Gizmos, Gadgets, and Guitars: The Story of Leo Fender
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The picture book biography of ingenious American inventor Leo Fender, creator of the world’s most iconic Fender electric guitars. For readers who love Iggy Peck, Architect.
Leo Fender loved to thinker and tinker and take things apart and put them back together again. When he lost an eye in a childhood accident, he refused to think of himself as broken. With a new pair of magnifying glasses, Leo got back to doing what he loved, fixing machines big and small—even broken instruments.
His inventions—which included the Telecaster and the Stratocaster—would inspire the rock ’n’ roll generation and go on to amplify the talents of legendary guitarists Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Bonnie Raitt, among others. Fender’s brilliant engineering vision connected science and art forever.
Christy Ottaviano Books
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This engrossing biography follows Leo Fender (1909–1991), who loves tinkering so much that he runs a radio repair business in high school and, following the loss of his accountant job during the Great Depression, establishes an electronics repair shop in California. Discovering that the newly invented electric guitars are "easy to break and hard to fix," Fender decides to make his own and, though he's not a musician, invents the iconic solid-body electric guitar. Mahin employs repetition, alliteration, and wordplay: "Western swing bands had cowboyed their way across the country and taken over the Los Angeles area." Salerno's multimedia illustrations, arranged and colored digitally, have a detailed, appealingly sketched vintage aesthetic. Young inventors in particular will find this well-paced account absorbing, though anyone with passions to pursue will find Fender's mettle inspiring. Back matter includes an author's note with additional biographical information, a bibliography, suggestions for further reading, and a glossary. Ages 5–9.
