A review by curiouslibrarian
The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton
3.0
This is a 3.5 from me.
With its day-glo colors both on the cover and inside, this is certainly an eye-catching book. Which is the point, of course. It is the story of the brothers who created day-glo paints and dyes. Until I picked up this book, I can't say that it ever occurred to me to wonder how or when these colors were created. But the story is fairly interesting, and full of little anecdotes which intrigue the historian in me (an author's note at the end talks about the process of interviewing family members, so there are certainly tidbits in here that won't show up elsewhere). The back matter includes explanations of fluorescence and "day-glo" and points readers to an animation online further illustrating these concepts.
Without these brothers, my childhood in the 1980s would have been very different. But the illustrations are a little headache-inducing to my adult eyes. Not terrible, but a little hard to look at.
Something a little different for those biography projects. Recommended for grades 3-5.
With its day-glo colors both on the cover and inside, this is certainly an eye-catching book. Which is the point, of course. It is the story of the brothers who created day-glo paints and dyes. Until I picked up this book, I can't say that it ever occurred to me to wonder how or when these colors were created. But the story is fairly interesting, and full of little anecdotes which intrigue the historian in me (an author's note at the end talks about the process of interviewing family members, so there are certainly tidbits in here that won't show up elsewhere). The back matter includes explanations of fluorescence and "day-glo" and points readers to an animation online further illustrating these concepts.
Without these brothers, my childhood in the 1980s would have been very different. But the illustrations are a little headache-inducing to my adult eyes. Not terrible, but a little hard to look at.
Something a little different for those biography projects. Recommended for grades 3-5.