My students were fascinated to learn about the invention of the Slinky! ( )

Summary: This book guides the reader through Richard and Betty Jones' creation and manufacture of the Slinky, the hot toy of the 1940s. Richard and Betty think of the idea, patent and create the Slinky for the children of the town, and watch their own business grow as more and more children enjoy their creation.

I was eager to read this book because I remember my first Slinky and what a novelty it was and how much fun it was to play with it. I’d thought it was a fairly brand new toy when I got mine (in 1958-1960?) but I found out from this book that it had actually been around for quite a while. I did know something about its development, how it was serendipity that led to its invention.

This author-illustrator has impressive credentials for both writing and illustrating, and I did like both here, but I wanted to love the book even more than I did.

I love how it shows how a thought can be so creative and how the inventor’s wife and son participated in bringing the idea to fruition and to great success. It’s a lovely family story.

This picture book is full of information and seems more text heavy than it actually is, and I think it’s best for independent readers or group read alouds. Having a slinky or slinkys around to play with around the time of reading this book is highly recommended. This book is likely to most appeal to adults and children who’ve played with slinkys and have enjoyed them.

Toy = 4-1/2 stars, Book = 3-1/2 stars

Fun thing to read on the last day of the year, in a year that had many NOT fun things about it! ( )

Working for the Navy during World War II, engineer Richard James accidentally discovered the amazing properties of a torsion spring, when one fell off of his shelf. Bringing this new spring home, James partnered with his wife Betty to invent a new toy with it. Although convinced that the Slinky was the next big thing, the James had trouble convincing any stores to carry it. Then, after much pleading, the Gimbels department store agreed to stock a few for the Christmas rush of 1945. Four hundred Slinkys sold in ninety minutes, marking the debut of one of the 20th century's most popular new toys...

An engaging look at the creation of a popular American toy, The Marvelous Thing That Came From a Spring is also an immensely engaging book visually speaking. The illustrations, drawn and colored digitally, before being printed out and combined with found objects in dioramas, are bright and entertaining, capturing the themes of ingenuity and discovery that are highlighted in the story. Some of the scenes, particularly those involving boxes of some sort (the store with its shelves, the James' home in profile), reminded me of the work of Joseph Cornell, which is high praise indeed! An informative afterword gives more information about the Slinky, and the many uses it has been put to - as an antenna for radios, as a device to explain wave mechanics, as a therapy tool - as well as Betty James' central role in bringing the Slinky to a wider audience. I particularly appreciated that last, and the way that Gilbert Ford highlights the importance of both dreaming and planning in the creation of new things. Recommended to anyone looking for fun children's books about inventors and inventions. ( )