Books with author Kristin Petrie

The Everyday Inventions series clearly explains and explores the history, inventors, and inner workings of everyday marvels. Young readers will discover a world of invention through full-color photographs and engaging, easy-to-read text. A graphic timeline and helpful diagrams clarify and provide quick access to important information that is ideal for research and reports. This book introduces the history of the invention of bicycles, including the early designs and questionable influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Comte Médé de Sivrac, the célérifère, Baron Karl de Drais’s draisienne, Kirkpatrick Macmillan and Pierre and Ernest Michaux’s pedal and crank improvements, the boneshaker, James Starley’s Ariel, the penny-farthing, the ordinary, H.J. Lawson’s chain-driven back wheel, John Kemp Starley’s Rover Safety model, John Boyd Dunlop’s pneumatic tires, and the invention of mountain bikes. Other chapters delve into bicycle parts, from handlebars and derailleurs to wheels and brakes, as well as how these parts work together to keep riders upright and bicycles moving. Other sections cover different kinds of bicycles, including road, mountain, hybrid, bmx, recumbent, and tandem bikes, as well as the designers, manufacturers, salespeople, repairers, messengers, and racers who work with them. Fun facts discuss the Tour de France and inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach and the first motorcycle. The book also addresses the popularity of bicycles, how easily they can be fixed, and their benefits as a healthy form of exercise and an efficient, environmentally friendly form of transportation. Full-color photographs, informative diagrams, glossary words in bold, a graphic timeline, a sidebar on bicycle safety, and an index enhance this engaging, easy-to-read text about bicycles, an everyday invention that exists in the millions worldwide. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

From hairy, eight-legged tarantulas to cute, color-changing chameleons, the Unique Pets series is perfect for young animal enthusiasts! Easy-to-read text covers the behaviors, size, appearance, natural habitat, diet, reproduction, development, and care and keeping of these special creatures. Each peculiar pet comes to life in large, full-color photos. For readers seeking more information about popular pets, these books will take them beyond the world of dogs and cats! Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.