Children's books and activities

Inventions and Inventors

Do you know any creative kids who love to tinker, build things (and take things apart ...), and solve problems? We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites for learning all about inventions and inventors.

Try pairing fiction with nonfiction books and exploring different genres (like poetry and biographies) and formats (like graphic novels and audio books). You'll be creating your own "text sets" — collections of texts focused on a specific topic, such as inventions and inventors. Reading widely in this way helps children build background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.

You might also want to explore DIY Science Camp: Be an Inventor!

Inventions and Inventors

Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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cover of "Clink" showing robot

Clink

By:
Kelly DiPucchio
Illustrated by: Matthew Myers

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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From the Good Mountain: How Gutenberg Changed the World

By:
James Rumford

Age Level: 3-6 years old

cover of "If I Built a Car" showing a boy showing a man a car

If I Built a Car

By:
Chris Van Dusen

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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If I Built a House

By:
Chris Van Dusen

Age Level: 3-6 years old

""

Polo: The Runaway Book

By:
Regis Faller

Age Level: 3-6 years old

cover of "The Most Magnificent Thing" showing girl pulling red wagon full of junk

The Most Magnificent Thing

By:
Ashley Spires

Age Level: 3-6 years old

cover of What Do You Do WIth an Idea? showing a child looking down at a chick.

What Do You Do With an Idea?

By:
Kobi Yamada
Illustrated by: Mae Besom

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Young Frank, Architect

By:
Frank Viva

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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illustrated cover of "Clever-Lazy" showing two people in front of a river with hills in front of them

Clever-Lazy

By:
Joan Bodger

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Electrical Wizard: How Nikola Tesla Lit Up the World

By:
Elizabeth Rusch
Illustrated by: Oliver Dominguez

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed their World

By:
Allan Drummond

Age Level: 6-9 years old

""

Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

By:
Margot Lee Shetterly
, Winifred Conklin
Illustrated by: Laura Freeman

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "How Ben Frankling Stole the Lightning" showing Ben Franklin hanging from a lightning bolt

How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning

By:
Rosalyn Schanzer

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Hurricane

By:
David Wiesner
Illustrated by: David Wiesner

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "I, Galileo" showing man looking through telescope

I, Galileo

By:
Bonnie Christensen

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Iggy Peck's Big Project Book for Amazing Architects

By:
Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by: David Roberts

Age Level: 6-9 years old

""

Iggy Peck, Architect

By:
Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by: David Roberts

Age Level: 6-9 years old

illustrated cover of "Imaginitive Inventions" showing a piggy bank, a pie, and gum behind a jester

Imaginative Inventions

By:
Charise Mericle Harper

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Lewis Latimer: The Man Behind a Better Light Bulb

By:
Nancy Dickmann

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "Marvelous Maddie" showing young girl surrounded by sketches of inventions

Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor

By:
Emily Arnold McCully

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "Marveltown" showing giant robot holding up book title

Marveltown

By:
Bruce McCall

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "Mr. Ferris and His Wheel" showing a ferris wheel

Mr. Ferris and His Wheel

By:
Kathryn Gibbs Davis
Illustrated by: Gilbert Ford

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Nature Did It First: Engineering Through Biomimicry

By:
Karen Ansberry
Illustrated by: Jennifer DiRubbio

Age Level: 6-9 years old

illustrated cover of Neo Leo showing a seated man with planes flying around

Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci

By:
Gene Baretta

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

By:
Gene Barretta
Illustrated by: Gene Barretta

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein

By:
Jennifer Berne
Illustrated by: Vladimir Radunsky

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "Papa's Mechanical Fish" showing man in fish-shaped submarine

Papa's Mechanical Fish

By:
Candace Fleming
Illustrated by: Boris Kulikov

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum

By:
Meghan McCarthy

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "House of Inventions" showing a house with items on the wall, like a saw, a lawnmower, and a clock

Pop-Up House of Inventions: Hundreds of Fabulous Facts About Your Home

By:
Robert Crowther

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Regards to the Man in the Moon

By:
Ezra Jack Keats

Age Level: 6-9 years old

""

Rosie Revere's Big Project Book for Bold Engineers

By:
Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by: David Roberts

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Cover of Rosie Revere Engineer showing a girl with a red bandana in her hair holding a string.

