Rube Goldberg's Simple Normal Humdrum School Day

by Jennifer George, Ed Steckley (Illustrator)

Overview

If Rube’s inventions are any indication, “normal” means something very different in the Goldberg household. For Rube, up is down, in is out, and the simplest path to accomplishing an everyday task—like brushing his teeth or getting dressed—is a humorously complicated one. Follow Rube as he sets out on a typical school day, overcomplicating each and every step from the time he wakes up in the morning until the time he goes to bed at night.

This book features fourteen inventions, each depicting an interactive sequence whose purpose is to help Rube accomplish mundane daily tasks: a simple way to get ready for school, to make breakfast, to do his homework, and so much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419725586
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	08/29/2017
Series:	Rube Goldberg's Simple Normal
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	268,959
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	5 - 7 Years

About the Author

Jennifer George is the granddaughter of Rube Goldberg. She is the author of The Art of Rube Goldberg and a jewelry and clothing designer. George lives in New York City.

Ed Steckley is an award-winning illustrator whose clients include MAD magazine and innumerable advertising agencies worldwide. He lives in Queens, New York.

Editorial Reviews

08/07/2017
George pays irreverent tribute to her grandfather, cartoonist/tinkerer/inventor Rube Goldberg, imagining how an average school day might have unfolded for him. Naturally, it would involve all manner of wild contraptions, and the book’s text, Steckley’s accompanying cartoons, and even the titles of each vignette hark back to Goldberg’s famous invention-themed comics. In “An Easy Way to Get Dressed,” the bespectacled Goldberg hurtles down a bannister into a pair of pants and onto fireplace bellows, “which blasts puff of air onto sleeping cat (C). Startled cat leaps off scale, lowering iron (D) onto air pump (E).” Other inventions let Rube sneak into class on a skateboard and multitask while doing homework and practicing piano. It’s almost as much fun to imagine the setup and cleanup each of these mechanisms requires: Rube’s toast breakfast involves smoothie-soaked kitchen curtains and a chaise lounge that’s been slathered with butter. The scenarios and almost diagrammatical text start to become repetitive, but the individual scenes are sure to pique kids’ imaginations. Closing notes suggest ways to use the book alongside STEM studies. Ages 5–7. Agent: Laura Nolan, Aevitas Creative Management. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly