Dotty inventions by Roger McGough

Ill. by Holly Swain. Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2005. ISBN 9781 84780 332 0.
(Ages: 7+) Warmly recommended. Science. Professor Dotty Dabble receives an unexpected invitation in her morning post. She is asked to submit an invention to the National Science Museum and if she wins, may get a fabulous holiday. She talks this over with her robot, Digby, wondering which of her many inventions she should take. Her nasal floss should be a winner, but there is also her thermal dentures, or her voice activated socks, to name a few from many. With it so difficult to make a decision, she takes them all along. As she and Digby hurry to the museum in the Gizmobile, things happen which allow the author to tell us of some inventions which have changed the way we live. Consequently we hear of journalist Ladislo Biro, who frustrated with pen and ink, invented the ball point pen in 1938, naming it after himself. Or George de Mestral, who frustrated with the burrs and seeds picked up by his dog when out walking, invented velcro! Or the frisbee, invented after people threw around their metal pie plates after eating the pies.
All good fun with some learning of new ideas as well, the illustrations are funny and inviting, and the book will have wide appeal, particularly as so little is written with science as a theme.
Fran Knight