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The books listed relate to the ideas of controlling variables,
definition of terms, advertising, and issues of the “best
buy” all in the context of fun and imaginative stories. We
found more books than we initially expected, which is probably
an indication that there are many more strong connections out
there. Let us hear from you!
Better Mousetraps: Product Improvements
That Led to Success
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Einstein Anderson Sees Through the Invisible
Man
Einstein Anderson Tells a Comet’s Tale
June 29, 2020
The Search for Delicious
The Toothpaste Millionaire
Better Mousetraps:
Product Improvements That Led to Success
by Nathan Aaseng
Lerner Publications, Minneapolis. 1990
Grades: 5–10
The book’s focus is on “improvers, refiners, and
polishers” and not on pioneers or trailblazers. To dramatize
the results of safety testing, Elisha Otis set up an elevator
at a big exposition in New York and had an assistant intentionally
cut the cable with Otis aboard! The safety device brought the
elevator to a halt in midfall. Getting heavy machinery to travel
over muddy ground was the challenge faced by Caterpillar Tractor
Company—what was learned in product development was applied
to tank technology in World War I. The chapter on Eastman Kodak
introduces the concept of a brand name, showing how Eastman promoted
the names “Kodak” and “Brownie.”
Return to title list.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
by Roald Dahl; illustrated by Joseph Schindelman
Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1964
Penguin Books, New York. 1988
Grades: 4–8
Five lucky children find golden tickets wrapped in their candy
bars that allows them into the chocolate factory where the candy
made is the “best in the world.” Television commercials
could be discussed as part of the hypnotizing potential of TV
described in the song of the Oompa-Loompas. Advertising, consumer
appeal, and technology are merged in wonky ideas such as lickable
wallpaper for nurseries, cows that give chocolate milk, and stickjaw
candy for talkative parents. Mention is also made of Vitamin C
(Supervitamin Candy) and color (rainbow drop candies that allow
you to spit in six different colors).
Return to title list.
Einstein Anderson Sees Through the
Invisible Man
by Seymour Simon; illustrated by Fred Winkowski
Viking Press, New York. 1983
Grades: 4–7
In “The Huck Finn Raft Race” a class competition
to build a raft involves taking into account controlling variables
such as the weight of the passengers. This book also contains
strong connections to other subjects, such as “The Allergic
Monster” (GEMS guide: Convection: A Current Event), “Thinking
Power” (Science Themes: Matter and Energy), and “A Cold
Night” about fireflies and luminescence (Science Theme: Energy).
Return to title list.
Einstein Anderson Tells a Comet’s
Tale
by Seymour Simon; illustrated by Fred Winkowski
Viking Press, New York. 1981
Grades: 4–7
Chapter 10 describes a soapbox derby race in which both teams
have to build soapbox racing cars that weigh the same amount and
are started in the same way. Our hero identifies the one test
variable that allows his team to win the race. Just as students
create a ”fair test” of the paper towel brands, Einstein
Anderson explains how the rules of the soapbox derby create a
fair test of the student racers. They must be the same weight
and have the same push. You could discuss with your students questions
like: “How could you change the rules to be an even fairer
test of the wheel size—of the streamlined shape—of the
kids’ driving abilities?”
Return to title list.
June 29, 2020
by David Wiesner
Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin, New York. 1992
Grades: 3–6
The science project of Holly Evans takes an extraordinary
turn—or does it? This highly imaginative and humorous book
has a central experimental component, and conveys the sense of
unexpected results.
Return to title list.
The Search for Delicious
by Natalie Babbitt
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York. 1969
Grades: 3–7
After an argument between the king and queen over the meaning
of the word “delicious,” the quest for its meaning begins.
Everyone has a different personal definition of delicious and
war looms. In the paper towel tests, students grapple with the
meaning of such words as “absorbency” and “wet
strength.”
Return to title list.
The Toothpaste Millionaire
by Jean Merrill; illustrated by Jan Palmer
Houghton Mifflin, Boston. 1972
Grades: 5–8
Incensed by the price of a tube of toothpaste, twelve-year-old
Rufus tries making his own from bicarbonate of soda with peppermint
or vanilla flavoring. Assisted by his friend Kate and his math
class (which becomes known as Toothpaste 1), his company grows
from a laundry room operation to a corporation with stocks and
bank loans. Many opportunities for estimations and calculations
are presented including cubic inches, a gross of toothpaste tubes
bought at auction, manufacturing expenses, and profits. Your students
may have trouble believing that 79 cents could be considered an
outrageous price for toothpaste, and maybe that could lead to
a discussion of inflation. A price war erupts between “Sparkle,”
“Dazzle,” “Brite,” and Rufus’s noncommercial
“Toothpaste.” This ties in nicely with Session 4 of
the GEMS guide in which students calculate which brand of paper
towel is the best buy.
Return to title list.
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