This book was published in 2008 but looks like it was published earlier because it is profusely illustrated with fascinating reproductions of contemporary photographs. One of the extraordinary things about Carver's life was that he was born during the American Civil War (which would be better called something like the "War of the Southern Secession") and lived to be old enough to meet Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At the Tuskegee Institute, we see some very dapper young gentleman in a cutaway coat studying a cow skeleton, and then Carver as a much older man in more casual check trousers and a looser and less formal jacket. Carver is much like Nikola Tesla with his mustache and his intense passion about his chosen field of study, but less glamorous to posterity because electricity is more exciting to moderns than botany. In the best late Victorian tradition, he was also an outstanding painter of his beloved plants; there are similarities here with, e.g., the life of Beatrix Potter, who made her start as a technical illustrator. The photograph of Carver's personal microscope, which is beautiful, is from the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site.

(Carver could be pretty dry about his association in the public mind with peanuts and nothing but peanuts.) ( )

I didn't like the length of the book. It is too long. On the other hand, George Washington Carver was more than a slave. He was an inventor and a teacher. He taught about farming to students at Tuskegee. He also used items that he found used them as his lab equipment. He used bottles as beakers, and a flatiron for grinding. He was a very creative person. ( )

This book is about George Washington Carver. He was born into slavery but then was able to get out. He did a lot of different jobs growing up and finally found his calling. He developed many ways to cook, eat and use peanuts and sweet potatoes. This is an excellent book that explains his whole life and everything that he has done. There are credible sources and the pictures and little side notes in the book helped show who some people were. ( )

Excellent biography of the African American inventor. 2010 winner of the Norman A. Sugarman Children's Biography Award. ( )

This book tells the story of the African American George Washington Carver. George Washington Carver was curios as to how people can maximize their resources made available to them. This book shares important pieces of his life, who he was as a child, up until the day he died.