(3) K-3 Great Idea series. Illustrated by David Parkins. In the mid-nineteenth-century, Margaret "Mattie" Knight broke ground for women by putting her natural curiosity and mechanical inclination to good use as an inventor. Her inventions weren't the sexiest--this book focuses mainly on her machine that formed a flat-bottom paper bag--but her know-how and spirit, reflected in invented dialogue and snappy pen-and-ink with watercolor illustrations, were indomitable.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz