In her latest science book, B.C. writer Valerie Wyatt introduces young readers to the subject of invention. Employing the reader-friendly Frequently Asked Questions format, Wyatt shows that inventions may occur in research labs with teams of engineers and scientists, but they’re still largely the result of one person’s practical, ingenious solution to a problem. Wyatt provides many entertaining (and hopefully inspiring) examples, such as Canada’s renowned Armand Bombardier, who invented the snowmobile in 1922 at the age of 15 by attaching a car engine and a propeller to a wooden sleigh.

The categories of inventions cover thosethat kids encounter in their daily lives, including wearable, edible, and household inventions, games, transportation, medical and communication devices. Each category contains a series of questions and answers and offbeat facts in sidebars. The answers to the kid-centred questions are an effective combination of smartly concise explanations and amusing historical anecdotes.

The excellent layout, like a web page, manages to pack in a cornucopia of information and images in a stimulating, focused manner. Matthew Fernandes’s mixed media illustrations are eye-catching, funny, and lively.

The weak link in the book are its activities. Rather than have an activity for each category, Wyatt has provided only a handful and they are trivial time-wasters.

Inventions, though, is sure to inspire kids to turn an inventor’s X-ray vision on their world. Swiss engineer George de Mestral invented Velcro after noticing how the hooks of a burr stuck to the loops of his socks. Who knows what readers can invent if they develop the same kind of attentive creativity?