Electrical Wizard

How Nikola Tesla
Lit Up The World

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Candlewick Press

(pub. 9.10.2013)  40 pages

A True Tale with 
A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Elizabeth Rusch
           and Illustrator: Oliver Dominguez

    

C haracter: NIKOLA TESLA

O verview from the jacket flap: 

"Move over, Thomas Edison! Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla takes center stage in the first-ever picture-book biography of the man responsible for lighting our lives with electricity...

Tesla faced many obstacles along the way, including the great American inventor Thomas Edison, who was a staunch defender of the direct-current electrical system. But Tesla worked tirelessly to proved that AC, not DC, was the wave of the future. He proved it at the Chicago World's Fair and at Niagara Falls - and his proof lives on today in a world transformed by his inventions ..."

T antalizing taste: 

     "The night of Nikola Tesla's birth, lightning zapped, crackled, and flashed overhead. For years after, booming thunder drew the poor Serbian boy to the window of his family's small house. Nikola gazed, mystified, as electrical bolts ricocheted across the sky.
      One evening, when he was three, Nikola stroked his cat, Macak. The cat's fur snapped with tiny sparks. 'What is it?' ...
     'Electricity,' his father explained...
     Enchanted by the sparking halo his hands had conjured, Nikola wondered what other magic he could perform."

and something more: The extensive back matter in Electrical Wizard includes a section called "Tesla vs. Edison: The Rivalry" which not only sets forth the rivalry, but also the harsh treatment Thomas Edison gave to Nikola Tesla. For example, "Though Edison dismissed Tesla's ideas about alternating current, he did hire the young engineer. For a year, Nikola toiled for Edison, often from 10:30 a.m. until five the next morning. Edison said to him, 'I have had many hardworking assistants but you take the cake.'  He promised to pay Tesla $50,000 to improve his direct-current motors. Tesla did, but when he tried to collect his pay, Edison just laughed. 'Tesla, you don't understand our American humor.' Nikola stormed out of Edison's office. The young engineer struggled financially for months, even digging ditches to feed himself."  Later, Edison "strove to squelch" any competition and projects from Tesla. Readers are certainly exposed to a different side of Thomas Edison.

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For the Love of Music

The Remarkable Story of
MARIA ANNA MOZART

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday

hosted today by Shelf-employed

 

Random House
(pub. 2.8.2011)

32 pages

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Elizabeth Rusch

      and Paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
     
C haracter:  Maria Anna Mozart

 
O verview from publisher: 

      "By the time she was 12, she was considered one of the finest pianists in Europe, but today few people know her name.  Maria Mozart, like her famous brother Wolfgang, was a musical prodigy.  The talented siblings toured Europe, playing before kings and empresses ... They were best friends, collaborators, and confidantes.  As they grew older, Wolfgang was encouraged to pursue his musical ambitions, while Maria was told she must stop performing and, ultimately, marry.  But she was determined to continue playing the piano every day, for the love of music."

T antalizing taste: 

       "The house was silent, but Maria and Wolfgang imagined a symphony that sounded like laughter, like whispering secrets in three languages, like children at a court dance."

and something more:  Elizabeth Rusch, the author of this fascinating picture book biography, For the Love of Music, writes in her author's note (called the "Encore" in keeping with telling the story in sonata form): "When she was in her seventies, Maria [Anna Mozart] went blind and lost the use of her left hand.  But she continued to play her piano, the very instrument she and Wolfgang had played together as children... Found on the piano were scores from her brother's operas Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, probably the last music she every played."  One wonders what pieces of her own might have been found resting on her piano if Maria had been given the same opportunities as her brother to pursue her musical talent.

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