Making Contact!: Marconi Goes Wireless

by Monica Kulling, Richard Rudnicki (Illustrator)

Overview

As a boy, Marconi loved science and invention. Born in 1874 in Bologna, Italy, to a wealthy family, Marconi grew up surrounded by books in his father's library. He was fascinated with radio waves and learned Morse code, the language of the telegraph. A retired telegraph operator taught him how to tap messages on the telegraph machine. At the age of twenty, Marconi realized that no one had invented a wireless telegraph. Determined to find a way to use radio waves to send wireless messages, Marconi found his calling. And, thanks to his persistence, on December 12, 1901, for the first time ever, a wireless signal traveled between two continents. The rest is history.
Monica Kulling's playful, informative text, combined with the compelling illustrations of artist Richard Rudnicki, bring an amazing inventor and his times to life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101918425
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	08/02/2016
Series:	Tundra Great Idea Series , #5
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Monica Kulling is a poet who has published over forty books for children, including picture books, adaptations of classic novels, and biographies. Known for introducing biography to children who are just learning to read, she has written about Harriet Tubman, Henry Ford, Houdini, Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart, among others. Her award-winning Great Idea Series features biographies of inventors and their captivating inventions. She is also the author of the hilarious Merci Mister Dash! and Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity. The author lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

 

From the Publisher

09/01/2013
Gr 2–4—Guglielmo Marconi's childhood fascination with radio waves drove his reading, study, and experimentation. Despite his lack of success in school, he learned from tutors, including a retired telegraph operator who taught him Morse code. Marconi's experiments resulted in devices to send and receive messages over long distances. By the time he was 21, he had invented a wireless telegraph, which he demonstrated in England. Among the users was Queen Victoria, who communicated with her son on the royal yacht. In 1901, Marconi's device made the first transcontinental wireless transmission when a signal from Cornwall, England, reached St. John's, Newfoundland. Kulling's biography ends with that achievement before Marconi turned 30. Curiously, the only example she offers of how his discoveries influenced the future is the role the telegraph played in events surrounding the sinking of the Titanic. Rudnicki's acrylic illustrations do little to enhance the text. The people seem wooden and their surroundings are static. Still, libraries needing additional biographies of inventors to supplement collections might consider this volume since there is little coverage of Marconi for this audience.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato

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