Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane

by Kirsten W. Larson, Tracy Subisak (Illustrator)

Overview

• A NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book
• NSTA Best STEM Book list 2021


This riveting nonfiction picture book biography explores both the failures and successes of self-taught engineer Emma Lilian Todd as she tackles one of the greatest challenges of the early 1900s: designing an airplane.

Emma Lilian Todd's mind was always soaring--she loved to solve problems. Lilian tinkered and fiddled with all sorts of objects, turning dreams into useful inventions. As a child, she took apart and reassembled clocks to figure out how they worked. As an adult, typing up patents at the U.S. Patent Office, Lilian built the inventions in her mind, including many designs for flying machines. However, they all seemed too impractical. Lilian knew she could design one that worked. She took inspiration from both nature and her many failures, driving herself to perfect the design that would eventually successfully fly. Illustrator Tracy Subisak's art brings to life author Kirsten W. Larson's story of this little-known but important engineer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629799384
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	02/25/2020
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	401,592
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	790L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Kirsten W. Larson used to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes about rocket science--and just about any science--for kids. She is the author of more than twenty-five children's books, including the Robotics in Our World series. Visit https://kirsten-w-larson.com.

After working as an industrial designer for seven years, Tracy Subisak began her business as a freelance illustrator and designer. She specializes in visual storytelling through children's literature, storyboarding, and design work. Visit tracysubisak.com.

Editorial Reviews

03/16/2020

“To Emma Lilian Todd, problems were like gusts of wind: they set her mind soaring.” Persistence in the face of repeated failures is a recurring theme in this book about Todd, a little-known pioneer in early-20th-century aviation design. Todd’s childhood love of tinkering—“She took apart a clock.... She put the pieces back together this way. No tick. She put the pieces back that way. No tock”—serves her well in her adult quest to design a working airplane. (Todd is quoted: “There is no work so discouraging, so exasperating, so delightful, so mean, so difficult, so exhilarating as building aeroplanes.”) Larson’s author’s note mentions that “many of Lilian Todd’s ideas don’t survive in modern airplanes.” Todd’s plucky perseverance appeals, and Subisak’s cheerily cluttered loose-lined illustrations conjure a world of patent diagrams, dreams, experimental machines, and grit. An author’s note includes photographs and supplemental information. Ages 7–10. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"A heroine of the skies is given her due....(a) person who disappeared into history after adding to the knowledge of the era, Todd is resurrected here as a role model who can provide encouragement and inspiration by virtue of her single-minded dedication and resilience...(e)nergetic, thoughtful text punctuated by Todd's own words and Subisak's inventive, warmly outlined full-color illustrations follow her life....(c)elebrates its subject's resilience as much as her contributions to STEM and aeronautics." --Kirkus Reviews

"In tribute to the hands-on spirit of all inventors— but especially women—Larson profiles a little-known, self-taught engineer who designed a working aircraft that improved upon the Wright brothers' model. In windswept digital watercolors, Subisak depicts her as an active, confident figure. Back matter... includes a comprehensive source list and a general time line of aviation in the Wright era. Todd herself was not a pilot, but her story pairs naturally with those about the first generations of female aviators." —Booklist 

"While the Wright brothers are known for inventing the first airplane, another inventor wanted to make the design of the airplane more practical. Emma Lilian Todd, sparked by curiosity to tinker, engineer, and invent even as a child, worked to build her own airplane. The illustrations give life to this narrative nonfiction account of Todd’s upbringing and her thirst for solving problems through prototyping. Quotations ... are sprinkled throughout the narrative, providing insight into Todd’s creative process. This inspiring work shines a light on a lesser-known inventor who was the first woman to design an airplane." —School Library Journal 

"Persistence in the face of repeated failures is a recurring theme in this book about Todd, a little-known pioneer in early-20th-century aviation design. Todd’s childhood love of tinkering...serves her well in her adult quest to design a working airplane. Todd’s plucky perseverance appeals, and Subisak’s cheerily cluttered loose-lined illustrations conjure a world of patent diagrams, dreams, experimental machines, and grit." —Publishers Weekly 

From the Publisher

02/01/2020

Gr 2–4—While the Wright brothers are known for inventing the first airplane, another inventor wanted to make the design of the airplane more practical. Emma Lilian Todd, sparked by curiosity to tinker, engineer, and invent even as a child, worked to build her own airplane. The illustrations give life to this narrative nonfiction account of Todd's upbringing and her thirst for solving problems through prototyping. Each gear and each part used in her childhood mechanical creations is drawn with noticeable detail. Movement is depicted through wispy clouds and bold strokes in the sky when the story focuses on Todd's fascination with flight. Vivid colors add a warm, rich tone to match the extraordinary effort and care that Todd put into inventing. Quotations from the book's subject and others mentioned in her story are sprinkled throughout the narrative, providing insight into Todd's creative process. A detailed author's note, photographs of the real Todd and her airplane models (with photo credits), a time line, and a selected bibliography are included in the back matter. VERDICT This inspiring work shines a light on a lesser-known inventor who was the first woman to design an airplane. An excellent purchase for public and elementary school biography collections.—Molly Dettmann, Norman North High School, OK

School Library Journal

2019-12-08
A heroine of the skies is given her due.

In the early 20th century, Emma Lilian Todd built on the ideas of the Wright brothers and others to create an airplane that successfully flew. A person who disappeared into history after adding to the knowledge of the era, Todd is resurrected here as a role model who can provide encouragement and inspiration by virtue of her single-minded dedication and resilience. Energetic, thoughtful text punctuated by Todd's own words and Subisak's inventive, warmly outlined full-color illustrations follow her life from a childhood interest in the way things work—her inventor grandfather was an influence—through her subsequent work at the U.S. Patent Office to her many trials and errors in creating prototypes and eventually a working plane. The focus is on her work as an inventor rather than her personal life, and the additional obstacles she faced as a woman are acknowledged organically in context. While Emma Todd certainly contributed to the development of the airplane, what stands out in this selection is not her invention but her fascination with flight and engineering, her determination to explore her interests whether society approved or not, and her perception of failure as a challenge. Todd and those around her present white.

Celebrates its subject's resilience as much as her contributions to STEM and aeronautics. (author's note, timeline, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews

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