This book was extremely informational, interesting, relevant, and written in a fun manner. This book really fascinated me, because of all the things I eat or use today were created simply from accidents. Even before I started reading the book I became immediately interested because in the table of contents, it had a list of the 50 inventions that were mistakes, and it made you want to see how all of them were created on accident. The introduction also taught a big lesson, it stated, "It takes intelligence, creativity, and a fresh approach to make something out of an accident." The most interesting and important accident discovery was the one about the National Anthem, because that shows that something that is a simple accident can make a big impact in the world. The most interesting accidental invention was the coffee. It was fascinating to find out that coffee was found because a man name Kaldi was taking his goats to a hill and they were chewing on these berries, and all of a sudden they were prancing, so the man Kaldi tried them and he was prancing around as well. A man then poured hot water with the beans and it kept people awake and alert. I suggest you read this book, because there are a lot more inventions in this book that would amaze you to be found just because of an accident, and it is amazing to see where these discoveries originated. ( )

I would use this book in a third through fifth grade setting. I would use it in this setting to have my students analyze the current inventions we have and write about what our lives would be like without them. I would also have my students create an invention and give me a step-by-step recipe of the process of making their invention with illustrations. For extra credit, I could also have my students create a scale model of their invention. ( )

A fascinating and quick read. ( )

Used for Cataloging Class EDLM 558; each chapter begins with a quote.

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