Posts Tagged book clubs

STEM Tuesday — Inventions that Changed the World — Author Interview with Sarah Aronson

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Sarah Aronson, author of the award winning book: Just Like Rube Goldberg The book is a fascinating look at the journey of a trained engineer who decides to take a job at a newspaper instead. His drawings of ridiculous inventions doing simple tasks became so popular, people use them as a starting point for creating their own “Goldberg” inventions.

Rube Goldberg Cover

Aronson notes that Goldberg ‘drew comics to make us look closer’; fittingly, this thoughtful, playful picture-book biography does just that, with whimsical pencil, ink, and digital illustrations capturing the machines’ intricacies.” – The Horn Book

 

Christine Taylor-Butler: Sarah, you are a prolific writer for both children’s fiction and nonfiction. But you didn’t start out as a writer?

Sarah Aronson: I didn’t. I taught fitness then trained to become a physical therapist.  When you are working with someone that has had a traumatic brain injury there is no book that explains how that individual person moves. You have to figure out the solution to helping that specific person being more functional. Now I think of writing and revision as rehab. When you take that sense of imagination and foresight and put it into whatever you are doing, you are doing STEM.

CTB: How did you get the idea for this book?

Sarah: When I was 7 years old, I was watching the movie, Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang. The breakfast machine is a Rube Goldberg contraption. I couldn’t believe how cool that was. I was a child with a lot of energy so I tried to make a breakfast machine with my mom’s best dishes. Here’s a tip – use plastic.

CTB: What happened to the dishes?

Sarah: I broke them all. Luckily mom wasn’t so found of that pattern. After seeing that, my dad began sharing Rube Goldberg cartoons with me. Later, while working for Jack La Lanne Health Clubs, I thought about those chain reactions when I was making my aerobics routines. How do we make a chain reaction with our bodies? How do we make ourselves stronger? I went back to college and got my Masters in Physical Therapy. I became a therapist and thought about physics while working. Once I became a writer I thought, who would I write about if I were going to write a biography? Ding! Why not Rube Goldberg?

CTB: He didn’t want to do an ordinary job.

Rube GoldbergSarah: He loved drawing. But is father didn’t want him to be a starving artist. And I remembered thinking, I’m a lot like Rube. My Dad is an economist and when I switched to writing he said, “you’re supposed to take a job that makes more money.” He was speaking out of fear. But he ultimately understood what I was trying to do and that I had something to say. I didn’t study engineering but Rube did. When he looked around he was latching on to creativity. He was worried that giving people all these machines was going to give people less opportunities for ingenuity. For thinking out of the box. He lived in the industrial age and he worried what was happening to curiosity.

We see this with our laptops and AI. Rube would go bananas. He would say “why are you giving away your brain to a machine that will never be as creative as you are.

Rube errand boy

 

CTB: I once read that DaVinci suggested that everyone should create art because it was a way of developing the manual dexterity needed to do their jobs. We don’t get that when we allow machines to do it for us.

Sarah: Yes – when you look at Rube Goldberg’s cartoons, you see humor. You see his desire to have fun with this idea of making machines that make simple things complicated. He’s trying to say “Use your brain!”

He wanted to be an artist. But like many parents his father wanted him to have a steady job. So he went to college and studied engineering. But he didn’t want to do that kind of job. So he took a job at a newspaper and worked his way up creating cartoons of complicated machines.

rube newsroom

 

CTB: So that’s his superpower and his appeal. These unusual drawings of inventions that do more than needed to do a simple job.

Sarah: The power of Rube Goldberg inventions is that it’s not like the machines in engineering school. These complicated contraptions weren’t practical in the real world. They weren’t there to solve real world problems. They were to tickle the imagination. Rube drew comics to make us look closer. More important than any pile of nuts and bolts, it challenged people to use their brains. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and he’s included in the dictionary.

Rube_32-33SS

CTB: So his goal is to give people more freedom.

Sarah: Yes. This is what we need in education – a freedom to explore, discover, be curious and creative. And to try things where we don’t know what is going to happen in the end.

When we let go of the product and engage truly in the process, that’s why Rube’s concept of making something silly endures. It taps into what we are missing in education – to give kids a voice.

CTB: We want people to see, “Look at the joy, this person got from this process!” And also the author’s joy in writing this.

