Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor by Emily Arnold McCully #20

McCully, Emily A. (2006). Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became An Inventor. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux

Grades: K - 3

Curriculum Links: Social Studies

Book Type: Biography

Author Credibility: Emily Arnold McCully included a bibliography of where she obtained information about Margaret E. Knight. In the author’s note, she discussed that she learned about her childhood through a December 1872 issue of Women’s Journal. She also found a New York Times article from 1913 that mentioned Mattie’s invention of a shuttle cover.

Awards: none listed

Summary:
This is a biography of Margaret E. Knight’s (Mattie) life from when she was young until the time she became a professional inventor. As a child, she used her father’s toolbox to make inventions. She kept a notebook with drawings of her ideas. She would make kites and other gifts for her two brothers and their friends. When she turned twelve she went to work in a mill. After seeing a horrible accident, she invented a shuttle cover to keep workers guarded in case a shuttle came loose. Her invention quickly spread and was used by every mill in the city. When she was older, she became the inventor of a bag-making machine that gave paper bags a flat bottom in order to stand upright. She got a patent for her invention and eventually set up the Eastern Paper Bag Company. She was known as the “Lady Edison”. This is an inspiring read about a woman who became an inventor during a time when the woman’s place was at home with the children.

Standards: Individual Development and Identity, and Science, Technology, and Society

Illustrations: Black-and-white line drawings by Emily A. McCully, one drawing from an 1871 patent showing views of Margaret Knight`s paper bag machine

Access Features: author`s note, bibliography

Classroom Use: I would use this book in my classroom to discuss how women have made marvelous contributions in history.

Response: I really enjoyed reading this book. I had never heard of Marvelous Mattie and her invention of the paper bag machine. I think it is awesome that her invention is still being used today to create paper grocery bags that stand upright!