This book is a nonfiction story about the man who established the Nobel Peace Prize. Readers should be aware that this story is not happy, but the honest tale of a man whose life's work ended in destruction and solidarity. As recompense for his invention of dynamite, which was used as a weapon during Nobel's lifetime, he set up in his will instructions to select a winner of prizes, the foremost of which celebrates accomplishments that inspire peace. Recommended for older elementary. ( )

This is not a happy book. Alfred Nobel died rich and alone with a lot of guilt. It is still an inspirational story to share with students since many of them have heard of the Nobel Peace prize, but not of its murky past. This would be a good book to use during a biography unit since I think it would really pull the attention of the students (especially since Alfred's brother is killed in an accidental explosion).

What happens when you invent something that you think will help people and then it gets used to hurt them? ( )

This book on Alfred Nobel is written by Kathy-Jo Wargin and illustrated by Zachary Pullen. It tells the story of Alfred Nobel, a man who was passionate about both literature and science. He is the inventor of dynamite and had always hoped that it would be used for good-to make way for building new roads, bridges, dams, etc. When he found out that others thought that he had developed dynamite for destruction, he became very upset. After his death, family and friends discovered that he left his estate to create a foundation to recognize inventors and peace leaders and the awards became known as the Nobel Prizes. This book is very sweet and is a great peace of history on something that will spark students' interests. The artwork is beautiful and the discussion after reading this would be great! Students could discuss other inventions that were both good and bad for society and then have time to explore new concepts/invent ideas in teams. This book would be appropriate for 7-10 year old children. I would use this book as a mentor text for students to write their own narrative of an inventor they have researched life. ( )

The 2009 Nobel Prize announcements are still fresh in our memories. With this year’s surprising choice of President Obama as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the time is ripe to share the history of the Peace Prize with our children. Whether taught in a social studies/current events setting or around the kitchen table at dinner, Alfred Nobel’s name is now much more closely associated with his prizes than it is with the invention of dynamite.

In January of this year, Sleeping Bear Press released Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind the Peace Prize to familiarize young readers with Nobel’s life: his love for literature, poetry, the sciences, and mankind, and the bequeathal that continues to finance the prizes to this day — over 100 years later.

Multi-genre children’s author Kathy-Jo Wargin turns her accomplished pen (over 30 children’s titles) to the task of relating Nobel’s life and accomplishments to primary-aged readers. Using vivid, action filled prose; Wargin deftly sculpts the emotional contours of Nobel’s life, clearly displaying his idealism, work-ethic, and loneliness despite his great wealth.

Following Nobel through his early experiments with nitroglycerin, his blasting-cap explosive model, the loss of his brother Emil and four workers in a workshop accident, the search for a safer form of explosive, the invention of dynamite, his fame, and death, children will be equipped with a solid peg upon which to hang further knowledge about Nobel’s life and the prizes as they grow.

Zachary Pullen’s rich, detailed oil paintings straddle the divide between portrait and caricature, as Nobel’s larger-than-life facial expressions dominate many of the pages. Wide-eyed-wonder, intense concentration, studious, and reflective; Nobel fills the carefully arranged pages to bursting. Pullen’s supplementary “scientific notes” illustrate the simple operation of Nobel’s nitroglycerin explosive with blasting cap, and his safer compound — dynamite.

Intended for peaceful use in the construction industry but appropriated as weaponry, the invention he hoped would prevent wars by displaying the mighty destructive power in explosives only spurred further violence. His consequent public portrayal as a man who benefited financially from war and death grieved him, and no doubt gave rise to the establishment of the Peace Prize.

After reading Alfred Nobel through with my children, my six-year-old instantly asked for a repeat reading. She also pestered me to read the complete list of Nobel Peace Prize recipients from 1901 — 2008 aloud to her. Simply presented as a list, I was surprised that those who’d received the prize so captivated her, but she insisted, swept into Nobel’s vision of a better world.

Sleeping Bear Press’ free downloadable teaching guide for this title includes activities in geography, science, math, language arts, social studies, and more, making Alfred Nobel the base for a comprehensive unit study revolving around the Peace Prizes, and issues of social responsibility.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com ( )