A little girl narrates the story of her inventor father, complete with sound effects ("Clink! Clankety-bang! Thump-whirrrr!") and several failures that precede his incredible success.

Back matter includes "It's ALMOST True," an explanation of the ways in which this fictional story is based on true events: in the summer of 1851, Lodner Phillips took his wife and children for an "afternoon excursion beneath the waves of Lake Michigan."

See also: The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts ( )

I absolutely loved this book. This fictional story was based on the true event where a man who was obsessed with building a submarine and included his wife and children. The story follows the families endeavors as the father continues to learn through trial and error - JUST LIKE THE ENGINEERING PROCESS. This book would be a great tool to pair with an engineer unit or introduction. ( )

Papa is an inventor, is always working to make something new. When edible socks and steam-powered roller-skates, don't work out quite as he plans, he decides to take the family fishing. But, his inventor tendencies are not easy to stop. He quickly gets his mind set on creating an underwater vessel so you can swim like a fish. After many trials and errors, Papa finally gets to take his family on an underwater trip.

Inventors need to be persistent, and this book sends that message about persistence. The fun illustrations of all Papa's gizmos are intricate and inspiring.

Please visit our blog www.twogalsandabook.com for this review and others!

Papa's Mechanical Fish is a fiction story about a family man who's obsessed with inventing things. Many times his ideas evolve from his children.

After a day of fishing with the family on Lake Michigan, he decides to make a submarine. Follow along in the story to see his journey of creating a mechanical fish for the whole family.

This story is fiction, but is based on the true story of Lodner Phillips and his construction of a submarine in 1851. It's very engaging and the illustrations are admirable.

This is a very educational book for everyone, especially children, and would be perfect for any classroom of home library.

5***** ( )

Papa's Mechanical Fish is a fiction piece based off the life events of Lodner Phillips, who, in the 1850's, innovated such things as the submarine (featured in this book), diving armor, an underwater canon, and a machine which makes plastic buttons. The story highlights his failed and successful attempts at creating a submarine in his own backyard, with the help from his family. With each added improvement, he would take his family to the lake to help him test it out. The story explains how things went wrong, and how he went back and fixed them, in a light, humorous tone, which includes techniques such as onomatopoeia. For these reasons, I think the main message of the story is to never give up on the things you're passionate about because you can always get better. After all, Phillips went on to be considered a successful inventor of the mid-1800's. ( )