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  • Published: 15 January 2016
  • ISBN: 9781770495203
  • Imprint: Tundra Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $40.00

To The Rescue! Garrett Morgan Underground




The inspirational story of African-American inventor Garrett Morgan, whose incredible safety hood became the forerunner to the gas mask that saved thousands of soldiers in the trenches of World War I. A new picture book biography in the award-winning Great Ideas series, To the Rescue! introduces young readers to the inventive and heroic nature of Garrett Morgan.

The son of freed slaves, Garrett Morgan was determined to have a better life than laboring in the Kentucky fields with his parents and ten siblings. He began by sweeping floors in a clothing factory in Cleveland, Ohio, where he decided to invent a stronger belt for sewing machines. When he was promoted to sewing-machine repairman, Garrett was on his way. In 1911, 146 workers died in the shocking Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, so Garrett decided to invent a safety hood for firefighters. Little did he know that most people wouldn’t be interested in buying his safety hood when they discovered its inventor was black. But an explosion that trapped workers in a tunnel under Lake Erie soon changed all that. Garrett’s hoods were rushed to the scene and used to rescue as many men as possible. Developed further, Garrett’s invention came to save thousands of soldiers from chlorine gas in the trenches of World War I.

  • Published: 15 January 2016
  • ISBN: 9781770495203
  • Imprint: Tundra Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $40.00

About the author

Monica Kulling

Louisa May Alcott was born in 1832 in Pennsylvania and grew up in Concord, Massachusetts. She is best known for her books for children. The daughter of philosopher and reformer Amons Bronson Alcott, she was also a supporter of women's rights and an abolitionist. Family debts led her to write the autobiographical novel LITTLE WOMEN (1868). The book was a huge success, followed by LITTLE MEN, AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL, and several other novels.

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