Brainstorm Vol 75: Ferris Wheels, Engineers & Fairs

It is summer time. Time for people to start visiting fairs and amusement parks, and to ride Ferris wheels. It sounds like a perfect time to read a book about the original Ferris wheel, fairs, and engineers who make such rides possible.

Picture Book Resources

Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis, ill. by Gilbert Ford
Before the Chicago’s World Fair in 1893, there was a contest for a feat of engineering. At the last World Fair, Paris had unveiled the Eiffel Tower, and the United States wanted something to rival that wonder. George Ferris came up with the idea for a giant wheel that would hold carriages of people. At first, the directors of the fair scoffed at his idea. But as the time for the fair drew closer and they had no better options, they told Ferris to build his wheel. Ferris had to overcome several obstacles along the way, but eventually his wheel was a smashing success and replicated the world over.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Math/Science Field Biographical Picture Book: Looking for a biography that isn’t too long or one that is beautifully illustrated or one about a person in a math/science field? This fits all those bills.
• Short History Read: A nice, quick historical nonfiction read for kids about something that they can still see today.
• Chicago: Headed to Chicago? Live there? Read about a huge event that happened there.
• Perseverance: A lot of people told Ferris this wheel could not be built and if it was, it would result in disaster. But he persevered through hardship and didn’t listen to the naysayers, and now we can ride fantastic wheels all over the world.
• Pre-Fair/Amusement Park Read: A great book to read before you go ride those big wheels this summer.

Have You Seen My Monster? by Steve Light
A little girl is enjoying the fair while looking for her monster who snuck in before her. As she hunts around the fair (and her monster has a grand ol' time himself) readers will get to learn names to all sorts of shapes found in the fairgrounds attractions.

I’ve highlighted this in a past Brainstorm, but it doesn’t hurt to feature it again. It would make a fun pre-fair visit read.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Shapes: Light does most of his illustrations in this with black and white, and just a splash of color that helps highlight the shapes. And what an assortment of shapes! This book could be used in classes all the way up to high school for the shapes highlighted. Do you know of another shapes book that includes petrafoil, rhombus, nonagon, heptagon, trapezium, and trapezoid? I sure haven't seen one. And learning those through a fun book is way less agonizing than memorizing a list for geometry class. Of course there's the good ol' standard circle, square, and triangle that make appearances too, but Light includes every other sided figure 3-10, plus a few others that usually aren't highlighted until high school geometry classes (if then). But hey, there's nothing wrong with kids learning these figures at a young age (it certainly will make their geometry class easier), and I'm sure parents will burst with pride when kids start pointing out petrafoils and ellipses in the decorations at their grandparents' houses.
• Pre-Fair/Amusement Park Read: The little girl and her monster go all over a typical fair, including on a Ferris wheel. This would be a great book to help prepare kids for what’s likely to be at the fair they will visit. And to talk about safety there. Don’t get lost like the monster!
• Hide-n-Seek: There are elements of this book that can be treated like a game of hide-n-seek. Of course, you're looking for the monster on each page. But beyond that there's other things to hunt for. For example, star isn't a shape featured, but you can find stars all over. If you're looking for a book that will keep little ones occupied for a while, and stand up to multiple readings, this is a good one.

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, ill. by David Roberts
Rosie Revere makes all sorts of gadgets out of recycled materials, but when her uncle laughs and then another contraption fails, Rosie is ready to give up engineering for good. But wise Aunt Rose helps Rosie see that every great engineer learns from their mistakes and perseveres.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Repurposing/Recycling: Rosie makes all sorts of things using recycled and repurposed materials. She could help readers brainstorm ways they can recycle things themselves instead of creating unnecessary trash. For an extension activity see if readers can find real engineers who use recycled/repurposed materials.
• Math/Science Careers for Girls: Rosie is a perfect example of a girl that picks a job perhaps not typically considered a girl job.
• Learning from Mistakes/Persevering: Nobody likes mistakes, but Rosie learns a very important lesson about how mistakes aren’t always horrible. She is also a good example of persevering through hardship, both great character qualities.
• Rhyming Stories: This story is told entirely in impeccable rhyme, making it fun to read and listen to.

