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Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be by [Charlotte Foltz Jones, John O'Brien]

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Charlotte Foltz Jones

Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be Kindle Edition

by Charlotte Foltz Jones (Author), John O'Brien (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition

1,844 ratings

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Popsicles, potato chips, Silly Putty, Velcro, and many other familiar things have fascinating stories behind them. In fact, dozens of products and everyday items had surprisingly haphazard beginnings. Mistakes That Worked offers forty of these unusual tales, along with hilarious cartoons and weird and amazing facts. Readers will be surprised and inspired!

Reading age

8 - 12 years
Print length

87 pages
Language

English
Grade level

3 - 7
Lexile measure

1040
Publisher

Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication date

October 11, 2016
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
ISBN-13

978-0399552021
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A splendid book that is as informative as it is entertaining. Jones has great fun with facts, dredging up plenty in a lively, anecdotal account that recollects the oddball origins of a variety of foods, clothing, toys, and devices....A gem of a book."--Booklist, starred review

From Publishers Weekly

Droll cartoons illustrate the stories behind the invention of such everyday items as Silly Putty, trouser cuffs, popsicles and penicillin. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

"Jones gathers together in a splendid book that is as informative as it is entertaining. Jones has great fun with facts, dredging up plenty in a lively, anecdotal account that recollects the oddball origins of a variety of foods, clothing, toys, and devices....A gem of a book."--Booklist, starred review. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-- For those readers who feel as though they've yet to accomplish anything in life, these discoveries will come as a great relief. None of the inventions described in these pages were planned; in fact, some of the inventors had no idea they'd stumbled on something useful until years later, when their works became popular. Jones covers both patented inventions (Silly Putty, Popsicles, Coca Cola) and generic ones (bricks, donut holes, cheese). She also throws in some place names whose monikers were coined accidentally. The loony watercolor sketches and all the extras here--fun facts, recipes, and anecdotes--are perfect for browsing. This book covers material similar to that in Wulffson's The Invention of Ordinary Things (Lothrop, 1981) and Steven Caney's Invention Book (Workman, 1985), but both are without the specific slant of "mistaken discovery." The only detriment to this otherwise versatile book is the cartoon stereotypes of the Eskimo, Native American, and Chinese man. --Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Inside Flap

Piggy banks, silly putty, potato chips and frisbees are all things that were invented by mistake.

Includes a bibliography. An IRA-CBC Children's Choice. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Piggy banks, silly putty, potato chips and frisbees are all things that were invented by mistake.

Includes a bibliography. An IRA-CBC Children's Choice. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

CHARLOTTE FOLTZ JONES was an author of award-winning nonfiction books for children, as well as numerous magazine articles.

JOHN O'BRIEN is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker magazine and has illustrated many popular children's books. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN : B01AQNZQAO
Publisher : Delacorte Books for Young Readers (October 11, 2016)
Publication date : October 11, 2016
Language : English
File size : 23385 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 87 pages
Page numbers source ISBN : 0788157698
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #383,058 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #72 in Children's Experiments & Projects Books
- #184 in Children's How Things Work Books (Kindle Store)
- #406 in Children's Science Experiment Books

Customer Reviews:
1,844 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		81%
4 star		13%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Kindle Customer

Page one starts with a reference to another book and a disclaimer

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

Why does a book about how great accidents are start with a sentence ending with: "But the numerous cases of food poisoning prove many food accidents don't work." I'm sorry, what was the point of this book? Literally, in the first paragraph, ON PAGE ONE, you are warning people to be worried about something horrible that will come of your mistake. This is then followed up with a "if you want to experiment in the kitchen, buy this other book" and kitchen safety tips. I get that you don't want to encourage kids to do something dangerous, but surely you could have found a less invasive, more engaging way of making your warnings that won't turn off a child? It's this kind of fear-mongering among my parents' generation that prevented me from experimenting more, and I thought the point of a book like this was to help kids recognize that mistakes can be good. There are some interesting facts in this book, but the presentation and tone are not what I hoped for to inspire a child.

73 people found this helpful

Helpful

ElizaSF

American- and Men-centric

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed reading this book with my 5yo, and he loved listening to the stories. I give it only 3 stars because the stories are almost all about white American men. With so many things invented in the world, many of them were certainly invented by non-Americans, women, and people of color. The 2 references to Native Americans especially made me queasy. I often altered the language as I was reading, to be more modern. Some stories are poorly researched. Even my kid thought the layout could have been better by putting the pictures next to the start of each story rather than next to the end, which necessitates much flipping back and forth when starting each story.

