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  • Electrical Wizard: How Nikola Tesla Lit Up the World by Elizabeth Rusch
  • Elizabeth Bush
Rusch, Elizabeth Electrical Wizard: How Nikola Tesla Lit Up the World; illus. by Oliver Dominguez. Candlewick, 2013 [40p] ISBN 978-0-7636-5855-7 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 3-4

This picture-book biography focuses on two of Nikola Tesla’s important undertakings—establishing alternating current as the standard in a rapidly electrifying world, and harnessing the power of Niagara Falls for hydroelectric power. Rusch first offers a bit of background, presenting Tesla’s fascination with electricity during his childhood in Serbia and his eureka moment in college when he understood the practical advantages of AC. Then she turns to Tesla’s attempt to bring his ideas forward in America, where he expected an open-minded reception. Thomas Edison, whom Tesla had hoped would be his promoter, pretty much brushed off his ideas, and the direct vs. alternating current battle briefly raged, with the personal rivalry between the two great electrical innovators heading into science history. Matching this title to an audience is likely to be a challenge, since the tone of the text is aimed at a young crowd, while the science itself, which is essential to understanding the Tesla/Edison story, is far more daunting and relegated to substantial notes at the end. The electrical trials at Niagara Falls play out here as little more than an afterthought, condensed into a single page, but the appended explanations of how AC and DC are generated, as well as how Tesla pulled off some of his more theatrical electrical demonstrations, could be of value to students all the way into middle school, who will be interested in a more comprehensive biography. Dominguez’s mixed-media paintings ably set the historical scenes for several of Tesla’s milestone encounters, and his technical diagrams in the back matter are genuinely helpful. Quotation sources and a list of resources for further reading and viewing are included.

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