Something Everyone Needs by Marilyn Minkoff (1996) celebrates invention. “Nell liked to make new things.” The first page shows Nell sitting at a table with craft supplies. She’s altering a coat hanger, changing it into something else, equally as useful. Nell is always searching to create something people need to make life easier. I love Jane McCreary's look of excitement on Nell's face, also the way she leaps up from a period of pensive sitting when an idea comes to her. The flash of brilliance is visible. This is a “Leveled Readers Stage 5” book, which may explain the tedious feeling of the text. Yet the illustrations and narrative overcome this limitation.
First Grade Festivities has Name That Invention. Mitzy Make It has Summer Themed STEAM Activities - Counting, Shapes, and Inventions. Ms Heather has I Have an Idea Writing Prompt.
