THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION - Carla Mooney

Imagine a world without brand-name products! Before the Industrial Revolution it was not possible to produce enough of the same item to have a brand, but in 100 years the world changed from make-your-own everything to a society of manufactured goods. The Industrial Revolution: Investigate How Science and Technology Changed the World introduces the dynamic individuals who led this revolution and how their innovations impacted the lives of everyone, rich and poor, city-dwellers and farmers alike. Elements of history, biography, civics, science, and technology combine with activity-driven enrichment projects that kids can do with minimal supervision. Activities include creating a water-powered wheel, designing a steam ship, building a telegraph machine, and making a pinhole camera.

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Carla Mooney is the author of several books for young readers including Forensics: Uncover the Science and Technology of Crime Scene Investigation, The Industrial Revolution: Investigate How Science and Technology Changed the World, and Explore Rivers and Ponds! With 25 Projects. Her work has appeared in many magazines including Highlights, Faces, and Learning Through History. Carla lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

Jen Vaughn received her MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies. Jen currently lives in Seattle WA.

School Library Journal
"This title covers 200 years of discovery and innovation with projects to extend learning and generate further interest. Each well-written chapter covers a different aspect of the time period in clear, lively text; small line drawings; intriguing sidebars; and ?words to know" defined on the page. Topics include textiles, labor unions, transportation, communication, electricity, and big business. The information is presented in digestible chunks with just enough background to keep readers moving forward. Mooney offers a well-rounded look at the era by presenting the costs (social, economic, personal, environmental) of progress. The 25 projects will indeed bring history alive and provide hands-on opportunities to explore the subjects. The activities range from super simple to fairly involved, from no cost to the acquisition of a few specialized supplies. Kids can make an origami steamboat, light a light bulb with the static electricity from their hair, or build an electronic telegraph. Students interested in science or technology might accidentally learn to like history after reading this book."

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
". . .a wonderful book to use as a jumping off point for this time period in history. The information is interesting and the projects add a bit of hands on learning without being overwhelming. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the Industrial Revolution."

Calliope Magazine
"The Industrial Revolution: Investigate How Science and Technology Changed the World by Carla Mooney focuses on an incredibly important era in history, one whose influence continues today. The 25 hands-on projects?accompanied by informative sidebars, illustrations, and wordhelps, are easy to do and include designing a steam ship, making a knitting spool and an electronic telegraph, and weaving on a hand look. You'll enjoy! "

Children's Literature Review
"This volume from Nomad's Build It Yourself series begins with a timeline covering the period from the first steam engine in 1712 to 200 years later when Henry Ford began using a moving assembly line in 1913. After a brief introduction to the concept of ideas, inventions and innovations, Mooney presents a lively and mostly chronological view of the events and inventions that made up the Industrial Revolution. Readers will learn about revolutionary developments in the textile industry, transportation, communication, and electricity. But they will learn even more about the people and the social forces that shaped this era. . . There is such diversity here that most tweens will find something of interest -- including hand looms and oatmeal-honey soap from the early 18th century to recording a radio program or making a pinhole camera from the early 20th century. "

Booklist
"This new entry into the extensive Build It Yourself series gives an overview of the era known as the Industrial Revolution as well as the consequences, good and bad, of each new development upon the average citizen. . . crisp, clear format featuring ample black-and-white sketches and diagrams and a pleasingly arranged text in a large font are in sync with the straightforward text. A helpful timeline is placed front and center while the back matter consists of an extensive glossary (words are also defined unobtrusively throughout the body), an index, and a short list of websites."

BookLoons
"Youngsters nine years of age and older can investigate how science and technology changed the world as they read this book and try the 25 projects provided by the author. . .Teachers who wish to supplement their history curriculum and parents home schooling their children will find this a very useful book. Well illustrated with drawings and maps plus simple, understandable instructions for each of the projects, this is a resource book that will pay double dividends down the road. Any way you can engage a child in the study of history and make the subject come alive has to be a major plus. This book shows some of the ways this can be done."

Steve Zdatny Professor and Chair, History Department, University of Vermont
?As a supplement to the usual (and usually pretty boring) textbooks that schools impose on children, The Industrial Revolution: Investigate How Science and Technology Changed the World is an interesting, imaginative, and even exciting tool for learning history. It should stimulate students' curiosity about the past and help them to understand how their world came to be the way it is."

Peter N. Stearns Provost, George Mason University
"I was pleased and impressed to read Carla Mooney's lively account of American industrial technology and its impact. It is accurate, wide-ranging, and, above all, stimulating in raising key questions about why these changes happened and what some of their downsides were."