many obstacles and setbacks Johnson experienced as he tirelessly
worked to launch his invention. The narrative--based primarily on
personal interviews the author had with Johnson--adeptly captures
the passion and dedication necessary to be an engineer. The
cartoonlike illustrations, rendered digitally with Manga Studio,
combine child appeal with enough realism to accurately convey
various scientific elements. Great care is taken to portray the
institutional racism Johnson experienced, such as school tests that
tried to dissuade his interest in engineering and his competing in
a 1968 science fair in the newly desegregated but unwelcoming
University of Alabama. The author's note explains Barton's mission
to diversify common perceptions of what scientists and engineers
look like and who they can be. This engaging and informative
picture book exploration of Johnson's life succeeds in that right.
VERDICT Highly recommended for STEM and maker collections.
- School Library Journal
What do a computer memory power backup system and a squirt gun on
steroids have in common? Inventor Lonnie Johnson. An avid tinkerer
since childhood, Johnson had become the only black high school
student by 1968 to advance to the science-fair competition held at
the University of Alabama, where his robot Linex took first place.
After graduating from Tuskegee, he worked for NASA on the backup
power system for the Galileo mission to Jupiter, and then went solo
as an inventor. While working on a component for a refrigeration
system, he serendipitously fashioned the power blaster that would,
years later, become the Super Soaker. While that popular toy has
become the public pinnacle of his career, Johnson is still very
much in the invention game, currently developing an advanced
solar-energy system. Johnson’s story is both delightful and
inspiring, featuring a long-suffering family that tolerated his
destructive, even explosive, experiments; the financial ups and
downs of an entrepreneur; and his solo work and team work.
Endpapers point toward a portfolio of inventions that range from
“Seriously?” (a musical diaper) to “Wow!” (Johnson Thermoelectric
Energy Converter). The text and author’s note, however, offer
little more than an enthusiastic outline of a long career, with
plenty of research holes left to fill. Why he left NASA to be
self-employed, how he survived the financially rough years, and how
his green technology work is coming along are all issues about
which kids may reasonably ask. Digital artwork is serviceable and
should stand up well for a group read aloud. Barton refers to a
personal interview with Johnson, but no further source notes are
included.
- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
From childhood, African American inventor Johnson was a tinkerer:
"Lonnie loved building and creating. Ideas for inventions just kept
on flowing." We learn about how young Lonnie made model
rockets--and rocket fuel ("When it caught fire in the kitchen,
Lonnie's mom didn't make him stop. She just sent him to work
outside")--and how in 1968 the robot he built won first place at a
science fair held at the University of Alabama, "where only five
years earlier, African American students hadn't even been allowed."
We learn of his college life at Tuskegee Institute (he was known to
study even during his own parties, complete with a light-and-sound
system he created); his breakthrough engineering work for NASA; and
his development of a super-blast water gun. Barton describes
Johnson's ups and downs before he finally sold his Super Soaker to
a toy company, but the straightforward text has a generally upbeat,
you-can-do-it attitude. Tate's clear digital illustrations, with
their time-period-appropriate details in decor and clothing (from
pegged jeans to bell-bottoms to cut-off shorts with knee socks)
help situate readers; there's no timeline provided (or even a birth
year for Johnson). An appended note discusses Barton's
inspiration--to draw attention to diversity within the scientific
community--and encourages readers to "put this book down, step away
from the computer screen, and get permission to take something
apart." Terrific front and back endpapers provide simple schematics
of some of Lonnie Johnson's inventions.
- The Horn Book Magazine
This appealing, inspiring picture-book biography by Chris Barton
(Shark vs. Train; The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch),
illustrated by Don Tate (Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses
Horton), explores the life of Lonnie Johnson, the African American
rocket scientist who invented the Super Soaker water gun... by
accident.
Lonnie grew up in the 1950s with five siblings "squeezed into their
parents' small house in Mobile, Alabama." Forever tinkering with
spare parts and junkyard scraps, he made rockets from scratch, and
even built his own robot named Linex with jukebox switches and his
little sister's walkie-talkie: "Lonnie used a tape recorder to
program Linex, and as a bonus the reels looked like eyes." (Linex
won first place for Lonnie's team at a 1968 University of Alabama
science fair.) Lonnie, "a self-confident, insightful, creative
thinker," went to college at Tuskegee Institute, then, as an
engineer, worked for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. At NASA, he
created a lightweight backup system for the Galileo space
probe that photographed Jupiter and its moons.
At home one day, Lonnie was working on a new refrigerator and
air-conditioning cooling system, using the faucet in his bathroom
sink with a hose, pump and nozzle, when "WHOOSH!"--water sprayed
out with such force he decided his contraption "would make a great
water gun." He approached toy company after toy company with his
invention until finally, he struck gold. Barton's clean, lively
prose and Tate's boldly composed, often comical
illustrations--including a dramatic gatefold capturing the Super
Soaker's mighty trajectory--make Lonnie Johnson's story of passion
and persistence whoosh to life.
- Shelf Awareness
". . .exuberant. . . " -World Magazine
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