Guess Again: More Weird and Wacky Inventions

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The author of Weird and Wacky Inventions is back with another collection of inventions almost too preposterous to believe. Only Murphy's assurances could convince the reader that someone really did invent a coffin with an escape hatch (to comfort those afraid of being buried alive by mistake), or the tapeworm trap (a spring-loaded, metal tube baited with food and swallowed whole). The list goes on and on, each more hilarious than the last, all illustrated with original patent or magazine drawings. Murphy includes true stories of creative problem-solving like the revelation that the modern centralized kitchen was invented by Catherine Beecher in 1869, and modeled after a ship's galley. Guess Again is just as wacky as its predecessor. (All ages)

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7Guess Again, a sequel to Weird and Wacky Inventions (Crown, 1978), uses a lighthearted multiple-choice quiz to introduce more unusual inventions, such as a coffin with an escape hatch and training pants for dogs. A descriptive paragraph is accompanied by a pen-and-ink drawing, based on the original patent drawings. Readers are then given three or four possible choices of the invention's purpose; on the next page, along with the correct answer, is more information about the invention. Because the act of invention to fulfill a need is an important ingredient of the American spirit, the first and last chapter tell the stories behind other inventions that were more ``needed'' than those in the main body of the book. The afterword tells a little about the patent process. The game-like format and sometimes absurd inventions will hold readers' attention. Margaret M. Hagel, formerly at Ryan Upper School Library, Norfolk, Va.