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  • Published: 15 August 2014
  • ISBN: 9781770493803
  • Imprint: Tundra Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $40.00

Spic-and-Span!

Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen




The sixth book in Tundra's Great Idea Series, Spic-and-Span!: Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen introduces the amazing Lillian Gilbreth: industrial engineer, time management expert, inventor.

Born into a life of privilege in 1878, Lillian Moller Gilbreth put her pampered life aside for one of adventure and challenge. She and her husband, Frank, became efficiency experts by studying the actions of factory workers. They ran their home efficiently, too. When Frank suddenly died, Lillian was left to her own devices to raise their eleven children. Eventually, she was hired by the Brooklyn Borough Gas Company to improve kitchen design, which was only the beginning.
     Lillian Gilbreth was the subject of two movies (Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes), the first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and the first female psychologist to have a U.S. postage stamp issued in her honor. A leading efficiency expert, she was also an industrial engineer, a psycologist, an author, a professor, and an inventor.

  • Published: 15 August 2014
  • ISBN: 9781770493803
  • Imprint: Tundra Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $40.00

About the author

Monica Kulling

Monica Kulling was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received a BA in creative writing from the University of Victoria. Monica is the author of over 50 books for children, including the popular Great Idea series, stories of inventors. The third book in the series, In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up, was chosen as a Once Upon a World Children's Book Award Honor Book by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The sixth book in the series, Spic-and-Span! Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen won the North Dakota Library Association 2016 Flicker Tale Children’s Book Award in the nonfiction category. Monica Kulling lives in Toronto, Canada.

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Praise for Spic-and-Span!

PRAISE FOR Great Idea Series:

"Part of the Great Ideas series, this picture-book biography, enhanced with expressive characterizations and detailed backdrops, tells how lesser-known inventor Elisha Otis created the elevator and paved the way for skyscrapers." - Booklist's Quick Tips for Schools & Libraries

"...In his realistic, fine-lined illustrations, Parkins both enhances the sense of period and supplies the only hints of how Otis' invention actually worked. He captures the narrative's broad, high-energy tone in images of the inventor with eyes bulging, mouth wide open and arms flung out wildly during various Eureka! moments...." - Kirkus Reviews

"Third in the Great Idea series, this concise introduction to trailblazing American inventor ... reveals a woman committed to living life on her own terms, unafraid to fight for her successes. In clean, straightforward prose, Kulling explains how Knight's interest in and knack for machines was present even at a young age.... Paired with Parkins's detailed and handsome pen-and-ink illustrations, the book focuses on Knight's invention of a paper bag-manufacturing machine and her legal fight to protect her creation after her idea was stolen." - Publishers Weekly