Review by Booklist Review
Even as a boy, Rube Goldberg aimed to become a newspaper cartoonist, an ambition he set aside to please his father. He studied engineering, worked in the field for six months, and quit to take a lowly newspaper job while practicing his drawing. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his city, he moved to New York and became a successful cartoonist, finding humor in sports, politics, and human nature. Still, his most popular character was an engineer at heart: a professor who invented complicated devices to accomplish simple tasks, contraptions known today as Rube Goldberg machines. In Aronson's well-paced, conversational text for this picture-book biography, she shows Goldberg working hard to achieve his dream and encourages readers to do the same. Neubecker uses digitally-enhanced ink-and-pencil drawings to create lively illustrations with a period vibe. He also offers relatively simple, amusing interpretations of Goldberg machines for the book's young audience. Reproductions of eight vintage Goldberg inventions, complete with directions and labeled diagrams, appear on the book's endpapers. An enjoyable introduction to an American original.--Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In opening pages, Aronson describes artist and inventor Rube Goldberg: "In a funny way, his life was just like one of his famous inventions: an improbable and inefficient chain reaction that ends up making perfect sense." As a child, shy Goldberg immersed himself in drawing, but when his parents didn't support his plans to become a cartoonist, he studied engineering, then quit his steady job to follow his dream and embrace an alter ego. Aronson reveals Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts, "who invented one intricate machine after another." Neubecker's idiosyncratic art depicts several of Professor Butts's contraptions-one that elaborately punches holes in doughnuts, another that turns off a light. Readers will enjoy Goldberg's brilliantly impractical inventions and nutty personality. Ages 3-8. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Everyone loves a Rube Goldberg machine, whether you've been mesmerized by a complicated toast-making, orange juice pouring contraption in a movie (you know the type), played Mousetrap, or worked on a slightly wacky high school science project to build one yourself. Aronson's picture book biography recounts moments from the life of an imaginative young boy turned discontented engineer turned driven newspaper cartoonist. Goldberg's observant nature and playful spirit produced decades of popular diagrams of totally unlikely and labyrinthine inventions for the world to enjoy. Aronson's narrative hovers between thoughtful biography and an inspirational tribute to Goldberg's work, which will leave readers wanting more information, especially about the cultural legacy of his ubiquitous cartoons. Neubecker's illustrations are animated and precise, connecting the unpredictable threads of the cartoonist's life to the spirit of his inventions. An image of a dizzyingly complicated sewer system calls to mind the early 20th-century milieu of discovery, invention, and rapid social change in which Goldberg's work was born and flourished. VERDICT Playful illustrations drive this loving biography for elementary-school-age inventors and dreamers.-Emilia Packard, Austin, TX © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Aronson astutely observes that Rube Goldbergs life was just like one of his famous inventions: an improbable and inefficient chain reaction that ends up making perfect sense. The son of German Jewish immigrants, Goldberg (18831970) dreamed of becoming a newspaper cartoonist but initially bowed to family pressure, earning an engineering degree and working as a San Francisco Department of Water and Sewers engineer. After just six months on the job, he quit. Neubeckers illustration of this period in Goldbergs life is dominated by a mess of pipes that twist and turn, neatly foreshadowing the wacky contraptions Goldberg would later draw. Aronsons lively and inspirational text gets clever treatment here, too: her words curve and bend inside the pipework. Up next for Goldberg was his first newspaper gig, where he mostly emptied wastebaskets, cleaned the floors, and filed photographs. Finally he was hired as a cartoonist at the New York Evening Mail, where he concocted Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts and the screwball contraptions that today we call Rube Goldberg machines. Aronson notes that Goldberg drew comics to make us look closer; fittingly, this thoughtful, playful picture-book biography does just that, with whimsical pencil, ink, and digital illustrations capturing the machines intricacies. Endpapers feature reprints of original Rube Goldberg cartoons; further biographical information and a list of sources are appended. tanya d. auger (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Rube Goldberg was a famous inventor who didn't invent anything.He was a shy and quiet kid who loved to draw and dreamed of becoming a great cartoonist. But his German-immigrant father was horrified: Artists were no better than beggars, so Rube went to Berkeley, studied engineering, and got a job with San Francisco's Department of Water and Sewers. He hated it, quit, and followed his dream of becoming a cartoonist for a newspaper, landing a job at the New York Evening Mail. He became famous for the cartoons of elaborate inventions he created from 1912 to 1932, a new one every two weeks, some taking as long as 30 hours to draw. Front and back endpapers reproduce several of Goldberg's black-and-white cartoons depicting zany chain reactions typical of his inventions. Neubecker's own full-color illustrations deftly re-create the comedy of the originals, with double-page spreads dramatizing how to put holes in doughnuts, how to turn off a light, and how to cut your own hair, adding diversity that's not seen in the originals. Goldberg appears in the illustrations as a white man; the streets of New York City are peopled with diverse citizens. Young readers will enjoy tracing the chain reactions for each invention and, in so doing, will be using "the most amazing machine in the universe: / the brain!"An engaging volume that will encourage readers to think outside the lines. (author's note, sources) (Picture book/biography. 6-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
