Marvelous Mattie
Publication Information
Author:  McCully, Emily	Illustrator:  McCully, Emily
Title:  Marvelous Mattie	Date:  2006
Publisher:  Farrar, Strauss, Giroux	City:  New York
ISBN, paperback:  0-374-34810-3	ISBN, hardback:
Recommended audience:
ABE/ABLE:   Yes	ESOL:
Family:   Yes	Young Adult:
Picture:   Yes
General Information:
Book Type(s):    biography and autobiography, easy reading, true story
HSE Descriptor(s):    science
Summary:
Based on the life of Margaret E. Knight, the book portrays an imaginative girl who overcomes the barriers of poverty and sexism to become an inventor of over 90 inventions with 22 patents. The author's note gives more biographical information while patent diagrams plus wonderful pen and ink and watercolor drawings illustrate the story.
Teaching Ideas:
Readers will want to note the character traits that enable Mattie to overcome great obstacles as well as the people who took Mattie seriously when she was a child and when she was an adult--and who didn't. The passages that concern industrial safety and child labor could be augmented by Lyddie and Kids at Work, both on the Eureka database. Since Mattie had to wage a legal battle to protect her paper bag machine, students might be interested in researching patents on the United States Patent and Trademark Office at www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm. An Internet search using the keywords Margaret E. Knight results in many web sites for more information, especially about the machine for making paper bags.
Teaching Strategies:
Helping Students in the Writing Process    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/help_writing_process.pdf
Save the Last Word for Me (Adaptation)    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/adapt_save_last_word.pdf
Sketch to Stretch    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/sketch_stretch.pdf
Problem and Solution Outline and Text Frame    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/prob_solution.pdf
Unsent Letters    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/unsent_letters.pdf
Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword
Emotions-Personal Issues > emotions > determination/perseverance Emotions-Personal Issues > personal issues > individual > life choices > problem solving Emotions-Personal Issues > personal issues > individual > self-esteem Government/Civics > judicial system History > time period > 19th Century History > topic > political expansion > industrialization Science > scientists/inventors Social Studies > sociology > women > women in history Work > scientist

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