Sarah: I talk about that a lot. When we address writing with joy and openness and not being wedded to the ending. We then discover something. And we can apply it. All of the scientific models apply to everything in life. You’re thinking and connecting dots. That’s STEM. You’re dreaming about something that doesn’t feel obtainable. That’s STEM. I ask teachers to give their students 5 minutes a day to write in a curiosity journal. And I ask teachers not to look at it. To let students explore on their own. For example, if they are studying Abe Lincoln, they can ask questions, or just wonder what is inside that big hat.

Sarah at school session

CTB: That’s it. Just 5 minutes each day without rules.

Sarah: Yes. Give students a way to find their path to learning. That’s something 5 minutes a day can do. That’s how I start my own day. Writing in my curiosity journal. Lately, I’ve been drawing the view from my window. They’re not good. But they’re not for anyone but me and it gets my brain swirling. That sets me up for the day. That’s STEM. So that is what I try to help my writers get to. Don’t be so serious. Enjoy every step.

Celebrate when something works.

Celebrate when it doesn’t work.

CTB: One quick shout-out to your award winning illustrator, Robert Neubecker.

Sarah: Yes. His artwork is amazing. I tell authors not to get involved in the illustrations. You often get things back you can’t have imagined. Robert’s work is beautiful.

Rube_12-13SS

CTB: So what are you working on now? Anything we should be looking forward to?

Sarah: Right now I’m working on a picture book about Christopher Reeves. He was a superhero so I’m writing it about his super powers. But in the middle I am talking about spine injury and why he couldn’t recover and walk again. Thinking about the body I’m wearing my old physical therapy hat again.

There’s a movie coming out. It’s been 20 years since he died. He died young so he’s frozen in time. He would be in his 70’s now.

CTB: Christopher Reeve’s public outlook was so positive.

Sarah: I think how I go about writing a biography . It is because I loved how a person is. Reeves is so embedded in the miraculous. He’s almost unreal. When I wrote the book Head Case it was because my patients who had head injuries couldn’t get complete coverage. Christopher Reeves was able to get everything he needed. He was inspiring.

CTB: And you have a finished picture book coming out.

AbzugSarah: I also have a book about Bella Abzug. It is gorgeous. It will be out in a few weeks. She was one of my childhood heroes. I was fascinated by this woman who was loud, and Jewish, and said what she wanted. That just blew my heart open. My first title was originally, “Bela knows everything.” She was an activist and lawyer before she ran for Congress at the age of 50. She was the first to run on a woman’s platform and she was a co-conspirator with Shirley Chisholm. They didn’t agree on everything but they worked together and that really inspired me. She was raised by parents who thought charity was good, but teaching people to help themselves is better.

A woman’s place is in the house – the House of Representatives.” – Bela Abzug

Advice from Sarah:

The most important thing I want people to get is that STEM is learning, STEM is fun, STEM is discovery and it’s integral to everything we do. I was a kid who didn’t think I could ever do STEM. I thought it was about being a doctor, or being really smart. Even when I took physics for Physical Therapy. I didn’t get it until I dissected a human. Messing up with your hands is how we learn. Crumbling a piece of paper and throwing it in the garbage is how I grow. It means I had and idea, but now I have a better one.

“Strive for something that seems impossible. Like a yoga pose. When you are striving and reaching and losing your balance, you’re gaining strength.”

 

Aronson

Sarah Aronson is the award-winning author of books for young people. She has earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work includes novels and picture books, fiction and nonfiction. She also teaches writing for Highlights Foundation.

She loves working with young writers in schools, and grown-up writers at the Highlights Foundation, and Writers on the Net (www.writers.com). Sarah has served as an SCBWI mentor in both Illinois and Michigan, and is now the PAL coordinator for Illinois. She loves sports, overuses exclamation points and when she’s excited, she talks with her hands.

author christine Taylor-butler

Photo by Kecia Stovall

Your host is Christine Taylor-Butler, a graduate of MIT and author of The Oasis, Save the… Tigers, Save the . . . Blue Whales, and many other nonfiction books for kids. She is also the author of the STEM based middle grade sci-fi series The Lost Tribes. Follow @ChristineTB on Twitter/X and or @ChristineTaylorButler on Instagram. She lives in Missouri with a tank of fish and cats that think they are dogs.

