Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum

Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum
By Meghan McCarthy
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010.
Unpaged. Juvenile nonfiction.

If you are a fan of random facts and crazy inventions, Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy is the book for you. This nonfiction title reads more like a picture book, but throughout the story and in the back of the book are amazing quotations and facts about the history of gum. For example, did you know that Ancient Greeks chewed sap from trees?

Walter Diemer began as an accountant next door to an experimental laboratory- a secret lab where a recipe for chewing gum was being tested. Eventually, Walter got a job working for the lab, and simply by adding ingredients here and there, he invented a special kind of gum that you could blow bubbles with! The color of the bubble gum was pink, because that was the only color Walter had in the lab that day. School Library Journal named this book one of the best of the year, and I have to agree! Delightful illustrations and interesting facts make this a great pick.

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