Middle Grade Fiction

Fair Weather by Richard Peck
Rose lives on a typical Illinois farm of 1893. She, her older sister Lottie, and her younger brother Buster have heard about the fair happening in Chicago, but they never in their lives thought they'd see it themselves. But then Aunt Euterpe shocks the family by first of all sending a letter (a momentous event in itself) and then announcing that she was going to take the children and Mama to the fair this summer. The letter includes four train tickets to Chicago. Now Rose knows Mama and she's bettin’ no one is going to Chicago, but she didn't reckon on two things. One, Mama isn't too keen on this Everett fellow courtin' Lottie (Mama thinks he's a drifter and a grifter), and two, Aunt Euterpe said something about gettin' the children a broader education in her letter. Of course, Mama is too much of a homebody to go herself, so she sends her ticket back to Aunt Euterpe. Granddad, though, has other plans. He has a hankerin' to see the fair himself, so he sneaks the ticket out of the mail and shocks the children by appearing on the train with them. Aunt Euterpe doesn't quite know what has hit her when her spunky father and three children older than she remembered show up in Chicago. One thing's for sure, none of them will ever be the same after their summer together seeing the sights the World's Fair has to offer.

When it comes right down to it, there really isn't a whole lot to this story other than some backwoods country kids, an overly-timid woman who has buried herself in grief, and a spunky, old man enjoying the sights of the World's Fair. But at the same time, Peck does do an awful lot in a mere 139 pages. I picked this up because I just finished The Devil in the White City and what better time to read this fictional book than when all the historical facts of the World's Fair of 1893 are fresh in my mind? Peck's information on the Fair lined up with what I had just read, and this book brings some of the finer details of the fair to life as it portrays it from the perspective of a country girl. The little things that Peck threw in to build the characters a little more were nice touches, and he added a nice dose of comedy along the way. Buster and Granddad combined are enough to keep anyone entertained. They are quite the pair.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Fun Historical Fiction: This is a fun and funny, quick read. If you're looking for a historical fiction, or one for reluctant readers, this could be a good choice.
• Chicago Fiction: If you’re visiting Chicago, live there, or studying it, this would be a good read.

Note: There is another middle grade fiction about Ferris’ wheel and the 1893 World’s Fair that won a Newbery Honor in the 1950s, The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson. I just recently read it to see if I would add it to this blog, but I would only recommend it for those who want to say they’ve read every Newbery Honor book. It gets rather bogged down in extremely technical details of building the wheel and includes some language that we’d now consider racial slurs. Fair Weather is much better for modern middle grade readers.

Adult Nonfiction

The Devil and the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
Larson chronicles the World's Fair of 1893 from the moment of conception through till its close and aftermath, the life and crimes of Dr. H.H. Holmes and how Geyer eventually uncovered his evil deeds, and the assassination of the Chicago mayor in October 1893. For much of the book Larson alternates chapters between plans for the fair and the key people involved (foremost Burnham & Olmstead) with all that H.H. Holmes was up to unbeknownst to anyone. Every once in a while a chapter on Prendergrast (assassin of the mayor) would appear.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Riveting Nonfiction: Larson is able to weave history in a way that just leaps off the page. You would think hearing about architect, engineer and landscape plans for the fair would be dry as dirt, but Larson makes it all quite interesting. Of course, the parts on Holmes are horrifyingly captivating. 
• True Crime/Forensics Fans: If you like crime stories or forensic mysteries, the parts on Holmes are just for you.
• Chicago History: I'm somewhat familiar with Chicago because of friends and family in the area, so I found it interesting to connect older parts of the city as described in 1893 with present day.

Eiffel’s Tower: And the World’s Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artist’s Quarreled and Thomas Edison Became a Count by Jill Jonnes
Step back in time and experience all the joys and the many trials, headaches, and antics involved in the years and days leading up to the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, the six months of the fair, and then the days after the fair's close. Along the way you will meet several of the major personalities involved in the various aspects of the fair, from engineers/scientists Gustave Eiffel and Thomas Edison to Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, newspaper men, ambassadors, and numerous artists.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Interesting Nonfiction: This may sound like a rather ambitious scope for a book, and it is. This book had amazing potential to be extremely scatterbrained and lacking coherence, but Jonnes pulls it off swimmingly. She does an incredible job of helping the modern reader step back in time and experience the fair in all its varied aspects. She also does the admirable job of expounding this history in a story form that is gripping and highly readable. Maybe not quite as good as Larson, but very close. It doesn't feel like reading a history book, it feels like reading a story. I'm pretty good on my history knowledge but Jonnes plunged to such intricate depths I learned a lot of things I had never known before. 
• Paris History: If you’re headed to Paris or just interested in it, you can learn a lot about the city, iconic monuments there, and figures of the past in this.
• Event Planners: This would make any event planner feel better about their craziest events. You think the last wedding you organized was crazy? Try managing all the major personalities involved in a World's Fair! This'll make the last bridezilla look like a piece of cake.
• Compare/Contrast: This book and Devil in the White City relate the two World's Fairs that happened back to back. The 1893 Fair was trying to live up to this one. There are personalities that were involved in both (like Buffalo Bill) and both had their own unique challenges. It is interesting to read about each and compare the similarities and differences.