Dr. Arlyne Simon has given a gift to educators and children alike with her debut children’s book, Abby Invents Unbreakable Crayons, and I, for one, am grateful! As an educator, this is my go-to children’s book for introducing Invention Education to early elementary students. Abby is an engaging relatable character who goes through all the important steps of the invention cycle. Readers can follow Abby’s steps through her invention process to kick off their own invention endeavors. I particularly love reading this book aloud to little ones because their eyes light up and their bodies bob with energy as they chant along the refrain, “You are a problem-solver. You are an Inventor. You solve problems big and small, because you have great...
What Abby does is to provide a whole new narrative for a generation of young inventors as a model for who they are and who they could be. They too can be problem solvers, inventors and change makers.
Great news! Abby Invents Unbreakable Crayons received Purdue University's seal of approval for promoting engineering thinking and design and was included in the 2019 Engineering Gift Guide.
One of my two-year-old’s recent nightly staples is “Abby Invents Unbreakable Crayons,” a book that stars a young girl named Abby who is on a path to invention.
