Merry's Book Club
Brought to you by The Merry LibrarianArchive for children's non-fiction
“The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors” by Chris Barton Illustrated by Tony Persiani
Ages: 6-10
The telephone, the light bulb, the radio: boring, boring. But invention reports need be boring no more! Next time the invention assignment is going around your town, pull out this book for a lucky child. The fluorescent orange, green and yellow cover is enough to catch anyone’s attention, and the writing will keep them engaged for their report. This is the interesting story of how a magic show and an accident at the ketchup factory led to the invention of day-glo colors. While one brother was recuperating from the ‘ketchup’ accident, the other brother was playing with ultraviolet light for his magic tricks. Both became interested in how things would glow with this special light. When they took it to their father’s drug store, they noticed a label on one of the bottles glowed especially well. They began to experiment with different chemical combinations to come up with glow in the dark paint and eventually day-glo color. Their day-glo colors were used in several ways during WWII, making the two brothers rich from their invention. Today, Day-glo colors are used in everything from safety cones to golf balls. This is a very good read with lots of interesting information.