Rosie Revere, Engineer

By:
Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by: David Roberts

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Snowflake Bentley

By:
Jacqueline Martin Briggs
Illustrated by: Mary Azarian

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "So You Want To Be an Inventor" showing musical instruments and two men on the phone

So You Want to Be an Inventor?

By:
Judith St. George
Illustrated by: David Small

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak: Geek Heroes Who Put the Personal in Computers

By:
Mike Venezia
Illustrated by: Mike Venezia

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Sweet Dreams, Sarah

By:
Vivian Kirkfield
Illustrated by: Chris Ewald

Age Level: 6-9 years old

illustrated cover of The Bluest of Blues showing a young girl outside and everything is in shades of blue and white, except red flowers.

The Bluest of Blues: Anna Atkins and the First Book of Photographs

By:
Fiona Robinson

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "The Boy Who Harnesses the Wind" sowing boy and a windmill

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

By:
William Kamkwamba
, Bryan Mealer
Illustrated by: Elizabeth Zunon

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "The Boy Who Invented TV" showing boy holding a tv

The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth

By:
Kathleen Krull
Illustrated by: Greg Couch

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos

By:
Deborah Heiligman
Illustrated by: LeUyen Pham

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons

By:
Natashcha Biebow
Illustrated by: Steve Salerno

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont" showing a crowd and planes in front of the eiffel tower

The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont

By:
Victoria Griffith
Illustrated by: Eva Montanari

Age Level: 6-9 years old

The Girl With a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague

By:
Julia Finley Mosca
Illustrated by: Daniel Rieley

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Hole Story of the Doughnut

By:
Pat Miller
Illustrated by: Vincent Kirsch

Age Level: 6-9 years old

The Unstoppable Garrett Morgan

By:
Joan DiCicco
Illustrated by: Ebony Glenn

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Ticktock Banneker's Clock

By:
Shana Keller
Illustrated by: David C. Gardner

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Weird & Wacky Inventions

By:
Jim Murphy

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions

By:
Chris Barton
Illustrated by: Don Tate

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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""

Beastly Bionics: Rad Robots, Brilliant Biomimicry, and Incredible Inventions Inspired by Nature

By:
Jennifer Swanson

Age Level: 9-12 years old

Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle

By:
Deborah Lee Rose
Illustrated by: Jane Veltkamp

Age Level: 9-12 years old

Black Pioneers of Science and Invention

By:
Louis Haber

Age Level: 9-12 years old

Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer

By:
Traci Sorell
Illustrated by: Natasha Donovan

Age Level: 9-12 years old

Crossing on Time: Steam Engines, Fast Ships, and a Journey to the New World

By:
David Macaulay

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Curious Jane: Science + Design + Engineering for Inquisitive Girls

By:
Sterling Children's

Age Level: 9-12 years old

cover of "Generation Fix" showing six teenagers, a lightbulb, and a tree

Generation Fix: Young Ideas for a Better World

By:
Elizabeth Rusch

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women

By:
Catherine Thimmesh
Illustrated by: Melissa Sweet

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Hooray For Inventors!

By:
Marcia Williams

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Mistakes that Worked

By:
Charlotte Jones
Illustrated by: John O'Brien

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Robot: DK Eyewitness Books

By:
Roger Bridgman

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Robotics: Discover the Science and Technology of the Future

By:
Kathy Ceceri
Illustrated by: Sam Carbaugh

Age Level: 9-12 years old

Tesla’s Attic

By:
Neal Shusterman
Illustrated by: Eric Elfman

Age Level: 9-12 years old

cover of "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" showing an intricate lock

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

By:
Brian Selznick

Age Level: 9-12 years old

""

The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle

By:
Don L. Wulffson

Age Level: 9-12 years old

cover of "THe Kid's Invention Book" showing photo of two kids. One is holding a lightbulb about her head.

The Kids' Invention Book

By:
Arlene Erlbach

Age Level: 9-12 years old

photo cover of "The Next Wave" showing waves hitting rocks

The Next Wave: The Quest to Harness the Power of the Oceans

By:
Elizabeth Rusch

Age Level: 9-12 years old

cover of "Toys" showing different kinds of toys

Toys! Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions

By:
Don Wulffson
Illustrated by: Laurie Keller

Age Level: 9-12 years old

What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors

By:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Illustrated by: Ben Boos

Age Level: 9-12 years old