Monica KullingIn the Bag!: Margaret Knight Wraps It Up (Great Idea Series)

This is a terrific book containing a strong message about empowering women! This book should be in all school libraries.

Who knew a woman invented the awesome paper bag? Good book for Women's History Month

Since nonfiction is the focus of the Common Core Learning Standards...this is a nice addition to my classroom library. Students are always looking for interesting books to read. This is a good one. Enjoy!

It's a great book about tenacity and grit. My daughter loved it.

In the Bag: Margaret Knight Wraps It Up is the newest release in Tundra's Great Idea Series. It is the biography of Margaret (Mattie) Knight who in 1873 became the first woman awarded a patent in the US.As in All Aboard! Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine and It's a Snap! George Eastman's First Photograph, Monica Kulling engages young readers by introducing them to the titular character as a child. Mattie is twelve when she designs her first invention, a safety feature later installed on all looms.While the books in this series may have historically relevant stories to impart, they hold a greater significance too. Knight, McCoy and Eastman each had many hardships to overcome before their work was completed and recognized. Of course, a woman in Knight's time was not expected to know anything about machines and, confident in this belief, Charles Annon registered Knight's original design for a flat-bottomed bag machine as his own. Knight stood up, fought him in court and won, proving herself not only an ingenious inventor, but a worthy role model as well.In the illustrations for this book, David Parkins finds a terrific balance, picking up on the atmosphere Bill Slavin brought to the earlier books, but infusing this volume with his own touches. A full-colour Knight, with her wild and wiry red hair, leaps off backgrounds of muted factory workers.With its subtle humour and depth of content, In the Bag! has much to offer to kids in Grades 1 through 3.

A picture book biography of Margaret Knight, a factory worker in the 1800s who beat the odds, made history, and went on to become a patent-holding semi-famous inventor.Fantastic picture book about a woman inventor who holds many patents, one of which was a machine that makes paper grocery bags. If you're studying inventors, make sure you include this amazing lady along with Edison and Bell. Not only was she a woman not afraid to tinker around with tools when it wasn't fashionable, she's inspirational for kids too. She invented a safety device for looms when she was just a child that saved hundreds of lives.

It was with real anticipation that I cracked open my copy of Monica Kulling's and David Parkins' newest book, "In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up". As the illustrator of Monica's two previous books in Tundra's Great Idea Series, I was curious to see where this pairing of talents had taken things.My expectations were certainly well rewarded! Monica's crisp prose and snappy dialogue tell the tale of Margaret Knight, Victorian inventor. Through what can only be described as literary non-fiction for the very young, Monica introduces us to the life of this remarkable woman, starting with her as a young girl working in a factory and touching on a few key moments in her lifetime of inventing. She builds towards the dramatic moment when Margaret Knight asserts herself as a bona fide inventor at a time when inventing was not seen as a proper pursuit for a woman.As in her previous book in the series, "All Aboard! Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine," Kulling's unlikely hero's success is not so much her invention, the paper bag, as her ability to rise above the mores of the time and succeed in a world where the odds are stacked against her. Knight's determination, entrepreneurism and sheer verve carry her through to success and serve as a beacon of inspiration for any young reader who desires to leave their mark on this world.David Parkins masterful illustrations in pen and ink and watercolour bring Margaret Knight's story to life. As a huge fan of his work, I was not surprised to see that he tackled the subject matter with authority and humour, bringing a wealth of Victorian era minutiae to each and every page with drawings that are deceptively clean and straight forward, yet represent a mastery of his craft that few illustrators can emulate.A terrific book, in content, writing and illustration "In the Bag!" will be a real boon to any classroom or fledgeling inventor's bookshelf.