25 people found this helpful

Helpful

Thoroughly Entertained

I purchased the book for my 7 yr old and ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

I purchased the book for my 7 yr old and it seemed a little advanced for her, but she is reading it and was enthusiastic enough to take it to her teacher to show. I purchased it to teach her about the natural human (and other) frailty... Sometimes, a young child can be hard on themselves in their perceptions of an error. I felt that my child needed to read re-enforcing examples partially serve to provoke a foundation of lifelong self value along with historical knowledge of the world.

41 people found this helpful

Helpful

Nancy

Great read aloud book for curious early readers

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2019

Verified Purchase

My son is in Kindergarten and he is a factoid enthusiast. His reading abilities aren't up to his curiosity level yet but he's getting there. Like many kids, he gets frustrated and needs help remembering how resilient he is and that challenges, even mistakes, are a good thing. This book has delivered that message with very short chapters (we do 3-4 per bedtime session) and the abstract concepts are pretty well translated into more digestible pieces for even young kids. For example, in the chapter on chocolate chip cookies, the author notes several historical figures my kindergartener already knows who never got to eat them because they lived before they were invented. Plotting out the timeline of history and provided context to young kids is a challenge, and this book helped make it clear so that the inventions could be appreciated and contextualized. Plus, the facts were really interesting! We love that actual recipes are included in the book, which makes it interactive as well.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lindsay Baudoux

Informative and Interesting

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book is really cute and the stories are informative and interesting! My one complaint is that the short stories can require a high level of vocabulary and background knowledge. I work with students that range from 3rd-6th grade and some of them had difficulty understanding the passages. I wish they wrote them to be a little more kid friendly.

20 people found this helpful

Helpful

Never Too Old To LearnTop Contributor: Activewear

great book

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

My grandson is in 4th grade, and he really enjoyed this book. Each chapter is about another invention that happened by mistake. The chapters are organized by topic, such as foods, medical inventions, etc. It really made for interesting reading and fun conversations at dinner. Students are required to read "informational" text these days, and this book is well written, and interesting. You can get it instantly if you have a Kindle.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

4frogs

happy accident

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

ironically i accidentally bought this book. Went to look at the details and hit the buy now button, even though i have 1-click turned off it still purchased it Happy accident though because my son who is super picky loved it!

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

Gloria Gardner

What a great book, have used it twice for the topic ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2017

Verified Purchase

What a great book, have used it twice for the topic in teaching paragraph writing. The stories are great and interesting, it really got the students engaged in their writing.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Dodi

An interesting and fun book - especially good for kids with Asperger's

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2013

Verified Purchase

I have found this book very useful for children with Asperger's syndrome. I don't think that was the intention, but it helps nonetheless! I am an educational psychologist (school psychologist) that works with students with Asperger's, their families and schools staff. I regularly come across students with Asperger's who strive for perfection. Not a bad thing, you might think! However, for the majority it causes a lot of day to day anxiety, can put them off trying new things and can stop them from getting work done (e.g. screwing up school work if they make one tiny mistake and then needing to start again from scratch). This book is one I use, and recommend to staff and parents, to read/work though with the children to help them realise that sometimes making a mistake is ok.

The children love this book. It's witty (in a way children with Asperger's generally understand), the illustrations are funny, and it is interesting. The text is probably too complex for a lot of younger children, and would suit older primary and young secondary children better, although younger children can enjoy it being read to them with explanations where needed.

It's good for non Asperger's kids too and for teachers to use with history or science topic work.

The only down side for me is that for the UK, the language and content is a bit Americanised (e.g. `popsicles' rather than `ice pops', `potato chips' rather than 'crisps', and lots of Zs). An Anglicised version would be great!

37 people found this helpful

I liked the book but my children haven't paid any attention ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

I liked the book but my children haven't paid any attention to it and I know they love to find out people's mistakes. So I'd say that the content is good but it lacks the element of interest to it.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

FASCINATING

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

BOUGHT THIS AS A PRESENT FOR MY GRAND-DAUGHTER AND ON FLICKING THROUGH IT FOUND IT FULL OF FASCINATING INFO.. EACH 'MISTAKE' HAS AN ILLUSTRATION ON ONE PAGE AND INFO ON THE OTHER. IF I COULD BE BOTHERED I'D COPY EACH INFO PAGE FOR MYSELF - IT'S A REALLY GOOD BOOK.

One person found this helpful

Bob Hamilton

Pages not attached

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 5, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book arrived with the pages all over the inside of the package. It looked as though they aimply hadn't been glued it. The pages weren't all cut either. Very very badly made. Returned and not reordered.

L R

American book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 31, 2018

Verified Purchase

Interesting, but written from the perspective of ‘USA is the whole world’ kind of view.
How inventions were received in America and used.

2 people found this helpful

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