 

 

STEM Tuesday — Inventions that Changed the World — In the Classroom

 

Inventions are new ideas or things that people create to make life easier or more fun. They help solve problems and improve how we live, like how light bulbs give us light or airplanes help us fly. Inventions make the world a better and exciting place! How have inventions changed your life? These books explore inventors and their inventions. They make a great starting point for invention classroom discussions and activities!

Invent It!
Written by Rob Beattie

This fun and informative guide walks readers through the entire invention process, from brainstorming and prototyping all the way through production and marketing. Kids can follow along with their own ideas, learning practical tips along the way while being inspired by some of history’s best breakthroughs…and biggest flops!

 

Classroom Activity

We use inventions every day, at home, work, and school. Ask students walk about the classroom and write down the inventions they find. Have each student pick one invention and answer the following questions:

  • What is the invention?
  • What problem does it solve?
  • How was this problem addressed before this invention existed?
  • What else solves this problem?
  • How does this invention make life easier?

Tell students to imagine the invention does not exist. Have them brainstorm an alternate way or new invention to solve the problem.

 

Engineered!: Engineering Design at Work
Written by Shannon Hunt & illustrated by James Gulliver Hancock

This book is eye-opening because it shows young readers that engineering can solve many problems, from how to land a rover on Mars to saving a herd of caribou from potential extinction. A helpful seven-step flowchart of the engineering design process is also featured, encouraging future engineers.

Classroom Activity

Everyone can be an inventor! Most inventions are created to solve a problem. Have students identify a problem and brainstorm possible solutions. Students can design an invention to solve the problem. Students should follow the step-by-step engineering design process. Next, students can build a prototype of their invention using common classroom or home materials. When the prototypes are built, students can demonstrate them for the class. In their classroom demonstration, students should answer the following questions: How does their invention work? What problem does it solve? How will their invention make life easier?

 

Black Inventors: 15 Inventions that Changed the World
by Kathy Trusty

This biography compilation chronicles the journeys of 15 incredible inventors who changed the world with products like hair brushes, traffic lights, and home security systems. Each chapter includes a short biography of an inventor, information about the significance of their invention, and follow-up questions for reflection and further investigation.

 

How to Become an Accidental Genius
Written by Elizabeth MacLeod and Frieda Wishinsky, & illustrated by Jenn Playford

Structured as a how-to guide for would-be inventors, this fun book cultivates the mindsets needed for innovation. The chapters are organized to highlight the role that experimentation, failure, and coincidences can play in the engineering process and the importance of being open to new possibilities. The inventor profiles feature a mix of well-known pioneers, like George Washington Carver; lesser-known historical figures, like Hedy Lamarr; and contemporary young people, like Hayley Todesco.

Classroom Activity

Inventors have changed the world with their inventions. Students can select a famous or lesser-known inventor to research. Ask them to investigate their inventor’s personal history, challenges, and contributions to the world. Using the information they have learned; students can create a homemade replica of one of the inventor’s inventions. Students can create a presentation about their inventor and his/her inventions for the class.

 

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Carla Mooney loves to explore the world around us and discover the details about how it works. An award-winning author of numerous nonfiction science books for kids and teens, she hopes to spark a healthy curiosity and love of science in today’s young people. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, three kids, and dog. Find her at http://www.carlamooney.com, on Facebook @carlamooneyauthor, or on X @carlawrites.

STEM Tuesday — Inventions that Changed the World — Book List

Inventions make the world go round and allow technology to evolve. This book list not only highlights such remarkable inventions (including those made by children), but also encourages critical thought. By fostering an analytic mind that enables one to understand how things work and how problems can be solved, readers can inspire to make their own inventions.

Kid-ventors: 35 Real Kids and their Amazing Inventions

Written by Kailei Pew & illustrated by Shannon Wright

This is an especially inspiring book because it chronicles a slew of inventors who are children, proving that even the youngest people can change the world. From Popsicles® to swim fins to robots and glitter shooting prosthetics, sometimes, it takes the imagination of a child to create something new.

 

 

Invent It!

Written by Rob Beattie

This fun and informative guide walks readers through the entire invention process, from brainstorming and prototyping all the way through production and marketing. Kids can follow along with their own ideas, learning practical tips along the way while being inspired by some of history’s best breakthroughs…and biggest flops!

