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Summary:
Alexander like his family had an interest in speech mechanics and compassion for those born with speech disabilities which led him to work with the deaf-mute. Although he had a talent for music, he was unimpressed by school. Bell studied and experimented with vibrating piano tuning forks, batteries,electrical current and telegraph wires trying to make electricity produce vowel sounds. After further experimentation he submitted a patent for the telephone. After a lengthy battle in the courts, it was decided that he invented the telephone. He also invented other great inventions such as the metal detector and the iron lung.

Reaction: I wasn't aware of all the other inventions that he made and that really contributed to the world of science. This book had more information than I thought it would.

Extension:
1.Look at what a telephone is and compare telephones then and now.
2.Look at other inventions from Alexander Graham Bell.

Alexander Graham Bell was a man of boundless enthusiasm and intelligence, and this picture book does well to capture this. It follows the life of Alexander (later to be known by the nickname of "Aleck") from his young boyhood in Edinburgh, and through the course of his many inventive endeavors in the United States.

The reader learns that Alexander Graham Bell's family were among the brightest intellectuals of Edinburgh. As a whole, the family was enraptured with speech and filled with compassion for those living with speech disabilities. From an early age, Alexander became consumed with the interest of using the human voice to communicate clearly.

The book talks about the Visual Speech system designed by Alexander's father and helped to serve as a pretext for much of Alexander's later studies, and the arduous road that led to the eventual invention of the telephone. Additionally, while the telephone is arguably the most well known of all Alexander Graham Bell's inventions, other lesser known inventions are also discussed throughout the text: the spectraphone, metal detector, phonographic devices, the vacuum jacket, and the tetrahedral structural unit. The illustrations compliment these descriptions nicely throughout the book.

Also discussed are Alexander's many philanthropic efforts and wide-ranging interests. For example, in addition to founding the American Association to Promote Teaching Speech to the Deaf, he also served as regent of the Smithsonian Institution, helped to establish the astrophysical observatory at the Smithsonian, served as President of the National Geographic Society, and sponsored the founding of the Aerial Experiment Association... and this was done all within a period of just five years! Much of Alexander's entire life could be described that way: he was a true visionary who worked tirelessly to make the quality of life better for all. ( )

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847 Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. He began his career by studying the anatomy of the voice box and ear in college, and introduced “visible speech” to students at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes. From there he began experimentation with transmitting sound on an electric wire. ( )