When Captain John Ericsson wasn't busy succeeding, he was busy failing...gloriously, Captain Ericsson's inventions--a sleek and effecient fire engine, a speedy steam locomotive--were regularly met with uninspired scorn and disdain. Undaunted by these setbacks, he set to work for the Union army on an ironclad ship torival the Confederate Merrimac. His design was greeted with the usual skepticism, but when Captain John Ericsson's strange-looking Monitor does the unthinkable, a grateful nation finally does say, "Thank you very much, Captain Ericsson!" This engaging and spirited biography by Connie NOrdhielm Wooldridge, brought vividly to life by Andrew Glass's energetic and uproarious ilustrations, pays tribute to a inventive spirit and explores what it means to imagine out of the present and into the possible.

• Age Range: 4 and up
• Grade Level: Preschool and up
• School & Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1 edition (September 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823416267