 

 

Engineered!: Engineering Design at Work

Written by Shannon Hunt & illustrated by James Gulliver Hancock

This book is eye-opening because it shows young readers that engineering can solve many problems, from how to land a rover on Mars to saving a herd of caribou from potential extinction. A helpful seven-step flowchart of the engineering design process is also featured, encouraging future engineers.

 

 

How to Become an Accidental Genius

Written by Elizabeth MacLeod and Frieda Wishinsky, & illustrated by Jenn Playford

Structured as a how-to guide for would-be inventors, this fun book cultivates the mindsets needed for innovation. The chapters are organized to highlight the role that experimentation, failure, and coincidences can play in the engineering process and the importance of being open to new possibilities. The inventor profiles feature a mix of well-known pioneers, like George Washington Carver; lesser-known historical figures, like Hedy Lamarr; and contemporary young people, like Hayley Todesco.

 

Calling All Minds: How to Think and Create Like an Inventor

Written by Temple Grandin

This book was voted as a Teacher’s Pick on Amazon. Not surprising, as it’s written by world-renowned autism spokesperson, scientist, and inventor Temple Grandin. She successfully chronicles personal stories, inventions, and facts in a way that both educates and inspires. She encourages young readers to ask questions and follow up by researching the answers.

 

 

How Things Work: Discover Secrets and Science Behind Bounce Houses, Hovercraft, Robotics, and Everything in Between

Written by T. J. Resler

This book encourages critical thought, with the simple question of “how does it work” as the perfect springboard. The book includes true stories, biographies of real scientists and engineers, diagrams and illustrations, accessible explanations, trivia, and fun features. Sometimes, you just need to take something apart to figure out how it works!

 

 

The Science and Technology of Leonardo da Vinci

Written by Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan & illustrated by Micah Rauch

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the world’s most captivating and enduring inventors. This book chronicles his achievements in art, engineering, anatomy, mathematics, astronomy, and aeronautics, while weaving in important scientific and historical context. Each chapter includes hands-on activities, which allow readers to follow in da Vinci’s footsteps using a homemade “inventor kit.”

 

 

Inventions and Discoveries series by Capstone Press

Various authors and illustrators

Eye-popping images and engaging, short, snappy text allow these inventions to come to life in this graphic novel series. Some books focus on classic moments in history, like how the Wright Brothers invented the airplane, while others focus on lesser known figures, like how the Z-Boys skateboarding team influenced modern skateboarding.

 

Black Inventors: 15 Inventions that Changed the World

by Kathy Trusty

This biography compilation chronicles the journeys of 15 incredible inventors who changed the world with products like hair brushes, traffic lights, and home security systems. Each chapter includes a short biography of an inventor, information about the significance of their invention, and follow-up questions for reflection and further investigation.

 

 

1001 Inventions and Awesome Facts from Muslim Civilization

by NatGeo Kids

This book was created as a companion to the award-winning “1001 Inventions” exhibit, which has traveled the globe to raise awareness about the golden age of Arabic science. Each spread is packed full of eye-catching photographs and fascinating facts about everything from pottery to architecture to the elephant water clock. It features female innovators prominently, who contributed to the development of mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and the arts, among others. Find the teacher guide at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pdf/1001-muslim-inventions-ed-guide.pdf.

 

This month’s STEM Tuesday book list was prepared by:

Author Lydia Lukidis

Lydia Lukidis is an award-winning author of 50+ trade and educational books for children. Her titles include DANCING THROUGH SPACE: Dr. Mae Jemison Soars to New Heights (Albert Whitman, 2024), DEEP, DEEP, DOWN: The Secret Underwater Poetry of the Mariana Trench (Capstone, 2023), which is a Crystal Kite winner, Forest of Reading Silver Birch Express Honor, and Cybils Award nominee. A science enthusiast from a young age, she now incorporates her studies in science and her everlasting curiosity into her books. Another passion of hers is fostering a love for children’s literacy through the writing workshops she regularly offers in elementary schools across Quebec with the Culture in the Schools program. For more information, please visit www.lydialukidis.com.

 

 

author Callie Dean

 

Callie Dean is a researcher, writer, and musician living in Shreveport, LA. She writes stories that spark curiosity and encourage kids to explore their world. Her first picture book will be published in 2026. For more information, please visit https://calliebdean.com.