Iqbal and his Ingenious Idea: How a Science Project Helps One Family and the Planet, by Elizabeth Suneby

 

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library)

Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas, by Gwendolyn Hooks

 

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library)

WHOOSH! Lonnie Johnson's SUPER-SOAKING Stream of Inventions, by Chris Barton

We discovered this book when I was researching Black inventors to study that would catch my son's interest. Like most kids, he's obsessed with water guns and so a book about the inventor of the super soaker seemed perfect.

This book more than delivered! It manages to go through Lonnie Johnson's whole life -- from his childhood inventing rockets to his time at NASA, and finally to his invention of the super soaker and his struggles to find a toy company interested in his product -- with enough fun details to keep kids interested.  My son's favorite detail was that he "borrowed" his sister's walkie-talkie to finish up a robot he was building. 

The illustrations by Don Tate, a wonderful Black illustrator, which include a fold out page with water spraying all over toy company executives, were the icing on the cake.

            BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library)