  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 12/01/2011 Women inventors have always received far less attention than men. This picture-book biography in the Great Ideas series focuses upon Margaret Knight, inventor of a machine for making flat-bottomed paper bags, a topic that should grab the attention of both girls and boys if for no other reason than the quirky invention itself. When Knight died in 1914, she had 90 inventions to her credit, unheard of for a woman at that time. Long before that, though, she was a factory worker with an inspiration: “If a machine can make a narrow-bottom bag, why not a flat-bottom one?” Her zeal in designing the machine and showing it off is infectious—as is her righteous anger when a man steals her design and a dramatic court case results. Could a woman really have invented such an ingenious device? Knight’s achievements are illustrated in an affable caricature style that is one part David Catrow and one part David Small, highlighting Margaret’s spunk and determination. An author’s note adds a short summary of this little-known woman’s fantastic, unconventional life. - Copyright 2011 Booklist. School Library Journal - 01/01/2012 Gr 2–4—This portrait of Knight chronicles her process in inventing the machine that made the flat-bottomed paper bag and, at the age of 12, the shuttle cover for cotton-mill machinery. The narration is clear and well paced, bringing to light the trouble facing female inventors in the 1800s. Pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations depict people realistically in a style that brings to mind a less-whimsical Marla Frazee. However, there is too much fictionalizing for the book to work as a biography. Knight's feelings, as well as dialogue and even incidents, are represented so frequently that the book feels more like fiction than fact. While this title could work for a thematic unit, perhaps on groundbreaking women or inventors, it is an additional purchase.—Heather Talty, formerly at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, New York City - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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